Dylan Loucks is the Site Admin and Reporter for the Minnesota Wild team site with The Hockey News. A resident of St. Paul, MN, Loucks has spent the last four years covering hockey and in his spare time likes to work on his expected goals model and other models he is creating.

The Wild look to have superstar winger Kirill Kaprizov and captain Jared Spurgeon back in their lineup Thursday against Utah.

The Minnesota Wild have added defensemen Jonas Brodin and Brock Faber to their list of key injured players, leaving them out of the lineup for the game against the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night.

The Wild will be without Jonas Brodin for the next two games. The Minnesota Wild (26-12-4) are on the road for a back-to-back before they return home. They face the San Jose Sharks (13-25-6) on Saturday and the Vegas Golden Knights (28-10-3) on Sunday.

Jonas Brodin will not be in the lineup Thursday when the Minnesota Wild take on the Central Division rival Colorado Avalanche as the veteran defenseman is sidelined with a lower-body injury, per Michael Russo of The Athletic.

Superstar winger Kirill Kaprizov and veteran defenseman Jared Spurgeon returned to practice on Wednesday. Head coach John Hynes told reporters he's "cautiously optimistic" that both will play in their upcoming game against the Utah Hockey Club at Xcel Energy Center.

ST PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota Wild coach John Hynes is "cautiously optimistic" that star forward Kirill Kaprizov and defenseman Jared Spurgeon will be in the lineup on Thursday.

Kirill Kaprizov’s monthlong layoff is over. The Wild’s leading scorer and captain Jared Spurgeon will be back in action Thursday when the Wild face Utah Hockey Club at Xcel Energy Center. Both practiced Wednesday at Tria Rink in St.

Without Kirill Kaprizov, Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon, Minnesota played a smart, poised and gutsy game, pulling away in the third for a 3-1 victory at Ball Arena.

And the clearest signal that Kaprizov and Spurgeon would be back is that the Wild reassigned defenseman David Jiricek two hours after practice. If you did the salary cap math, it really was the only option to get below the cap ceiling once Kaprizov is activated from LTIR.

Dylan Guenther, who scored both of Utah’s goals on Dec. 20, is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury. Mikhail Sergachev, who had three assists in those two games, is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury. It’s unclear whether he’ll be ready to play Thursday.