Olympics loom, but Wild are focused on NHL schedule
For several Minnesota Wild players and their head coach, one of the great thrills of their hockey careers is just a few days away. And to a man, they’re trying not to think about it.
Later this week, eight members of the Wild and head coach John Hynes will be bound for Italy, where they’ll represent Team USA (Hynes, Brock Faber, Quinn Hughes, Matt Boldy), Team Sweden (Filip Gustavsson, Jesper Wallstedt, Marcus Johansson, Joel Eriksson Ek) and Team Germany (Nico Sturm). A ninth player in the organization, minor league defenseman David Spacek, will skate for Team Czechia.
But with two regular-season NHL games still to play and four vital points available, there was a clear focus on Montreal — the Wild’s Monday night opponent — and not Milan as the players prepped for their only February home game.
“I’m just kind of trying to get through these last two games and focused on that,” Hughes said following the team’s Monday morning skate at TRIA Rink. “Get healthy and play really good hockey and go into the Olympics feeling good about myself.”
For the players who aren’t headed to Europe, or south to Iowa, the NHL has mandated that the team’s locker room be closed for 12 consecutive days, giving at least a few of them time for rest and relaxation.
Before Hynes and the Wild players embark on their Olympic journeys, they discussed plans for how to handle their return to Minnesota and to NHL hockey when their games in Europe are done.
Oddsmakers have tabbed Team Canada as the gold medal favorite, with the Americans and the Swedes in the mix for the medal podium. By contrast, a recent betting line showed Sturm and the Germans with 10-1 odds to get a medal. That means his Olympic experience might be a few days shorter than that of the Swedes or the Americans.
Hynes has a plan in place for all of it.
“I met with all the players that are going to the Olympics and talked about every situation possible,” said Hynes, who will be an assistant coach for Team USA. “If they make it all the way to the gold medal game, what that would look like? If their team gets knocked out in the quarters or whatever, what would be our expectations and their expectations for rest and recovery, but also when to come back and join the team?”
When the non-Olympic Wild players return from their 12-day break, assistant coach Jack Capuano will run practices in St. Paul. The Olympics finish on Sunday, Feb. 22, and the Wild are scheduled to play Thursday, Feb. 26, at Colorado, which on Monday morning was the only Western Conference team with more points (81) than the Wild (74),
As opposed to his normal game night red and green, Gustavsson practiced Monday with gloves and pads that were dark blue with gold accents, working on breaking in his Team Sweden gear. Sturm, who missed the Wild’s Saturday night win in Edmonton due to illness, was breaking in his Team Germany skates.
Like the other Wild players bound for the Olympics, Sturm was trying to keep that part of it off his mind.
“I’m not even too much focused on it right now. It’s just too much hockey at the moment still here,” he said. “For me, it doesn’t feel like it’s four days away. It’s just my mind is so preoccupied with NHL hockey right now and playing every 48 hours. It’s hard to get much rest, do some planning or think about other things.”
With a roughly eight-hour flight across the Atlantic in all of their futures, there will be plenty of time for thinking, and the hockey thrill of a lifetime later in the week.
