Wild scoring leader Kirill Kaprizov headed for surgery

Rest during the holiday break wasn’t enough for Wild star Kirill Kaprizov to recover from a lower-body injury. He missed 12 games over five weeks and then made a three-game return, but the injury didn’t sufficiently heal.

And now the Wild and Kaprizov are taking the next step — surgery that will sideline the 27-year-old Russian for at least four weeks but not for the remainder of the regular season.

Wild General Manager Bill Guerin delivered the news Tuesday at TRIA Rink, where Kaprizov was absent from practice before the team, which won Sunday at Chicago, left to continue its five-game road swing that heads to Toronto on Wednesday before hitting Montreal on Thursday, Ottawa on Saturday and Boston next Tuesday.

Guerin didn’t have a specific date for Kaprizov’s surgery.

“It’s unfortunate,” Guerin said. “Kirill was having a Hart Trophy-type season. It’s disappointing for him. It’s disappointing for us, too, but we’ve put ourselves in a good position in the standings and the way we’re playing. … It’s not the end of the world."

Kaprizov, who leads the Wild with 23 goals and 29 assists in 37 games played this season, played in three games since his return, going pointless against Utah on Thursday and collecting an assist Saturday against Calgary and another Sunday against Chicago. Still, it was noticeable that he didn’t have the usual explosiveness in his skating.

Guerin said Kaprizov didn’t suffer another injury to the area since returning to action, but he hadn’t shown enough improvement.

“He just never came around,” Guerin said. “This is something that we feel — he feels, his agent feels — that is just necessary.”

Kaprizov is a three-time 40-goal scorer for the Wild and coming off a season with 46 goals and 50 assists. He thrust himself into the early conversation for the Hart Trophy this season, with 50 points in his first 34 games as the Wild spent time atop the Western Conference standings.

Since then, they’ve been hit hard by injuries, with captain Jared Spurgeon, defensemen Brock Faber and Jonas Brodin and center Joel Eriksson Ek missing significant time. Brodin went on long-term injured reserve (retroactive to Jan. 7).

Kaprizov, who went on injured reserve, was not available to comment Tuesday and had been reluctant to discuss the injury upon his return last week.

“Just something happened,” he said last week. “I just don’t want to talk about this a lot. It’s now good.”

Guerin said Kaprizov is taking the news hard, though the chance of returning in time for the playoffs is motivation.

“Kirill’s very upset,” Guerin said. “Kirill is such a team-focused guy, and I think with what he has, he knows he could probably get by in games and try to help the team.”

Added coach John Hynes, “It was really weighing on him that, even though he told me, ‘Well, I’m only at 60%.’ I said, ‘Well, you’re one of the best players on the ice at 60%.’ But to him, it’s the standard of helping the team at the level he wants to help the team.”

Guerin acknowledged that Kaprizov’s injury could factor in his plans for the March 7 NHL trade deadline.

“It could, it could,” he said. “Thank God I have people that are much smarter than me around me, helping me with the salary cap stuff. So, we’ll see how much space we have and where this leads us. Hey, look, we will do what we’re able to do with the cap space that we have.”

If there is good news of the injury’s timing, it’s that the NHL will shut down from Feb. 12-21 for the 4 Nations Faceoff tournament — giving Kaprizov time to heal without game results affecting the Wild’s spot in the Western Conference standings.

“The best thing to do is to shut him down right now for a little while, fix the problem and then get him back to 100%,” Guerin said.

“We’re going to keep playing and continue to get better, and when Kirill’s healthy and all healed up, he’ll be back and we’ll be even better.”

Wednesday, 6 p.m., Scotiabank Arena

TV, radio: FanDuel Sports Network North, 100.3-FM

Maple Leafs update: Toronto (30-18-2) entered Tuesday leading the Atlantic Division with 62 points but has lost two consecutive games and is 5-5 in its past 10. Mitch Marner leads the Maple Leafs in scoring (15-53-68), while William Nylander is tops with 28 goals. Joseph Woll (17-9-0, 2.67 GAA, .907 save pct.) is the likely starter in goal.

Injuries: Wild F Kirill Kaprizov (lower body), F Marcus Johansson (concussion) and D Jonas Brodin (lower body) are out. Toronto F Matthew Knies (upper body), C John Tavares (lower body) and F Connor Dewar (upper body) did not practice Tuesday; F Max Pacioretty (head) returned to practice.