Uncertainty about return of Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek complicates Wild's plan
General manager Bill Guerin acquired veteran winger Gustav Nyquist from Nashville on Saturday, but will that be it for the Wild? That could depend on when two of their star players might be back.
The Wild earned a much-needed 1-0 victory over the Boston Bruins on Sunday at Xcel Energy Center to end a three-game losing streak and take a two-point lead on Colorado for third place in the Central Division.
That was the good news.
The bad news came about an hour before faceoff when general manager Bill Guerin said he still doesn’t know when two of the Wild’s top players, winger Kirill Kaprizov and center Joel Eriksson Ek, will return from lower-body injuries.
“You guys have been asking me nonstop about this,” Guerin said. “I just don’t know. … There’s no exact science. I can’t tell you because what I tell you today might be different tomorrow. Things change constantly. I’m not going to say, ‘Oh, he’s going to be back 17 days from now,’ and (when) he’s not back 17 days from now, you guys are going to be like ‘What happened?’ So, I don’t know. I just don’t know.”
Guerin’s frustration goes beyond being pestered by the media. His real issue is that the NHL trade deadline is five days away — 2 p.m. Friday to be exact — and he is facing an enormous amount of uncertainty when it comes to which direction he should take with a team that was briefly atop the NHL standings in early December. The Wild have one of the NHL’s top prospect pools, and Guerin already has traded the team’s first-round pick for this year.
Guerin attempted to add scoring punch Saturday when he sent a 2026 second-round pick to Nashville for 35-year-old winger Gustav Nyquist. The Predators also will retain 50 percent of Nyquist’s salary. That gives the Wild the ability to fit Nyquist into their salary cap and bring back Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek during the regular season.
But if Kaprizov and/or Eriksson Ek were unable to return until the playoffs that would open cap space for Guerin to add another piece before the deadline. Kaprizov already is on long-term injured reserve and placing Eriksson Ek on that list would create more room. The NHL doesn’t make teams adhere to the salary cap once the postseason begins and clubs such as Vegas and Tampa Bay have used that to their advantage.
Guerin would never acknowledge that’s his plan, but it could be.
Guerin said Sunday he’s operating as if Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek will be back before the regular season ends on April 15 against Anaheim. But will either player be near top form again at any point this season?