DALLAS — If “better health for my hockey team” was among Minnesota Wild coach John Hynes’ holiday wishes, he instead got a notable lump of coal in his stocking before the team plane had even left the ground at MSP on Friday morning.
The seat on the charter aircraft normally occupied by Wild star forward Kirill Kaprizov was empty when the rest of the squad took off for Texas. He was unavailable for the Friday evening game versus the Stars with a lower body injury that has been a problem for a few days now, Hynes said.
“He was a little sore, I think, going into the break, and then we talked with the doctors and stuff yesterday,” the coach said following the team’s morning skate at American Airlines Center. “Right now, as far as I know, it’s day-to-day. … then we’ll see how he’s feeling each day moving forward here.”
Hynes added that the absence is not related to the knee-on-knee check Kaprizov took during a November game in Edmonton, which kept him out of the lineup for one game. The coach added that he has not seen anything to indicate the absence will be long term.
“I don’t have a big concern level as of now because he was a little bit banged up prior to going into the break, but we all saw how he played against Chicago,” Hynes said, referencing the team-leading 23rd goal of the season that Kaprizov scored in a 4-3 win over the Blackhawks on Monday. “We’ll see what he does today with his treatments and see what he does tomorrow.”
Stars coach Peter DeBoer got the news of Kaprizov’s absence from the media following his team’s morning skate.
“Obviously, an important player. I probably could’ve saved myself some time in my pre-scout this morning if I’d known that earlier,” he said, noting that they weren’t expecting an easy night with or without Kaprizov. “When I look at Minnesota, they’re a team that’s the true sum of their parts rather than one player.
“They’ve got four lines, they defend well, they’ve got great goaltending. So, probably a lot like us, you can take a player out of the lineup and still be competitive. But still, that’s a big guy out for them.”
The Wild is host to Ottawa on Sunday evening, and to Nashville on Tuesday evening.
Related Articles
Wild head to Texas rested and, they hope, a little healthier
Minnesota Wild: Five holiday wishes
Wild get the gift they needed most, hold off Chicago to snap losing streak
Healthier Wild re-focus after getting ‘off script’ in Winnipeg
Stardom comes for Kirill Kaprizov as the Wild wing puts in the post-practice time
Leave a Reply