He said he's ready, he's ready," Wild coach Dean Evason said Friday. "We had a good chat with him yesterday ... Again, Kirill's a special player but everybody gets treated the same in these situations. … These kind of situations, it's out of our hands. It's, you know, the doctors and then the trainers and ultimately the player that has to be cleared and then we make the decision as an organization or staff where we put them in the lineup and when.
"But when they tell us they're ready, we make those decisions."
Kaprizov, who was injured when he was taken down to the ice by Winnipeg Jets defenseman Logan Stanley during a 4-2 win on March 8, leads the Wild with 74 points (39 goals, 35 assists) in 65 games this season. Minnesota clinched a Stanley Cup Playoff berth Monday and is two points behind the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars for first place in the Central Division with four games remaining.
"It wasn't very fun at all," Kaprizov said of sitting out. "I've never really had an injury this long in my career. A week, week-and-a-half max up to this point, so it was definitely tough. But you know, try to find positives in it and try to continue to work, continue to get better."
Minnesota will be without forward Joel Eriksson Ek, who is week to week after taking a slap shot off his ankle by Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin in the second period of a 4-1 loss Thursday. Eriksson Ek has an NHL career-high 61 points (23 goals, 38 assists) in 78 games.
"He's a huge part of our hockey club," Evason said. "But, you know, there's nothing we can do about it now. It's done. We'll hopefully get him back sooner than later. Other people, all of us, have to step up."
Forward Oskar Sundqvist will also miss the game Saturday with a lower-body injury but is day to day, and forward Gustav Nyquist remains day to day; the forward, acquired in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Feb. 28, has not played since Jan. 25 because of a shoulder injury.
"I'd love to give you exactly our lineup tomorrow but we're exactly not sure," Evason said. "We can tell you Kirill's going to play for sure. We're not sure after that."
