Zach Parise did on-ice skating exercises early Friday morning at Xcel Energy Center but did not take part in either of the two Wild practices on the first day of training camp.

"It's day to day with him," coach Bruce Boudreau said. "As soon as the trainers tell me he's ready to go, he'll be here. I really don't think it's overly serious. … With three weeks [until the opener], we want to make sure everybody hits Game 1 on the upswing."

Parise, 33, tweaked his back before camp. He missed the 2016 playoffs with a herniated disk and battled a leg injury last season, when he tallied 42 points in 69 games.

Asked if Parise would have been able to play Friday if the Wild had a regular-season game, Boudreau said, "I'm sure if you asked him, he would be."

Passing Boudreau's test

Even at age 40, Matt Cullen was ready for Boudreau's infamous first-day skate test.

"That's not easy," said Cullen, who won back-to-back Stanley Cup titles with Pittsburgh before re-signing with the Wild this offseason.

The test requires players to skate 4½ lengths of the ice within 36 seconds. They get two minutes to rest and then must finish the same drill within 40 seconds. After another two minutes, they need to do the test within a similar amount of time.

Those who don't "pass" have to do the drill two more times. That's 22½ lengths in about 15 minutes. Cullen was among the majority who passed after three reps, but others, including forward Chris Stewart, had to do all five.

"The guys we thought would do it pretty easily did it," Boudreau said. "And the guys that we thought might struggle struggled a little bit."

Boudreau said as a player, he had to run "six miles in 25-30 minutes" on the first day of camp.

"You'd train all summer running," he said. "You'd be able to do it, and then you were done for the first week of camp. Then usually, I got cut by the first time they got back on the ice. So it just frustrated the heck out of me. But what better way to get into hockey shape than to skate."

Cullen has seen it all during his 20-year NHL career.

"It seems like every coach has their own little signature way of getting you," he said.

Olympic ban blues

Ryan Suter is a two-time U.S. Olympian whose father, Bob Suter, was part of the 1980 Miracle on Ice team. Suter said he hadn't read Alex Ovechkin's strong statement this week denouncing the decision-makers for not letting NHL players compete in the upcoming Winter Games in South Korea. But Suter seems equally disappointed.

"I was, to be honest, really looking forward to playing," Suter said. "It's too bad that we're not able to, if that's the case. I don't think it's ever too late to change someone's mind, but I'd really like to play in the Olympics."

Minnesota nice ice

Saturday's practices are open to the public, with sessions at 9:15 a.m. and 12:15 p.m.

The Wild is inviting fans to bring up to 3 ounces of water from "their local ice rink, pond or lake" to the Zamboni located outside Gate 1 of Xcel Energy Center. That water will be filtered and used Sunday to help make the Wild's ice sheet for the upcoming season.