ST. PAUL, Minn. — After a 15-game absence because of an upper-body injury, Minnesota Wild captain Mikko Koivu will return to the lineup Thursday against Calgary.
Koivu has missed 23 of the past 27 games overall because of the injury, but his frustration has turned to excitement in anticipation of his return.
"I am very excited, it has been a long couple weeks here," he said Wednesday at the Wild's morning skate. "Feeling good to be out there in practice, but obviously a game situation is what you are looking for, and I am very excited."
Coach Mike Yeo knows the presence of his team's only All-Star will provide an immediate boost to the lineup.
"We are excited to have him back in there," he said. "What a leader he is for us, as far as emotionally what he puts into the game and his will to win every night, and skill wise, what he can add to our group."
Koivu was originally injured Jan. 14 and reinjured it Feb. 11. He has played 45 games this season and tallied 37 points; the Wild are 22-16-7 in those games. In the 27 games Koivu has missed, Minnesota is 8-16-3.
The Wild offense has struggled all season but even more notably without the captain. Minnesota has averaged 2.31 goals per game with Koivu and only 1.63 without him. The power-play success rate is 16.0 percent with Koivu, 12.9 percent without him.
"You look at the story of the season and you look at what has happened with us, if anything we should all appreciate how valuable he is to our organization,” Yeo said.
The loss has been huge not only in numbers but also with the intangibles.
"Certainly we lost some other guys, but he is such a warrior in the way he goes out and his will to win is so high that every night, that it is infectious on the rest of the group,” Yeo said. "That is what makes him a great leader. He is not the most vocal that is going to be around, but every night when he is putting on his gear and he is stepping over the boards, every single player wants to follow that guy into battle.”
Koivu will play on a line with Dany Heatey and Devin Setoguchi, and Yeo said they will monitor Koivu's minutes in his first game back.
"He wants to be out there and contributing, and so if he is good enough, and we feel he is good enough, then we will get him out there," Yeo said. "Having said that, I am not going to put him out there 25 minutes (Thursday) and expect him to be at the same level as before he got hurt. We will monitor his minutes, we will see how he is doing. We always keep a pretty close eye on that with all the guys, especially the guys that are coming back from an injury.”
Lundin shot down: Defenseman Mike Lundin has been officially shut down for the season because of a lower-body injury. Lundin, who signed as a free agent in the offseason, played only17 games in his first season with Minnesota.
