ST. PAUL - Before the Minnesota Wild hit the ice for morning skate on Thursday, Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek skated with the Wild's skating coach Andy Ness. 

"It's only the first step," Wild head coach John Hynes said on Thursday. "It's still week to week. It's not like anything different, but they are on the next protocol. Getting on the ice, doing some skating, touching some pucks and things like that. But the status of their return, it's nothing imminent. It's still a week-to-week basis."

The update is a positive one for Minnesota though. Hynes understands there is only ten games left in the season so he said he will be up front with some consistent updates with us regarding the two forwards and their status.

Hynes did say they will come on the next road trip with the team but will not play. 

"This is truly the first step of getting back. There's nothing imminent. They will not play on the New York trip but they will be on the trip."

Marcus Foligno was on the ice for morning skate on Thursday and will play for the Wild tonight, if everything went well. 

Jonas Brodin was also on the ice and will play tonight. Declan Chisholm was on the ice  but remains day-to-day with a lower body injury.