Wilderness Walk: Matt Boldy Is Back

That's Wild

• This is the good news we have been waiting for. The Minnesota Wild have not looked like themselves and while you can't attribute that to just one single player, missing star forward Matt Boldy (and Jared Spurgeon) has really not helped. Boldy has missed the last seven games due to an injury but is now returning on Thursday night against the New Jersey Devils. The team is really trying to stay positive and turn the season around with this comeback. [StarTribune]
• The Wild's special teams have contributed a whole lot to their losses on the most recent road trip. Things did not look great. [Hockey Wilderness]
• Three stats that summarize the Wild's season so far. [The Hockey News]

Off the trail...

• There has been a shakeup in Ottawa. The Senators were dinged a first-round pick for their role in the weird disallowed Evgenii Dadonov trade from 18 months ago between Vegas and Anaheim. They simply did not disclose that the player had a 10-team no-trade clause and that prevented the move from happening. With that fiasco happening, the Senators fired general manager Pierre Dorion. Big moves. [ESPN]
• Nicklas Backstrom is taking a leave of absence to deal with hip injury but no one truly knows how long he will be gone for. [NBC Sports]
• John Klingberg signed a one-year deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the team's confidence in the player is already eroding. He has not looked good. [Yahoo Sports]