John Hynes worked overtime in the offseason to create depth and condition the Minnesota Wild, which has helped the team rank third in the Western Conference despite an onslaught of injuries. However,

And the clearest signal that Kaprizov and Spurgeon would be back is that the Wild reassigned defenseman David Jiricek two hours after practice. If you did the salary cap math, it really was the only option to get below the cap ceiling once Kaprizov is activated from LTIR.

Wild players wanted a stiffer penalty for Zach L’Heureux from the NHL but say they're happy to take matters into their own hands Saturday.

The Chicago Blackhawks came into Sunday night’s action looking to get back into the win column. They had dropped their last two games in overtime against the Carolina Hurricanes and Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Chicago Blackhawks and Minnesota Wild were meeting in tumultuous times. Both teams had lost their previous two games, with Minnesota losing 5-4 to the Calgary Flames the night before.

After allowing just five shots in the first two periods, the Wild had to scramble to keep the lead against Chicago in a narrow 4-2 win.

They sent down forward Brendan Gaunce and defenseman David Jiricek to the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League (AHL). Jiricek, 21, has played great with the Wild. He played in six games with the Wild since he was recalled. In his last two games, Jiricek had one goal and one assist.

It was a tale of two games for the Minnesota Wild’s defenders. Minnesota was down Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin against the Nashville Predators and Colorado Avalanche. Meanwhile, Brock Faber returned from his upper-body injury against Nashville.

DENVER (AP) — Yakov Trenin scored against his former team early in the third period, and the Minnesota Wild beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 on Monday. Jake Middleton had a goal and an assist, Brock Faber also scored and Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves for Minnesota.

PAUL - The Minnesota Wild (28-15-4) are in action tonight against the Utah Hockey Club (20-19-7) for the third meeting between the two teams this year. The Wild are welcoming Kirill Kaprizov and Jared Spurgeon into the lineup tonight.

It has been two months since we did a Wild mailbag and several months since we did an ‘Ask Russo and Smith’ mailbag, but with Joe back on the clock, there’s no better time to answer many of your questions.

The Minnesota Wild (27-15-4) are back in action tonight for one more game on the road before they return home. They will face the Colorado Avalanche (28-18-1) today for a 2:00 p.m. central time start.