The Minnesota Wild have recalled forward Ben Jones from Iowa in order to replace Kirill Kaprizov for the remainder of their road trip.

I checked in on the crowded field of Eastern Conference wild card hopefuls to see where each team stood. The Columbus Blue Jackets and Ottawa Senators have played well enough in the interim, and I’m still bullish about their chances.

NBA All-Star starters getting announced last Thursday on TNT, the attention shifts to the potential reserves this week. The Western Conference, as usual, has a deep pool of players to choose from and will inevitably have at least a few "snubs.

Minnesota Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov, who scored a team-high 23 goals through 37 games this season, will undergo surgery on a lower-body injury and miss at least a month, general manager Bill Guerin announced Tuesday.

Are the Minnesota Wild going to be forced out of St. Paul? That's what NHL commissioner Gary Bettman seemed to threaten recently.

Missing this many games all but eliminates him from contention no matter how well he has played or how much he has produced this season.

Utah continues the road trip tomorrow with a rematch against the Winnipeg Jets. Tomorrow’s game at Canada Life Centre will be the third meeting of the season between the teams after Winnipeg defeated Utah 3-0 on Nov. 5, and Utah returned the favor 5-2 on Jan. 20. Tomorrow’s puck drop is scheduled for 6 p.m. MT.

Without Kirill Kaprizov, Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon, Minnesota played a smart, poised and gutsy game, pulling away in the third for a 3-1 victory at Ball Arena.

And still, Nashville Predators coach Andrew Brunette admitted seeing some long faces at the team’s practice last Tuesday, with a few Predators and two of their coaches upset over the previous night’s Vikings’ loss in the playoffs.

Kaprizov had a couple scoring chances for the Wild (28-16-4), who were delighted to get their superstar back after he missed the last 12 games with a lower-body injury. Karel Vejmelka made 26 saves for Utah (21-19-7) in what was just their second shutout win of the season.

The Wild went 3-for-3 on fights in the opening six minutes of their matchup, taking out some frustration on Nashville. However, Minnesota may have burned off all of its energy exacting revenge. With the fighting out of the way, the Predators — third from last in the Western Conference — might win the game.

Amid all of the soap opera-caliber chaos of a rift between standout forwards J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson, the Vancouver Canucks are riding a three-game winning streak into a Friday night road clash against the Dallas Stars.