Kaprizov to return from injury Friday against Ducks

Kirill Kaprizov is making his return on Friday, when the Minnesota Wild face the Anaheim Ducks.

Thank goodness.

After getting helplessly hit by Boston Bruins depth forward Trent Frederic — in a game where the Wild ended up winning, so suck it Trent — it appeared that Kaprizov was seriously injured. The 24-year-old needed assistance getting to the trainer’s room, and even head coach Dean Evason expressed some initial concern, using his typical phrase of it “looking not good.”

Well, we don’t need to be concerned about that anymore! Kaprizov will be back at The X to face the young Ducks after missing just one game. And it won’t just be Kirill.

We already knew Joel Eriksson Ek was making his triumphant return after not playing since Dec. 20, but Jordan Greenway and Brandon Duhaime have cleared COVID protocol and should be back in the lineup again. And as Russo mentions above, Alex Goligoski — who was also in protocol — might make the cut as well.

This news comes after the slew of Wild transactions over the last 48 hours. The team placed young forward Rem Pitlick on waivers just a few months after claiming him off the waiver wire themselves, and they re-upped defenseman Jon Merrill for three more years after this season, solidifying the future blue line.

A lot of moving parts in Minnesota, but at least we have a full(ish) lineup once again. Defensemen Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon still remain out, so the blue line is still trying to battle through some uncertainty, but other than that, everything seems to be all right.