Jordan Greenway ready to rejoin Wild for West Coast road swing

Judging from Tuesday's practice, Jordan Greenway appeared ready to rejoin the Wild lineup. The winger has missed the past four games because of a lower-body injury, but if he feels good Wednesday, he will play at Arizona as the Wild begins a three-game road trip.

As happy as that made coach Dean Evason, it also creates a challenge. To make room for Greenway, Evason will have to shuffle a deep group of forwards. After considering multiple options, he put Greenway on a line with center Nick Bjugstad and winger Rem Pitlick for Tuesday's practice at Tria Rink, but the coach reserved the right to change his mind at game time.

"It's a nice problem to have, to try to figure out where [Greenway] is going to fit in,'' Evason said. "When guys are playing well, it's hard to break up lines.''

Evason kept the Brandon Duhaime-Ryan Hartman-Nico Sturm trio intact after a standout performance in Sunday's 5-2 victory over the New York Islanders. Other lines at Tuesday's practice were Marcus Foligno-Joel Eriksson Ek-Kevin Fiala and Kirill Kaprizov-Frederick Gaudreau-Mats Zuccarello.

Evason, who has tried several centers between Kaprizov and Zuccarello, liked how Gaudreau meshed with them Sunday.

"When [Zuccarello and Kaprizov] are together, they feed off each other,'' Evason said. "We thought [Gaudreau] looked real good in that spot. He's got an offensive mindset to play with those guys, but still a willingness to compete and get to the net and play strong defensively.''

Zuccarello thought he would feel "dead'' Sunday, when he returned to the lineup following a 10-day absence because of a positive COVID-19 test. The winger was pleasantly surprised to feel relatively normal.

Zuccarello, who is vaccinated, said Tuesday he experienced some flu-like symptoms, including a fever, for five or six days after testing positive on Oct. 27. Concerned about potential effects on his heart, he stayed inactive for the 10 days he was required to be away from the team. He didn't exactly ease back in; against the Islanders, Zuccarello played 19 minutes, 48 seconds, third-most among the Wild forwards.

"You hear about all these heart cases, and so you just want to make sure,'' said Zuccarello, who has seven points in seven games this season. "It was 10 days to just relax, and come back and be healthy.''

The Wild went 2-2 during Zuccarello's absence. He didn't enjoy being a spectator, even for the victories.

"It's more nerve-racking,'' he said. "It's almost like you don't want to watch. You can't control anything from the couch.''

Duhaime continued a strong start to his NHL career with two more breakthroughs Sunday. The rookie scored his first game-winning goal in the league and added an assist to record his first NHL multi-point game.

Through 11 games, Duhaime has two goals and three assists, and his 25 hits are second-most on the team. He gave credit to his teammates, saying their advice and support have allowed him to adapt quickly. Evason also noted Duhaime is not shy about asserting himself.

"He's got size, he's got speed, he's got willingness to get to the net and willingness to shoot the puck,'' Evason said. "Sometimes, you get young people who come up and they're not willing to shoot the puck. He is. He's doing a lot of things, and we're real happy with his development.''

Evason said he isn't surprised at the rookie's contributions, and neither is Duhaime.

"I think I've always been ready for this,'' he said. "I knew I could play in this league. It's been awesome.''

Evason said he will start goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen on Wednesday, when the Wild play at Arizona before a Thursday game at Vegas, when Cam Talbot is likely to start. Kahkonen stopped 19 of 21 shots against the Islanders to earn his first victory of the season and even his record at 1-1.

"He was real good,'' Evason said. "We've talked about Cam's calming presence back there for us, and [Kahkonen] was the same thing for us the other night. So he'll go again.''