ST. PAUL, Minn. \u2014 The Wild will be at full strength when they face the best-in-the-NHL Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
And that includes having gold-medal winners Matt Boldy, Brock Faber and Quinn Hughes in the lineup.<\/p>\n
The trio of Americans, who visited the White House and attended the State of the Union on Tuesday, flew back to Minnesota on Wednesday morning on owner Craig Leipold\u2019s plane and joined the Wild on their charter to Denver.<\/p>\n
Coach John Hynes said Boldy, Faber and Hughes are expected to play against the Utah Mammoth on Friday, as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a set plan, but you\u2019re not going to be able to recover from (the Olympics) even if it\u2019s a day or two off,\u201d said Hynes, who was part of the U.S. coaching staff. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be on those three guys to be able to manage themselves the right way away from the game. We\u2019ll talk with them about what they need.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the plan is for them to play, and I know they want to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boldy, Faber and Hughes all played key roles \u2014 and big minutes \u2014 for the U.S. Boldy scored the Americans\u2019 only regulation goal in their 2-1 win over Canada in the gold-medal game. Faber was a fixture in the top four and on the penalty kill. And Hughes was named the top defenseman of the tournament.<\/p>\n
With the Wild opening up with three games in four nights, including Sunday\u2019s home game against the St. Louis Blues, Hynes said they\u2019ll work with the players on giving them a day off or optional skates, but it won\u2019t include missing games. The Wild are just three points behind the Central Division-leading Avalanche, who have three games in hand, and one point ahead of the third-place Dallas Stars.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose guys are competitive guys and the experience is great for them,\u201d Hynes said. \u201cBut as I am excited to come back to this team. We have a really good team here. Our expectations coming in after the break is getting us up and running again and being a competitive team, and our focus turns to the Wild.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need them to play in games and be good players for us. How do we manage around that to get them in and give them the ability to do that? That\u2019s where we\u2019ll work in tandem with them. But it\u2019s a lot of the responsibility of the players to make sure they\u2019re getting the rest and recovery when they\u2019re not here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Medical matters<\/p>\n
The Wild come out of the Olympics relatively healthy, which is fortunate considering they had eight players participating.<\/p>\n
A large portion of the team has been practicing in St. Paul for the past week in a mini-training camp at TRIA Rink. Everyone except the three U.S. Olympic players was at practice Wednesday, including Vladimir Tarasenko, who missed Tuesday\u2019s workout due to illness. Hynes said there were no issues with Boldy, Faber or Hughes that would limit them.<\/p>\n
Joel Eriksson Ek, who took (and delivered) a number of tough hits in the Olympics for Team Sweden, said he took a couple of days off after returning from the Olympics and is feeling strong for the stretch run.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel good,\u201d Eriksson Ek said. \u201cI\u2019m excited to be back and start back up here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jonas Brodin also joined team skates Tuesday and Wednesday, though he was in non-contact mode. Brodin underwent surgery on a lower-body injury in mid-January, which forced him to miss the Olympics and was expected to sideline him for six to eight weeks. Hynes said Wednesday that he didn\u2019t have a timetable yet on Brodin but that he \u201clooked really good\u201d and is doing everything but contact, which \u201cis a good sign.\u201d Hynes said he\u2019d know more early next week.<\/p>\n
Trade winds<\/p>\n
The NHL trade deadline is approaching March 6, and\u00a0president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Guerin has said the Hughes blockbuster in December put them in more of a \u201cwin-now mode\u201d than they\u2019ve ever been. He is hoping to add at the deadline, preferably a center.<\/p>\n