Minnesota Wild Stars Expected to Return… Finally

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Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek - Minnesota Wild
Credit: Nick Wosika-Imagn Images

The Minnesota Wild have been trying to get healthy for months. Well, they’ve actually been fighting off major injuries to key players for the entire 2024-25 season. But it wasn’t until they lost superstar Kirill Kaprizov to a lower body injury right before Christmas that the season started to go off the rails.

Then, on February 22, they lost Joel Eriksson Ek to a lower body injury later revealed as a broken bone in his leg. From there, the season went into a full-on tailspin. Suddenly, the same Wild team that was battling with the Winnipeg Jets atop the West when Kaprizov was first injured back in late December – early January, is only four points from falling out of the 2025 NHL Playoffs entirely.

Minnesota Wild expecting Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek back vs Sharks

But guess what… according to Michael Russo (The Athletic), Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek are expected to play Wednesday night vs the San Jose Sharks, as long as everything goes well during this morning’s team skate.

Kirill Kaprizov, once the front-runner for the Hart Trophy this season, and Joel Eriksson Ek, arguably the Minnesota Wild’s most irreplaceable player, could both return after long absences Wednesday night when the Wild host the San Jose Sharks.

As long as everything goes well in Wednesday’s morning skate, both players are expected to play, multiple NHL sources tell The Athletic.

Michael Russo – The Athletic

Related: Minnesota Wild Get Some Good News on Jake Middleton

As noted by Russo, Kirill Kaprizov was the favorite to win The Hart Trophy (NHL MVP) prior to his injury, which required surgery following an attempted return to the ice in late January that only lasted three games. How good was Kaprizov before he left the lineup?

Wild’s best reinforcements inbound…?

Well, he is still ranked 3rd on the Minnesota Wild in goals (23) and 3rd on the team in points (52). The only two players ahead of him in both categories, Marco Rossi and Matt Boldy, have both played all 78 games this season. Kirill has played just 37.

Unlike Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek has never been about the numbers. Still, the Wild were starting to get used to the 60 points he’s provided in each of the last two seasons. In 42 games played this season, the other injured MN Wild assistant captain has potted just 9 goals and 15 assists.

If he can’t notch one more goal in the last four games, it’ll be the first season Ekker hasn’t reached double-digit goals since the 2019-2020 season, when he scored 8 goals in 62 games. But whether he is putting pucks in the net or not, Eriksson Ek remains the heart and soul of this Minnesota Wild team and I expect that to show, should he and Kaprizov return to the ice, as expected.

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