Brodin practices, aims for return to lineup this weekend

ST. PAUL -- Near the end of the Wild's 3-2 win in Boston earlier this month, defenseman Jonas Brodin wound up to take a slap shot and knew something just wasn't right.
He had blocked a shot with his left hand earlier in the period, but because the pain went away rather quickly, he assumed all was fine.
But the pain went away quickly because he had broken a bone in his hand, not because the injury was just a stinger like he had hoped.

"I thought it was just a bone bruise, it wasn't too bad," Brodin said. "It got numb pretty quick but at the end I took a slapshot ... and I thought something's not good here."
A set of x-rays concluded a broken bone in his hand was indeed the diagnosis, and from there, it was simply a matter of how much time the star defenseman would miss.
As it turns out, not as much time as was initially feared. The belief is that Brodin could play on Friday night when the Wild returns to action at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers. If that's the case, that would mean a six-game absence for Brodin and a stretch of almost three weeks, which could mean the Wild dodged a major bullet.
The Wild has managed to go 5-0-1 during that span, with its only loss coming in Colorado in a shootout. With Brodin out, the Wild has seen its captain return from injury while getting contributions from guys like Jon Merrill, Jordie Benn and Calen Addison to help fill the sizable void.

"It's great, everyone is going," Brodin said. "That's a good thing when you're hurt, I think to watch, Addy played great when he was up here and same with Benn and all the guys have been really good. It's fun to watch and it's good to have, it's gonna be a race during the year and I think it's gonna be good to have good depth."
With Brodin and Spurgeon both back, and with Matt Dumba and Alex Goligoski both healthy and performing well, the Wild could have its entire top-4 available for the first time in over a month.
"It'd be a big bonus if we can get him back this weekend," said Wild coach Dean Evason.
Evason said he's not concerned about Brodin's fitness, as he's been skating on his own with Nick Bjugstad and skating coach Andy Ness.
Wednesday marked his first official practice back on the ice, but he'll get another on Thursday before the team's flight to the Big Apple.
"I think I felt pretty good to be out there with the guys again," Brodin said. "I think two practices will be good. We'll see tomorrow how it feels and decide after."

Merrill, Sturm enter protocol

But as has been the case for most of the past couple months, just when the Wild looks like it's about to get its blueline back to full strength, another piece goes down. On Wednesday, it was Merrill, who fell victim to the COVID-19 protocol list.
Nico Sturm was also added to the list and did not practice at TRIA Rink. They certainly seem unlikely to be on the Wild's trip to New York this weekend.

Merrill is in the midst of the best season of his NHL career, with three goals and 10 assists. The 13 points are just two shy of his career high. He's also a plus-14 and has been able to fill in up and down the lineup.
Both Merrill and Sturm, who is coming off a three-point night in a win over Montreal on Monday, are two of just five players who have skated in and played all 38 of Minnesota's games this season.
"It's just so random," Evason said. "It's not just the hockey world, it's not just us, it's the world in general. How does it happen? Nobody knows. So we'll deal with it."