Minnesota Wild's trip to Sweden: Netflix, sleep, stretch . . . and hope for improved play

Marc-Andre Fleury figured he'd watch Netflix; the goaltender planned to download the most recent "Mission Impossible" movie.

Brock Faber was planning for some shut-eye.

"Try and sleep as much as I can," the defenseman said.

The eight-and-a-half hour journey the Wild started on Monday evening is much longer than the flights they usually have during their road trips across the United States and Canada, but their destination wasn't typical.

For the first time in 13 years, the Wild are taking their game to Europe, the team shifting its season to Sweden this week to participate in the NHL Global Series.

"I'm super excited," Faber said.

This is the Wild's second stint overseas after they kicked off their season in 2010 vs. Carolina in Finland, and they've been planning for the trip since last spring when the league announced the Wild, Detroit, Ottawa and Toronto would be showcased in Stockholm during the NHL's 10th season of playing in Europe.

Of the 38 regular-season games held outside the U.S. and Canada, 13 have been in Sweden — and 12 in Stockholm at Avicii Arena where the Wild will face the Senators on Saturday (10 a.m. Minnesota time) and Maple Leafs on Sunday (7 a.m.). Both games are on FSN.

In the meantime, the Wild have an itinerary to help them settle into Sweden.

They left Minnesota on Monday at 10 p.m., the team going the red-eye route so that they arrive in Stockholm during the day at 1:30 p.m. local time; Sweden is seven hours ahead of Minnesota.

Normally, the Wild's traveling party is approximately 60 people, but that head count more than doubled to around 125 for this trip.

Aside from their roster, the Wild brought an extra defenseman in Daemon Hunt after recalling him from the minors Monday afternoon. Already, the Wild had one additional forward in Nic Petan, who took line rushes at practice Monday at Tria Rink in St. Paul alongside Marco Rossi and Mats Zuccarello with Kirill Kaprizov (maintenance) staying off the ice. Coach Dean Evason said Kaprizov was "banged up a little bit."

Injured players Frederick Gaudreau and Alex Goligoski will accompany the team; Gaudreau is on long-term injured reserve retroactive to his last game played on Oct. 24 vs. Edmonton, so he's eligible to return from an upper-body injury on Sunday.

Jesper Wallstedt will serve as the team's third goaltender.

Wallstedt, who posted his second shutout of the season with Iowa over the weekend and was named the American Hockey League's Player of the Week earlier this month, will only count against the Wild's salary cap if he plays. A first-round draft pick by the Wild in 2021, Wallstedt joins fellow Sweden natives Jonas Brodin, Joel Eriksson Ek, Filip Gustavsson and Marcus Johansson.

Add in the likes of the hockey operations department, marketing and business employees, ownership, corporate partners, NHL personnel and some media and the Wild needed a bigger plane than usual, a 207-seater with beds for players and coaches.

Dinner and breakfast were served on the flight, and players had electrical adapters waiting for them when they boarded. (They also had to reach out to their cellular providers to make sure their phones would work in Sweden.)

Although they won't skate Tuesday, the Wild will do some exercise and stretching after getting to Stockholm ahead of a practice Wednesday. Strength and conditioning coach Matt Harder was involved in mapping out how to acclimate the players.

"Just try to eat and sleep at the right hours," Eriksson Ek said. "I think that's what I found worked for me."

On Thursday, Wild players are free to roam the city.

"Maybe take them to lunch, get them Swedish food," Brodin said. "Show them around a little bit."

While there are some scheduled meals, players can make their own plans for the most part.

"All the Swedes were pretty adamant in saying, 'We want to go out for dinner,'" said Andrew Heydt, the Wild's director of team operations. "'We want to take our teammates, our friends, to our spots.'"

After another practice Friday, the Wild will suit up for two games less than 24 hours apart.

The team gets back to the Twin Cities on Monday afternoon and will have plenty of downtime to reset; it won't play again until Nov. 24 when Colorado stops by Xcel Energy Center for a post-Thanksgiving Central Division battle.

Overall, that means the Wild will compete only twice in 11 days, probably not the best schedule for a team in a funk. They'll have to simmer in their three-game losing streak instead of getting the chance to likely snap it sooner if they were in normal circumstances.

They're coming off an 8-3 meltdown to Dallas at home on Sunday, and a businesslike tone ensued at their Monday practice.

"We'll have some fun obviously," Evason said after the session. "We'll take in a different country and culture and all that good stuff. But when the puck's dropped, we're pretty desperate for wins right now."

That reality hasn't overshadowed the uniqueness of this opportunity.

In fact, maybe the change of scenery is just the spark the Wild need to get their season back on track.

"That's the stuff that gets the group tight," Johansson said. "We're struggling right now, and we need to turn this around. I think this is honestly a good way to get away and hang out and get four points and kind of get something good going."