Good morning everyone. Just got back into town from Chicago.

The Wild has recalled Robbie Earl from Houston. If you remember, Earl scored his third goal Dec. 17 vs. Montreal, came down with the Wild plague the next day and missed the Ottawa game and then was sent back to Houston. I can't remember if he lost all his equipment in the fire, too (I think so because they had to get new skates for him from Houston), but if so, it'd be a fitting cap to that callup. Great game and goal, get sickly sick, lose all your equipment, and oh, here's your middle seat back to Houston.

The recall is interesting because in the NHL, if a minor-leaguer not on an entry-level deal is recalled, that player's got 10 games or 30 days before waiver status kicks in, meaning to get back to the minors, the team would have to make that player available to 29 other teams.

Earl has played nine games.

Earl, if he plays tonight, will play his 10th game. Owen Nolan is injured, but the Wild's still at its full threshold of 12 forwards. So if Earl plays for Nolan but another forward is scratched, Earl would require waivers to get back to Houston.

However, there were some players banged up last night, so if Earl plays for one of those players because the Wild dipped below 12 forwards, the Wild can make this an emergency recall and circumvent the waiver situation.

Hope all that makes sense.

Basically, you'll know if it's emergency or non-emergency tonight by: If there's a healthy scratch, Earl would require waivers to get back. If there's no healthy scratch and Nolan and at least one other player that played last night doesn't play, it's an emergency recall.

And of course, if Earl doesn't play, forget I brought all this up and confused you.

If there's any other morning skate updates, I'll add to this. But I'm not at the skate right now. I've exercised my option.