ST. PAUL - The Minnesota Wild held a practice on Tuesday ahead of its game against the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday. 

Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek were both on the ice for practice. The Wild took line rushes but Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek took line rushes with Brendan Gaunce who is usually a healthy scratch. 

At the very end of practice the Wild did some battle drills. Both Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek participated in it. Kaprizov took hits from Jonas Brodin in the corner and Eriksson Ek took hits from Brock Faber and really got into it. 

Wild head coach John Hynes said that the two have taken contact before but it was the first time they have taken it in a full practice. 

"Today was to get them into practice, which was the next progression for them. Then, I'll talk with the trainers after today and see what the next steps would be with them."

The contact part was a next progression step for the two of them. I didn't mean the two will be playing on Wednesday but Hynes said that he will need to talk to the two of them before making a decision.