Dylan Loucks is the Site Admin and Reporter for the Minnesota Wild team site with The Hockey News. A resident of St. Paul, MN, Loucks has spent the last four years covering hockey and in his spare time likes to work on his expected goals model and other models he is creating.

The Wild had their best player back for the first time in a month, but they didn’t play like it. Kirill Kaprizov’s return was spoiled by a 4-0 shellacking from Utah Hockey Club Thursday night at Xcel Energy Center that continued the Wild’s woes at home.

While Kaprizov could be back this week, Wild coach John Hynes did not "want to put a timeline" on his potential return, according to Smith, but added the fact Kaprizov is skating every day and continuing to do more and more each day is "a good sign." There are signs Minnesota could be gearing up to have some players return soon.