ST. PAUL, Minn. — There was some relatively good news for the Minnesota Wild on Friday morning.
Joel Eriksson Ek, who has missed the first two games of the Wild’s second-round series against the Avalanche with a lower-body injury, skated on his own with skills and skating coach Andy Ness before the team’s practice, then was a limited participant in practice once the rest of his teammates joined.
Eriksson Ek did not take part in line rushes or special teams work. He typically centers Marcus Johansson and Matt Boldy, is the Wild’s net-front guy on the No. 1 power play and is first over the boards on the penalty kill. He’s certainly been missed in those roles as the Wild have fallen behind 0-2 in the series.
Eriksson Ek watched the last half hour of practice from the bench, but coach John Hynes said that was the plan. Eriksson Ek had not skated in the eight days since getting hurt in Game 6 of the Dallas Stars series. Hynes said there is a potential of Eriksson Ek playing in Game 3 on Saturday night.
“I thought he looked good out there,” Hynes said. “So that was certainly encouraging. And we had the plan for him to go out and skate before practice, and then do some stuff in the practice. So we’ll see where it goes from there.
“Is he definitely going to play? I don’t know that. Is he a potential? There’s a potential, there’s a chance he can play. I won’t know probably until gametime (Saturday).”
Hynes said it will largely be up to Eriksson Ek.
“It’s trusting the medical staff, but yes, it ultimately comes down to the player,” Hynes said. “And these guys know. They think that they can really help the team and they’re going to be able to play and contribute the way that they need to contribute. It might not be every player is at 100 percent, but if they feel like they can really impact and play the role that they’re supposed to play, then those guys, a lot of times, they’ll say, ‘Hey, I can do it.’ But other times they’ll say, ‘I’m close, but I’ve got to think of the team first, and right now I can’t perform the way you guys are going to expect me to perform.’”
In 2023, Eriksson Ek broke his lower leg late in the regular season. It was a two-month injury, but after skating for a week, he tried to return against the Stars and lasted 19 seconds. Hynes wasn’t the coach then. But asked if he needs to keep center Danila Yurov in the lineup if Eriksson Ek does play — as an insurance policy if Eriksson Ek can’t get through the game — Hynes said, “I haven’t thought about that yet, only because today, when I came in this morning, it was, he was going to skate. As of yesterday, he hadn’t skated. These things are so fluid that it’s not really like you’re holding information back. I just don’t know. I don’t even know what he’s going to say after the skate, whether he said it felt good or bad or whatever.
“But you always want to try to make sure that if a player is coming off an injury … you want to make sure, can you make it through the game? Now, if it’s an unfortunate thing that happens, you do want to try to make sure that you’re covered. But those are the discussions you do have with players — and the medical staff has with the players — when they come back, to say, ‘Are we testing this or are you telling us you are a game player for the game?’”
In other news, defenseman Zach Bogosian took part in Friday’s practice and is a possibility to play Saturday after missing Game 2 with a lower-body injury. Right wing Mats Zuccarello missed practice because he was sick. Hynes said he expects Zuccarello to play Saturday. Defenseman Jonas Brodin (lower body) is not a possibility for Saturday, Hynes said.
Hynes said he knew who Saturday’s starting goalie would be between Jesper Wallstedt and Filip Gustavsson but had not yet told the player.
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