His cheeks red, sweat pouring from his forehead, Thomas Vanek fell into his stall and said, "Boy, I'm tired."
The injured Wild winger had just finished Wednesday morning with his hardest skate since being sidelined because of broken ribs. He hopes the Wild can extend its season long enough for him to return to the lineup, but he's not quite sure when he'll be ready.
"I just need time, and there's not a whole lot of it right now," Vanek said. "I'll just keep pushing it and see where it goes."
Vanek is officially day-to-day. He's confident he would be ready by the second round of the playoffs and said it's not impossible he could be back by the end of the Dallas-Wild series. The Stars have a 3-1 lead in the series after a 3-2 victory over the Wild on Wednesday.
But, said Vanek, "It's just not quite there yet. I'm not just going to go in there because I want to go in there. If I'm going to go in, especially this time of the year, I feel like it's more my type of game anyway to go in front of the net, get crosschecks, get those ugly tips, and until I'm ready to do that, there's no point.
"I feel good skating, shooting. I can shoot, but I don't feel fully comfortable letting it go yet. Again, I feel like I'm getting close, but not quite."
Vanek was injured March 29 on an uncalled cross-check by Chicago's Viktor Svedberg.
"To me, it was a dirty play," Vanek said. "I was in the corner, and tried making my way back to the high slot. The shot got blocked, and you can usually brace yourself a little bit, but I just never saw the [check] coming, and it buckled me."