Minnesota Wild forward Joel Eriksson Ek is in his home country of Sweden during the suspension of the N-H-L season and able to get on ice and skate. Sweden has not been completely shut down at any point in this health crisis, so he has been able to get into a rink and skate with some other pro players, including Minnesota’s Jonas Brodin. Eriksson Ek says he is waiting to find out how the latest proposal to restart the season will play out and will likely soon be making a plan to get back to the U-S to begin training. He says there will have to be a period of training camp or something similar for players to get into game shape and team’s to get fine-tuned. Eriksson Ek was in the midst of his third full N-H-L season when the season was stopped, having scored eight goals and dished out 21 assists in 62 games. Minnesota was just a point out of playoff position at the time the season went on hold, but the new plan would include the Wild in the newly-formatted playoff scenario. The N-H-L is moving toward its next phase of its return to sport protocol. The league sent out a memo announcing framework that will allow players and teams to move to phase two following a quarantine period. The league has been gaining steam as it works to develop a return-to-play 24-team playoff format.
Wild forward Joel Eriksson Ek talked to MNN Sports Correspondent Kevin Falness:
