Wild notes: Two healthy defensemen trying to avoid mumps

Jared Spurgeon and Nate Prosser aren't walking around the locker room with face masks, but let's just say they have been a lot more vigilant when it comes to washing hands and getting sleep.

As the only two members of the Wild blue line who haven't caught the mumps, Spurgeon and Prosser are trying to stay healthy.

"I got the immunization and just hope I don't get it," Spurgeon said. "It seems to be surrounding us all. We're all in close proximity, so if you're going to get it, you're going to get it."

Ryan Suter, Marco Scandella, Jonas Brodin, Keith Ballard and Christian Folin have all gotten the mumps. Their stalls are next to Spurgeon and Prosser.

"It's kind of weird all the defensemen keep getting it," said Prosser, who also got the booster.

Zach Parise joked that the forwards haven't gotten the mumps because "we're stronger and smarter. Hopefully this is the last case because it's scary. I mean, what is this, the Oregon Trail? Where are we right now? Every team seems to get the flu once a year, but the mumps?"

Ironically, the Anaheim Ducks, the Wild's opponent Friday, are one of the other teams that have been hit. Corey Perry, Francois Beauchemin and Clayton Stoner have all gotten the virus.

"It's crazy," said Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau, who kiddingly wondered if there'd be any hitting Friday by players "afraid to get anything on them."

Asked how he thinks it started, Stoner said, "We point the finger other places and people think it's us."

Stoner noted the St. Louis Blues had several cases, and the Wild and Blues played an exhibition home and home in early October before each played in Anaheim a few weeks later.

Suter skated Friday morning but wasn't feeling 100 percent, so he missed his second game. The hope is with three more days off, he can return Tuesday against the Islanders.

"The way he plays the game, I think he could have stepped in having not been on the ice for a few days and really not missed a beat, but it's not worth it," coach Mike Yeo said.

Yeo said veteran Matt Cooke is at least a couple weeks away from rejoining the team. He missed his 17th game with a hip flexor injury.

"Until I start to see him on the ice every day, we're not at the point where we're considering playing him," Yeo said.

Stoner, a 2004 third-round pick who played 227 games for the Wild, played his first game at Minnesota since signing with the Ducks. He will likely soon be teammates with Ilya Bryzgalov again. The Ducks signed the former Wild goalie to a tryout this week.

"The Bryzly Bear is back," Stoner said, laughing. "I can't get away from that guy. He's a good guy. He was like, 'Yeah, I was retiring, I was heading back to Russia for Christmas and I get a phone call.' I asked him the last time he skated, and he said, 'A couple months ago in Minnesota.' I was like, 'OK.' "

The attorney for a man who pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to illegal gambling, extortion and money laundering claimed the Wild's Thomas Vanek owed $10 million in gambling losses.

Vanek's agent, Steve Bartlett, told the Star Tribune that was "absolutely pure fiction. … It's unbelievable these lawyers keep popping off about my client when it's their clients going to jail and my client did nothing illegal. … Thomas was being extorted. Thomas made bad decisions, but he was far more the victim than anything.

"Trust me, this poor kid won't ever gamble again even if it's for 25 cents."