Wild's Mike Reilly returns from AHL to play against Toronto

Mike Reilly is getting a second chance Thursday against Toronto. Coach Bruce Boudreau wants the Wild defenseman to take advantage of it.

After a rough season debut last week in St. Louis, Reilly was scratched against Winnipeg and played for the AHL's Iowa Wild on Tuesday night because he wasn't going to play against Los Angeles.

"You sit a guy out after one game, you've got to throw him back in," Boudreau said after Wednesday's practice. "You've got to give him a chance to get back in there and say, 'You're not sending me down or not sitting me out anymore.' I'm a big believer in giving guys second chances."

Reilly, 23, could be up and down the Minnesota-Iowa corridor this season. For one, he's the only one of the Wild's depth defensemen — Christian Folin and Nate Prosser are the others — who doesn't require waivers to get to the minors.

"It's not a bad thing," Boudreau, one of the best AHL players and coaches in history, said. "The whole idea is to play. It's a great development league. If you're not playing here, that's the place to be. ... There's nobody that wants younger guys in the lineup more than me, because that's how you build your future."

To play Reilly, a defenseman will need to come out of the lineup. It likely won't be Folin, who is plus-3 in two victories and has six hits.

"He's a guy getting better with confidence," Boudreau said of the big Swede. "When you don't have a lot of big defensemen and a guy that's fairly physical, you need that in the lineup."

That likely leaves Matt Dumba, who was paired with Prosser in Wednesday's practice and has been erratic in the first three games. Boudreau wouldn't confirm the scratch, maybe partly because there's a chance he'll have to dress seven defensemen if left winger Jason Zucker can't play.

Zucker didn't practice Wednesday because he's banged up.