Marc-Andre Fleury to rejoin the team
Joe Smith: Minnesota Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was to fly back to Minnesota last night and travel with the team on their road trip to New York.
Michael Russo of The Athletic: Fleury has been dealing with some personal issues and left the team Sunday morning to fly back to Montreal.
Before their New Year’s eve game, he received some sort of news. He stayed with the team all week as they were down a goaltender with Filip Gustavsson sick.
Mats Zuccarello doing better
Joe Smith: Wild forward Mats Zuccarello wasn’t on the ice yesterday but has been told that he is feeling better.
Stars lose Roope Hintz last night
Dallas Stars: Forward Roope Hintz left last night’s game with an upper-body injury.
Evander Kane progressing well
Mark Spector: Have been hearing that Edmonton Oilers forward Evander Kane could be returning soon than originally thought. Maybe he could be back in three weeks.
The Capitals get two forwards back
Samatha Pell of the Washington Post: Washington Capitals forwards Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson made their season debuts last night.
Backstrom had hip resurfacing surgery back in June. It was Backstrom’s second hip surgery, so there has been concern about his playing career. He didn’t have any setbacks during his rehab process.
Wilson tore his ACL back in May.
The Capitals placed defenseman John Carlson on the LTIR as he’s out indefinitely after taking a puck to the side of the head on December 23rd.
Samatha Pell: Backstrom on returning to the lineup last night.
“It meant the world. Obviously, I missed this and with not knowing what my future was going to hold, just coming back and playing was great.”