Just back from Parade Ice Garden. As Russo pointed out below, Marek Zidlicky was back on the ice with his new teammates today. The defenseman was moving well, and though nothing is certain yet, all signs point to him making his Wild regular season debut at home Thursday. Jacques Lemaire said it’s a “big possibility.”

I talked with Zidlicky for the first time today. I think he’s genuinely excited to be here. His face lit up when asked about Thursday. He is ready to get in front of a sold-out arena.

So Zidlicky was there for the full practice - giving the Wild eight defenders - but Marian Gaborik, Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Owen Nolan were not. All, however, did skate before practice. Jacques said the trio is just not ready yet to fully practice. But he’s encouraged by the next two days off yet before playing again.

Also to note from today was the line of Brunette, Koivu and Miettinen skating for about 30 minutes less than the rest of the team. Jacques said there was no real message being sent by giving that line some time off, just that they had been playing so much and so well. When a line is as hot as it, 90 minutes of practice every day is not needed, Jacques said. You can bet some of the younger guys took note.

And Wild assistant coach Mike Ramsey had another eye operation today. Same eye as last year, which prevented Ramsey from traveling with the team. This surgery, Jacques said, comes with a “quick recovery.”

Check tomorrow’s paper for notes on these items and more. I’ve got to get to work - and have a meeting this afternoon, too. Fun stuff.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 20th, 2008 at 1:10 pm and is filed under Practice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.