The Minnesota Wild will be without their star forward Zach Parise for the rest of this week.
There had been speculation that Parise was a possibility for Wednesday’s game after he returned to practice this week. Those hopes were dashed on Monday when the team announced that they don’t expect him back in any of this week’s three games, officially listing him as doubtful.
That shouldn’t be too surprising after coach Mike Yeo said on Saturday that Parise clearly “wasn’t 100 percent” in Saturday’s practice. The team will need to be sure they don’t rush him back, as he pushed himself to come back from an injury previously and was re-injured.
Yeo said, after Parise was injured in a November 5 game against the Nashville Predators, that the team was “managing Zach,” because he always wants to play. After limping off the ice on November 5, he returned to the game and finished the period. After the game he was ruled to be week-to-week with a sprained MCL.
Through 12 games this season, Parise has seven goals and two assists on a line with Jason Pominville and Mikael Granlund. Both Pominville and Granund have struggled to score this season.
The Wild play the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday, the Winnipeg Jets on Friday and the Dallas Stars on Saturday.