Seventeen days after separating his left shoulder, captain Mikko Koivu rejoined the Wild for its morning skate Tuesday.
That doesn't mean his return to the lineup is imminent, but it's clearly getting closer and he's clearly ahead of the minimum four-week recovery window he feared at the time of the Jan. 14 injury in St. Louis.
"But at the end, it's a matter of when you play your first game," Koivu said. "You can be practicing and stuff, but when you play your first game, then we'll see if I'm really ahead of schedule."
Koivu skated hard before Tuesday's morning session with strength and conditioning coach Kirk Olson and power forward Guillaume Latendresse, who is closing in on a return from a concussion.
Wearing a harness on the shoulder, Koivu zipped pucks at the net, reached for pucks and stickhandled impressively. His shot lacked a little of his usual velocity, but all good signs, nonetheless.
"It's not 100 percent, but it feels good to see the progress from last week, you're able to shoot the puck and skate," Koivu said. "It helps conditioning-wise and helps get the feel with the puck again."
Barring a setback at Wednesday's practice, Koivu and Latendresse will travel on the upcoming road trip that starts in Colorado on Thursday. Coach Mike Yeo and both players have declined to air what their anticipated target dates are for a return.
Neither has been cleared for full contact, although it was evident late in Tuesday's skate that the Wild is pushing them harder. Both survived with no setbacks.