Zach Parise made his season debut Tuesday night. Nino Niederreiter likely will rejoin the lineup on Thursday. The injury list, for now, will become a blank sheet of paper.
The Wild finally looks whole again. Now it's time to see what it can do with a complete cast.
"We do have a full roster back," said goalie Devan Dubnyk, who recently spent time on the injury list. "This is it. This is us. We've got to get it together and string a bunch of wins together."
Day 1 for the new-look Wild brought a step in that direction. The team celebrated Parise's return from back surgery by spanking the Florida Panthers 5-1 at Xcel Energy Center.
Parise logged 13½ minutes of ice time, registered three shots and looked none worse for the wear after his first NHL game since undergoing microdiscectomy surgery.
"I thought it was a great first game back," Parise said.
Paired with Charlie Coyle and Chris Stewart on the third line, Parise looked like the Parise of old. He skated hard to the net, battled for pucks in the corners, brought energy. He got knocked on his keister a few times, but jumped right up.
All in all, his return was a success. Personally and for the team. The Wild dominated from start to finish.