Kirill Kaprizov fine after being hit by shot in Wild preseason opener
Minnesota Wild coach Dean Evason said Kirill Kaprizov was fine after taking a shot off his skate Sunday, but his absence from practice Monday morning raised a tiny bit of concern before Evason reiterated to reporters that his young superstar is OK.
Evason says Kaprizov is fine. No issues. Just didn’t need to skate today after taking the shot yesterday
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) September 26, 2022
Kaprizov, who had a goal and an assist in Minnesota's 3-2 overtime win over Colorado in the preseason opener, took a Freddie Gaudreau shot off his ankle/foot. According to Michael Russo of The Athletic, Kaprizov didn't want to leave the game but the Wild forced him to stop playing as a precaution.
Raise your hand if you missed this ✋ #mnwild pic.twitter.com/BXydqtwEdN
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) September 25, 2022
Without Kaprizov in the three-on-three overtime, the Wild gave rookie Marco Rossi, the 21-year-old who was the ninth overall pick in the 2020 draft, a chance and he dazzled on the game-winning assist to Ryan Hartman.
How's it going Hartzy? Nice to be back 👍#mnwild pic.twitter.com/7tWWcwxkl6
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) September 25, 2022
"Clearly, just a tremendous pass. That's what he does," said Evason. He looked and/or played like he belongs."
"I'm more ready," Rossi said. "I just try to prove to everyone that I belong here."
The Wild have six more preseason game to go and Evason said it's a good bet that Rossi will play in at least three more, while veteran players and stars like Kaprizov probably won't play in more than three games.
The regular season begins Oct. 13 when the Wild host the New York Rangers.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.