(St. Paul, MN) — Wild players continued to trickle back from the Olympic games as the team prepares for a Central Division Collision on Thursday night in Denver against the Colorado Avalanche. Yesterday, Swedish players Joel Eriksson Ek, Marcus Johansson, Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt all returned to practice along with German center Nico Sturm. They were also joined by defenseman Jonas Brodin. Brodin hasn’t played since January 12th and at the time was expected to miss 6-8 weeks as he recovers from a lower body surgery. Wild associate coach Jack Capuano says Brodin is still “a ways away” from returning but skating with the team in any form is a good step forward. Head coach John Hynes is expected to join the group today to lead the final practice before jumping on a plane to face the first place Avalanche tomorrow night at Ball Arena. Puck drops at 8 P-M. U-S-A gold medalists Quinn Hughes, Matt Boldy and Brock Faber are all expected to be available for the Wild in Denver.
Ryan Hartman talked to Kevin Falness on Tuesday afternoon from TRIA Rink:
