David Jones to make Wild debut in Toronto, Jonas Brodin to return after missing 13 games

Good day from the press room at Air Canada Centre, where there's still World Cup hysteria after yesterday's announcement of all the team's preliminary rosters.

As you know by now, Zach Parise, Ryan Suter, Mikko Koivu and Mikael Granlund were named to their respective countries and Thomas Vanek was named to Team Europe.

Of the 128 players named to the eight teams yesterday, my quick math (so hopefully accurate) has Koivu as one of nine players who will be playing in their second World Cup – Alex Ovechkin, Pavel Datsyuk, Marian Hossa, Zdeno Chara, Daniel and Henrik Sedin, Henrik Zetterberg and Henrik Lundqvist.

Obviously, there could be more by the time the rest of the rosters are filled out by June 1 (give or take a few days if there's a conflict with the Stanley Cup Finals, my pal to my right here in the press room, Pierre LeBrun, reports).

My guess is only Nino Niederreiter (Team Europe) and maybe Erik Haula (Finland) still have a shot for the Wild. I don't see Jonas Brodin having a shot unless there's an injury to Sweden's D. You can only take seven D and Sweden's already named six, and Brodin would be up against star John Klingberg and Hampus Lindholm for that final spot.

Brodin said the Swedes have a "sick team" and he wasn't surprised to not be on the roster and hopes to try to get in that next mix. But like I said, he's in it tough.

USA GM Dean Lombardi indicated there'd be a changing of the guard and leadership transition on this team, so I don't expect Parise to captain the Americans like he did at the 2014 Olympics. My guess: Joe Pavelski. If not him, Ryan McDonagh.

That said, if the Wild wants to keep its distance on the Avs, you've got to win games like tonight. The Wild's searching for its third straight win and has had five 5+ goal games under coach John Torchetti after five 5+ goal games in 55 games under former coach Mike Yeo this season.

"[Toronto has a] lot of speed, so we've got to be ready," coach John Torchetti said. "It's a big game for us."

Brodin, who broke a foot Feb. 4 at the Rangers, will return after missing 13 games tonight. Jason Zucker (concussion) will miss his sixth game. GM Chuck Fletcher said he just has to get his wind back and he's a possibility for Saturday at the Sabres. He got skated hard this morning here in Toronto.

As for Brodin, Torchetti is hoping he can really help the Wild's penalty kill. The Wild's penalty kill has been scored on six of its last 11 chances over the past five games and 14 of the last 44 chances over 13 games.

"If it has a chance to go in, it goes in," Torchetti said. "The last two goals, we've got to do a better job making sure we don't allow it to get up top and over. The Ovechkin goal and Iginla goal were almost identical. We've got to do a better job of that. It's definitely an area we have to improve upon if we're going to make the playoffs."

Jones will skate on the right side of Vanek and Granlund. Chris Porter will move to the left side of the fourth line with Jarret Stoll and Justin Fontaine.

"I get to play with two real good players," Jones said. "I'm looking forward to it and not changing anything I do, but hopefully I can complement those guys. They're both real skilled players and I'll do my best to create loose pucks for them and try to find those guys."

On being here with Minnesota, Jones said, "It's a really nice chance. I was excited. The situation in Calgary, it's a great group of guys there, but things didn't go the way they wanted this year. For me, I just want to get back to the playoffs and play for that Cup. It's a great opportunity."

I'll have more on Jones in my game notebook in tomorrow's paper. He told me a couple funny stories for a good note.

Brodin's happy to be back. He's also happy to still be with the Wild. He heard all the trade rumors and just try to keep it out of his mind because there's nothing he could do to control it.

That's it for now. I'll be on NHL Network's Bald Spot Cam at 5:10 p.m. CT, 6:10 p.m. ET.

If you wanted to check out the Wild's schedule vs. the Avs' schedule down the stretch, here you go: