Zach Parise still has yet to play a game this season and it was hoped that he would be available this weekend when the Wild travel to Winnipeg on Friday and then off to Calgary for a Saturday showdown with the Flames.
That looks to be in jeopardy now as Parise left the ice early yesterday, and was not on the ice today. He will be evaluated tomorrow to determine exactly where he stands, but at this point it does not look as though he will be in the Wild lineup Friday night.
Marcus Foligno (facial fracture) is coming along and could be ready to go Friday, and Mikael Granlund is back on the ice and Boudreau sounded a bit confident that he may be able to play this weekend as well, but then he backed off and said that may be wishful thinking as he has not been cleared to even practice with the team as of yet.
Either way the Wild will have some call-ups in the lineup for both weekend games, it just remains to be seen exactly who will get the call, and how many.
The extra practice time is not welcome by the players by any means, but from an injury standpoint it is not so bad as it is limiting the time missed for each of the Wild walking wounded.
The lines have been juggled in practice and even assistant coach Darby Hendrickson had to don the gear and skate on a line as the number of Wild forwards is so sparse with the injuries and AHL demotions.
Yesterday Joel Eriksson Ek skated on the wing with Eric Staal, but today he was back at center and Matt Cullen was playing wing with Staal.
The injuries create opportunities, and Eriksson Ek is a key player that is being offered bigger minutes. Eriksson Ek is a guy that we all want to see given every chance to contribute in more situations, and if he can play the wing with Staal that could create some very good scoring opportunities with his quick release and Staal's ability to get him the puck.
The injuries have taken center stage, but the fact is this Wild team needs to get it going, and these next two games on the road are no easy task. Winnipeg has an offense that can score with the best of them, while the Wild have shown that they can also put the puck in the net, they do not want to get into any kind of run and gun battle with their neighbors to the North in Winnipeg.
The Wild defense has been below average combined with sub-par goaltending, that has led them to their current 1-1-2 record.
Defense is often looked at strictly by the guys who play defense, but we all know that the game is played with five skaters that all have a responsibility in all three zones on the ice. That said the Wild defensemen have not exactly played well and Bruce has not showed much if any confidence in Olofsson with his limited minutes in the three games he has played. There are a lot of questions with this Wild D corps that need to be answered sooner rather than later.
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