It has been two months since we did a Wild mailbag and several months since we did an ‘Ask Russo and Smith’ mailbag, but with Joe back on the clock, there’s no better time to answer many of your questions.

The Minnesota Wild (30-17-4) are back in action tonight following its 3-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night. The Wild play the Montreal Canadiens (24-21-5) tonight for a 6:00 p.m. Central Time start.

Still, the Wild simply do not have a player who is capable of replicating Kaprizov’s dynamic play with the puck, which has taken him to the top of the team’s scoring charts despite missing a month of the season already with a lower-body injury scheduled to be surgically repaired this week.

Joseph Woll will start for the Maple Leafs. The Wild are on the front end of a back-to-back tonight. They play the Montreal Canad

Just when things were looking up for Kirill Kaprizov's health, the Minnesota Wild announced that he would be undergoing surgery on Tuesday. The star forward missed practice after talk within the organization as to whether he would need surgery rumbled over the last several days.

Wild star winger Kirill Kaprizov missed Tuesday’s practice and will undergo surgery to address his nagging lower-body injury, according to Michael Russo and Joe Smith of The Athletic. Russo and Smith report the surgery,

The Chicago Blackhawks and Minnesota Wild were meeting in tumultuous times. Both teams had lost their previous two games, with Minnesota losing 5-4 to the Calgary Flames the night before.

BOTTOM LINE: Central Division foes meet when the Chicago Blackhawks take on the Minnesota Wild. Chicago is 4-9-2 against the Central Division and 15-28-5 overall. The Blackhawks are 3-7-4 in one-goal games.

NHL Game recap for the Calgary Calgary Flames vs. Minnesota Minnesota Wild game on January 25, 2025. Follow every play as it happens throughout the NHL season on CBS Sports and the CBS Sports app.

DETROIT (AP) — Cam Talbot stopped 28 shots for his second shutout of the season as the Detroit Red Wings beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-0 on Saturday night. Marco Kasper redirected J.T. Compher’s shot at 9:55 of the second period, and Michael Rasmussen scored an empty-netter in the final minute to clinch Detroit’s victory.

He ended the game in the top six playing with Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov. The Wild's 2022 19th overall pick was rewarded in a game where he played great in. He now will start the game on Saturday against the Flames in a top-six role.

Guerin didn't mince words in describing Minnesota's recent play during an intermission in Sunday's win over the Blackhawks.