Important next step as Mats Zuccarello skates with Wild

Familiar faces were plentiful at TRIA Rink on Tuesday morning as the Minnesota Wild prepared for their first meeting with divisional rival Winnipeg at their morning skate Hanging out at the practice facility that did not exist when they were on the Minnesota roster s standouts Marian Gaborik Brian Rolston and Pierre-Marc Bouchard got reacquainted with old friends like Wild broadcaster Tom Reid and got to meet several of the current Wild players in advance of their appearances at Grand Casino Arena as part of the franchise s th anniversary celebration Perhaps the best news for the Wild and their fans was a limited familiar faces on the ice Marcus Foligno practiced after missing the previous meeting due to an upper body injury Alongside Foligno Mats Zuccarello was on the ice for the first time this season as his recovery from a lower body injury continues After morning skate Wild coach John Hynes listed Foligno as questionable to play versus the Jets but the veteran was a full participant in warmups and played wing on the crew s third line with Vinnie Hinostroza at the other wing and Ryan Hartman at center The injury was the latest advance in a start to the season for Foligno that has mirrored the rest of the Wild namely disappointing He had no goals or assists in Minnesota s first nine games and is one of the players that they are counting on to provide more of a physical presence which is among the things the Wild have lacked in the early going For Zuccarello his work on Tuesday was the next step toward a return that the club hopes will come in November Zuccy it s good to see him back out He s in that next level of progression for him where he s starting to ramp it up a little bit individually Hynes revealed Now he s back into band practices which is good to see too For him he has made specific really good progress Zuccarello was among the club leaders in assists last season with in games played and would give the Wild another top six forward option upon returning to the lineup He missed games last season after getting hit below the belt by a teammate s shot during a battle an ailment which required surgery in November When the Wild revealed his current injury in late September they predicted Zuccarello would be out for up to eight weeks Hynes noted that is still the schedule they anticipate Timeline remains the same Hynes commented noting that Zuccarello is not being exposed to any on-ice contact yet I think he s in week five the present day and it was six to eight weeks So he s progressing well and we ll see where it goes from here Hynes added that veteran defenseman Zach Bogosian who missed his sixth consecutive match versus Winnipeg and has been seen wearing a walking boot is considered week to week Johnson returns Last month Wild general manager Bill Guerin did not have an on-ice job available for veteran defenseman Jack Johnson who participated in the Wild s bulk fresh training camp on a professional tryout but was distributed before the regular season started Johnson played half of last season for Columbus and with more than NHL games on his roster is sliding toward retirement On Tuesday Johnson was shadowing Guerin and a few of the Wild s hockey operations staff as the former Shattuck-St Mary s and University of Michigan standout begins learning the off-ice side of the NHL Guerin stated he was happy to welcome Johnson back to Minnesota to get a look at the way they handle hockey operations and it was reminiscent of That is when Guerin made the transition from playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins the last stop in a -game NHL career to a expansion coach role there He eventually worked his way up to assistant general manager in Pittsburgh before being hired to his first NHL general manager job with the Wild in Related Articles Youthful defensive play proving costly in sluggish Wild start A loss but not pointless as Wild s comeback fails in OT Marcus Foligno is Wild s latest injury bug victim Wild fall behind Utah speedily lose for fourth time in five games After fifth loss in nine games Wild say it s too early to panic