To Minnesota Wild fans, the sight of Yakov Trenin playing center might look odd. To the 28-year-old Russian now in his seventh NHL season — most of them spent on the wing — skating at center during Tuesday’s practice was a return to his roots.
Asked if he felt out of place with Marcus Foligno and Vinnie Hinostroza on his wings for the morning skate, Trenin scoffed and noted that from around the age of 2 or 3 to age 20 in his native Russia, he played center.
With a late game versus the Carolina Hurricanes on tap Wednesday night at Grand Casino Arena, Trenin may find himself back in the position of his youth as the Wild are down two of their top three centers. Marco Rossi we knew about. Ryan Hartman’s absence on Tuesday was new, but not totally unexpected after he left Sunday’s overtime win versus Vegas with an apparent lower body injury.
Wild coach John Hynes on Tuesday classified Hartman as week-to-week, but sounded like he could be pleasantly surprised by an earlier return.
“It’s not like a surgical thing or anything, but the diagnosis right now, that’s the timeframe,” Hynes said of Hartman, who centered the Wild’s top line between Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello on Sunday. “It could be quicker, or it could be that timeframe.”
Another potential Wild center, Nico Sturm, was on the ice for practice as well on Tuesday, but Hynes said the faceoff specialist remains week to week, and they are hopeful he could crack the Minnesota lineup in early December if not sooner.
That leaves rookie Danila Yurov and Trenin — who scored his first goal of the season versus Vegas — as the likely first- and third-line centers, respectively. Hynes coached Trenin previously in Nashville, and did not use him as a center there, but Trenin played some in the middle during a 26-game stint with the Avalanche in 2024, so he would not be a fish completely out of water.
“He played center in Colorado and he played center before he was in Nashville,” Hynes said. “He’s good at faceoffs, but he does have a history of playing center.”
The coach admitted that he is hopeful Trenin’s time in the middle is a short-term fix.
Briefly
Wild winger Vladimir Tarasenko, who has missed the past two games with a lower body injury, skated in practice on Tuesday but left early and his status versus Carolina is unclear.
“He tried it today. Obviously, he looked pretty good in practice, but I didn’t get any feedback,” Hynes said. “He did leave early, that’s why I don’t know how he’s feeling.”
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