ANAHEIM, Calif. – A five-day break was supposed to begin Sunday after the Wild's two-game series in Anaheim, but a COVID-19 outbreak changed that plan.
Instead of going home, the Wild will stay on the road — with stops in San Jose and Colorado getting added as part of the team's revamped schedule to make up for the games postponed while the team was shut down by the NHL.
Now, an already compact season will get even tighter, a reality that puts practice time at odds with rest.
"We don't want to really practice because we don't want to wear the guys down," coach Dean Evason said. "We want to be fresh. And yet we need to practice because our guys have not practiced. We are kind of caught a little bit."
Before the outbreak, the Wild tended to stay away from the rink on nongame days. But since getting cleared to restart, the Wild has been on the practice ice at every opportunity. At some point, though, the team could start subbing these sessions for downtime — especially as the schedule picks up.
Not only did the retooled rundown extend this road trip, but it also features three more back-to-backs. Only once the rest of the way will the team have more than one day between games — a three-day buffer March 26-28.
"We want to rest," Evason said. "I don't think there's big enough value put in actually staying away from the arena. I think a lot of times we get caught up in, 'We need to have a meeting. We need to have a video. We need to do this.' Sometimes we need to forget about hockey and take a day to completely clear ourselves and come back ready. We are very aware of that."
Brodin, Rask return
Defenseman Jonas Brodin and center Victor Rask returned to the Wild lineup Saturday, their first game since getting cleared from the NHL's COVID protocols on Thursday.