It has been two months since we did a Wild mailbag and several months since we did an ‘Ask Russo and Smith’ mailbag, but with Joe back on the clock, there’s no better time to answer many of your questions.

Superstar winger Kirill Kaprizov and veteran defenseman Jared Spurgeon returned to practice on Wednesday. Head coach John Hynes told reporters he's "cautiously optimistic" that both will play in their upcoming game against the Utah Hockey Club at Xcel Energy Center.

Kirill Kaprizov and Jared Spurgeon were full participants during practice and seem likely to return to the lineup on Thursday. Kaprizov, 27, has missed the last 12 games with a lower-body injury. He was in line rushes with Mats Zuccarello and Marco Rossi so all signs point to him returning to the lineup.

The Wild look to have superstar winger Kirill Kaprizov and captain Jared Spurgeon back in their lineup Thursday against Utah.

And the clearest signal that Kaprizov and Spurgeon would be back is that the Wild reassigned defenseman David Jiricek two hours after practice. If you did the salary cap math, it really was the only option to get below the cap ceiling once Kaprizov is activated from LTIR.

Yakov Trenin scored against his former team early in the third period, and the Minnesota Wild beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 on Monday.

The Minnesota Wild (27-15-4) are back in action tonight for one more game on the road before they return home. They will face the Colorado Avalanche (28-18-1) today for a 2:00 p.m. central time start.

The Minnesota Wild feel a sense of urgency despite having nearly half a season left to play. After losing three in a row and four of their last five games, the Wild will look to turn things around on Monday afternoon against the host Colorado Avalanche in Denver.

Nashville took over after the rough stuff, led by veteran scorer Filip Forsberg (two goals and assist), captain Roman Josi (two assists) and goaltender Juuse Saros (27 saves), as the Predators continue their second-half reclamation under coach and former Wild player Andrew Brunette.

President-elect Donald Trump (R) announced U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio as his nominee for secretary of state on November 13, 2024. This presidential appointment requires Senate confirmation. If confirmed, Rubio will be the first Latino U.S. secretary of state.

After L'Heureux slew-footed Jared Spurgeon, sidelining the Wild captain, payback was expected in the rematch — and it came early.

David Jiricek scored for the Wild early in a fight-filled opening period, but they struggled to find other offense until Nashville had taken a comfortable lead, losing their third consecutive game.