Cal Clutterbuck was the first Wild skater on the ice for today's optional practice. Not too many more followed.
Just seven other skaters (Stoner, Scott, Sheppard, Ebbett, Sykora, Brodziak and Boogaard) joined, and both goaltenders. That was it. Coach Todd Richards kept the skates away, too, so Dave Barr ran practice.
It was pretty easy-going. For the majority of the 40 minutes, Scott and Stoner were at one end of the rink firing wrist shots on Nik Backstrom. The others went in 2-on-0 on Harding from the blue line.
Best action of the day? Wild communications guy Ryan Stanzel pulling a brilliant save on the arena steps, somehow preventing himself from falling face-first with an armful of paperwork. I gave it a 9.7
LIke I said, not too many faces around on the ice today, but plenty of coming and going in and around the locker room. Just about all of the players have a family member or friend or mentor coming along on this trip to Chicago. I saw Mikko Koivu and his dad milling around, joking with Backstrom in a foreign tongue (sorry, I didn't translate it). John Scott has his father-in-law coming with and Clayton Stoner's dad will be there. The Family Stone(r) only found out the day after the game in Anaheim that he would be along, and young Clayton was very gracious. It's already been a fun trip; Stoner's dad is visiting Minnesota for the first time and got to see Clayton play last night.
So, yeah. Very little news from today, as you can tell. Richards said everyone came out of last night's game healthy. That means Stoner (groin) is 100%, right?
"I don't think I've ever been 100 percent," he quipped.
That'll be it for today. Russo is en route to Chicago and will have you covered from the Windy City.
