The Minnesota Wild has 18 regular season games to play, and star Kirill Kaprizov remains on the shelf as they’re battling to keep a spot in the Western Conference Playoffs.

The slumping Minnesota Wild are clearly frustrated, while their fans desperately seek moments to generate enthusiasm.

Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche will face each other in a crucial game on March 11. Both teams are missing key players, with Wild's Kirill Kaprizov and Avalanche's Gabriel Landeskog out due to injuries.

The Wild have to weigh Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek's injury status before taking any big swings at the trade deadline.

The message from Bill Guerin following Friday’s trade deadline was pretty simple. It was also not new. “It’s not our time,” Guerin said. “We’ll have our time.” The Wild president of hockey operations and general manager has been playing the long game,

The Flames will need star rookie goalie Dustin Wolf to continue to give them a chance of succeeding, but it’s now on Calgary’s veterans – center Nazem Kadri, left winger Jonathan Huberdeau, and blueliners MacKenzie Weegar and Rasmus Andersson – to do the heavy lifting and outlast the Flames’ competition.

A first-line scoring winger who already clicks with the team is the player the Wild targeted to help with their playoff preparation. That’s why they didn’t make any other additions before the NHL trade deadline expired Friday afternoon,

When I refreshed my web browser this morning and saw Michael Russo’s report that Joel Eriksson Ek has joined Kirill Kaprizov in the dreaded purgatory that is the Minnesota Wild’s injured reserve list these days,

If you're a Minnesota Wild fan sick of the team being handcuffed by their salary cap situation, don't worry, you're not alone. After a trade deadline where the Wild were active but without much impact,

You want to be involved but you know what, we’re just at a different stage than those teams. We’ll have our day,” Bill Guerin said.

Guerin explained the team's inaction compared to the Avalanche and Stars: "We’re just at a different stage than those teams."

The injury-thinned Minnesota Wild could use a boost in their push to return to the playoffs, with their margin for making it slimmed down following a strong start. With the NHL trade deadline approaching this Friday, the Wild more than likely will have to find that spark from within.