The Minnesota Wild have been plagued by injuries in 2024-25. Kirill Kaprizov, arguably the team's best player, suffered a lower-body injury that required surgery in late January and while he was initially expected to miss around a month, that timeline has changed.

If you google “quotes about getting paid,” a surprising lack of ballplayers and rock stars appear. In its place is Forbes’s "Top 100 Money Quotes of All Time." I read all 100, looking for an interesting hook before I blast readers with a thousand words of contract analysis.

Starting without the puck almost every opposing power play has been a killer. Joel Eriksson Ek has won 36.1 percent of his draws on the kill, while Marat Khusnutdinov has won 34.4. Freddy Gaudreau has been adequate at least, winning 47.1 percent of his draws (28th in the NHL, minimum 55 draws).

The Minnesota Wild are not expected to be active at the NHL Trade Deadline, but that also means Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek are both expected back.

The Swedes were back from 4 Nations for practice on Friday, but U.S. players Brock Faber and Matt Boldy won’t join the team until before puck drop tomorrow in Detroit.

Wild wing Ryan Hartman’s suspension for roughing Ottawa’s Tim Stützle was decreased from 10 games to eight after he appealed to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.