Turns out Minnesota won’t have its big trade deadline acquisition to start the playoffs.
On Tuesday, Wild head coach Mike Yeo said Jason Pominville wasn’t “quite ready” to get back into the lineup, meaning he’d be out for Game 1 of Minnesota’s Western Conference quarterfinal against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Yesterday, Pominville returned to practice for the first time since taking a Dustin Brown elbow to the head on Apr. 23. The hit left the 30-year-old injured and forced him to miss Minnesota’s final two games of the regular season.
Following yesterday’s skate, Yeo said Pominville “looked good” and speculation was he’d be in the lineup tonight.
The Minnesota Star-Tribune’s Mike Russo reports Zenon Konopka will draw in instead, but it’s unclear who’ll take Pominville’s spot on the Pierre-Marc Bouchard-Kyle Brodziak line.
Prior to getting hurt, Pominville had 4G-5A-9PTS in 10 games with Minnesota, averaging 17:31 TOI per game.