Kaprizov has missed the past 10 games with a lower-body injury that has required lots of treatments and pushed-back timetables.

The Minnesota Wild have yet another defenseman unavailable on Thursday night, adding to an ever growing list of injury problems.

Minnesota held a practice back home in St. Paul on Tuesday. Faber and Kaprizov did not practice with the team but they did skate on their own. Spurgeon and Lauko also skated on their own. Brodin has yet to skate. The Wild host the Edmonton Oilers tomorrow. It doesn't sound like either of the five injured Wild players will play.

Kirill Kaprizov continues to make progress towards a return from a lower-body injury. The star Minnesota Wild forward has missed the last eight games due to the injury, but he's skating on his own while continuing off-ice workouts,

There was an audible buzz inside TRIA Rink early on Wednesday when Brock Faber stepped onto the ice to take shots on goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. The buzz continued when Jakub Lauko followed him, and it got notably louder when Kirill Kaprizov joined the party,

They will head into the back-to-back games shorthanded. Kirill Kaprizov will not play in either of them. He stayed back home in Minnesota with Jonas Brodin and Brock Faber. Brodin, 31, was injured, along with Faber, in the Wild's game against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. Neither of them joined the team out west.

The Minnesota Wild are trying to hang onto their spot near the top of the NHL standings, and on Friday they revealed the reinforcements are on the way.

Not since the preseason have the Wild had a practice as crowded as the session they held Friday at Tria Rink in St. Paul. “Felt nice,” alternate captain Marcus Foligno said. “Got a bit of a break.” But when it came time to leave for a road trip to Nashville and Colorado,

Dylan Loucks is the Site Admin and Reporter for the Minnesota Wild team site with The Hockey News. A resident of St. Paul, MN, Loucks has spent the last four years covering hockey and in his spare time likes to work on his expected goals model and other models he is creating.

The Minnesota Wild (27-14-4) have five players on the injury report, including Kirill Kaprizov, in their matchup with the Nashville Predators (15-22-7) at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday, January 18

Case in point: Sunday’s goal in Vegas. He was on a two-on-one with Freddy Gaudreau. Hartman appeared to look over to Gaudreau as if to pass, but then he fired a great wrist shot and beat goalie Adin Hill glove-side.