Max Pacioretty was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Jan. 18, and missed his second game when the Maple Leafs lost 5-1 to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday. Initially, he was listed as day to day, but coach Craig Berube said Wednesday that the timeline has changed.

Kirill Kaprizov is back in action. After missing the past 12 games with a lower-body injury that popped up after the holiday break, Kaprizov was set to make his highly anticipated return on Thursday night against Utah at Xcel Energy Center.

The Minnesota Wild have been without two of the most important pieces in their lineup for multiple weeks, but that could soon be on the verge of changing. Forward Kirill Kaprizov, who has missed the last 12 games with a lower-body injury,

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.

Case in point: Sunday’s goal in Vegas. He was on a two-on-one with Freddy Gaudreau. Hartman appeared to look over to Gaudreau as if to pass, but then he fired a great wrist shot and beat goalie Adin Hill glove-side.

Kirill Kaprizov will return to the lineup for the Minnesota Wild against the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; HULU, ESPN+). The forward has missed the past 12 games because of a lower-body injury that was considered day to day.

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.

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.

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Kirill Kaprizov and Jared Spurgeon were back in the Minnesota Wild lineup Thursday night, but it didn’t give them the spark they had hoped for in a 4-0 loss to the Utah Hockey Club at Xcel Energy Center.

The Minnesota Wild hosted the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday evening, Jan. 23, in their third meeting of the season. After being injured, they welcomed Kirill Kaprizov and Jared Spurgeon back to the lineup,

Karel Vejmelka made 26 saves for his first shutout of the season, and the Utah Hockey Club defeated the Minnesota Wild 4-0 at Xcel Energy Center on Thursday. “We did a great