The Wild's Kirill Kaprizov is expected to play Thursday after a longer-than-expected break for injury. (Carlos Gonzalez/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Kirill Kaprizov is back in action. After missing the past 12 games with a lower-body injury that popped up after the holiday break, Kaprizov was set to make his highly anticipated return on Thursday night against Utah at Xcel Energy Center.

The team’s leading scorer didn’t talk about his lower-body injury after morning skate as the team prepared for tonight’s game against Utah.

The Minnesota Wild placed their top-scoring contributor on LTIR on Friday in Kirill Kaprizov because of an aggravated lower-body injury. Minnesota has been one of the NHL's biggest surprises in 2024-24, sitting in second place of the Central Division with 58 points.

The move was necessary to make the call-ups needed to have a full roster. It's retroactive, so Kaprizov can return whenever he's ready.

The Minnesota Wild are getting a perfect storm of returns for Thursday evening against the Utah Hockey Club as both star forward Kirill Kaprizov and defenseman Jared Spurgeon have been activated from IR.

ST. PAUL - The Minnesota Wild (28-15-4) have been without their superstar forward Kirill Kaprizov since December 27th. He is set to return tonight against the Utah Hockey Club (20-19-7). Kaprizov, 27, missed the last 12 games with a lower-body injury. He was originally given a day-to-day timeline which eventually turned out to be four weeks.

The Minnesota Wild placed Kirill Kaprizov on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) on Thursday, retroactive to Dec. 23 when he suffered his injury. The move, while removing the Russian forward from the Wild lineup, will also help the team navigate a cap crunch and address its injury-plagued lineup thanks to the cap relief LTIR provides.

The Minnesota Wild are trying to stay atop the West, a mission that will be easier if Kirill Kaprizov and Jared Spurgeon return Thursday.

They made a few roster moves before leaving Minnesota. Kirill Kaprizov has missed the last ten games with a lower-body injury. The Wild are 6-4-0 without him. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images Kirill Kaprizov (lower body) was placed on the ...

Kaprizov (lower body) will be back in the lineup versus Utah on Thursday, Michael Russo of The Athletic reports. Kaprizov will return to the lineup for the first time since Dec. 23 against Chicago, a stretch of 12 games on long-term injured reserve.