It seems unlikely that Minnesota Wild assistant coach Jack Capuano has ever spent time restoring old cars. But on Tuesday at TRIA Rink, he spent some time removing rust.
After a nine-day break for the 4 Nations Face-Off, now down to just Thursday’s title game between Canada and the USA, the members of the Wild who aren’t skating for their countries were on the ice in downtown St. Paul for an hour on Tuesday afternoon, stretching their legs and getting the feel of the ice after some savored down time.
“I think the guys really enjoyed the break,” said Capuano, the former New York Islanders head coach in is first season with the Wild as an assistant under John Hynes. “We’re coming off two home wins versus Carolina and the Islanders, but it’s good just to get away for a little bit and spend some time with your family because there’s so much hockey in the second half.”
Capuano spent some time in Florida during the break. Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury got away to Turks & Caicos. Forward Marcus Johansson caught some sun in the Dominican Republic, while fellow forward Freddie Gaudreau stayed in Minnesota and relaxed at home.
The three members of Team Sweden from the Wild — goalie Filip Gustavsson, defenseman Jonas Brodin and forward Joel Eriksson Ek — are not expected to re-join the team until Friday, the day before the Wild return to playing games on Saturday.
That would also be the earliest that defenseman Brock Faber and forward Matt Boldy could return after they try to win gold for Team USA on Thursday. Hynes, who is a Team USA assistant coach, and Wild general manager Bill Guerin, who has served the same role with Team USA, could re-join the team on Saturday in Detroit where they face the Red Wings in an afternoon game.
Until then, it falls on Capuano to get the team back into shape and into their systems.
“That’s basically how we set the practices up. Today there was a theme, tomorrow’s a theme, Thursday will be treat and train, give the guys some time off and maybe some video,” Capuano said. “Friday we get back to some special teams and then get ready for Saturday.”
The 4 Nations games have been a fun distraction, with Wild players sometimes torn between their loyalty to teammates and their country. Fleury admitted as much, saying that as a proud Canadian, he still wants the best for Faber and Boldy in Thursday’s title game.
Team Sweden concluded the tournament with a win over Team USA on Monday after overtime losses to Canada and Finland. Johansson, who played development hockey in Malmo and Farjestad, said it was a good way for his country to close out the tournament.
“It’s always fun to see Sweden win. It wouldn’t have been good to go home without winning for them,” he said.
After the visit to Detroit, and a visit by the Red Wings to Minnesota on Tuesday, the Wild dive back into Central Division play with back-to-back road games at Utah and Colorado on the final two days of February. Then the real fun begins, as the Wild will play 15 games in the 31 days of March, 11 of them at Xcel Energy Center.
Hence, the need for knocking the rust off their skate blades as soon as possible.
“The guys were really good today. I thought the execution and the pace was good,” Capuano said. “Going out there as coaches, we thought it could maybe get a little sloppy, but I thought the guys did a really good job, dialed in.”
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