Wild looking to reboot after All-Star break and make a push to postseason

The Wild couldn't get closer to a playoff spot during their recent 10-day hiatus, but they did move in the opposite direction.

They'll relaunch their season on Wednesday at Chicago seven points shy of a Western Conference wild-card berth instead of trailing by six like when they started their bye week; a win by St. Louis while the Wild were idle before the All-Star break upped the distance.

But a one-point hike doesn't make life that much tougher for the Wild, not when the climb back to contention was already steep and filled with competition.

"We still have some runway to kind of control our own destiny," Jake Middleton said. "That's [what] we're looking to do is just worry about us and let the chips fall where they may."

After the two wild-card seeds is a five-team race to close the gap, and the Wild are at the back of the pack.

Standing in their way is Calgary, Arizona, Seattle and Nashville. The Predators have 54 points just like the Blues do, but the Blues are in the final wild-card seat because they've logged two fewer games.

Lagging behind their Central Division rivals is the Wild, who have been stuck at 47 points after coughing up third-period leads in their last two losses and blowing a chance to hurdle teams they're chasing and shave their deficit significantly.

"The attention to detail that we felt like we had … faltered before the break," said coach John Hynes, who stressed the Wild's habits in front of the net in their return to practice on Monday from a layoff that didn't heal all the team's ailments.

Jonas Brodin has been sick, and Pat Maroon joined Connor Dewar on injured reserve after Maroon suffered an upper-body injury Jan. 27 vs. Anaheim. It's unclear how long Maroon will be sidelined. Dewar, who's been out with a lower-body injury since Jan. 19, has started to skate.

Vinni Lettieri and Adam Raska were also hurt and have resumed practicing. Raska was sent back to the minors, and the Wild brought up Jake Lucchini and Adam Beckman. This is Beckman's first promotion of the season after the winger posted nine goals and 10 assists with Iowa in the American Hockey League.

The blue line was also addressed, with the Wild claiming Declan Chisholm off waivers from Winnipeg last week.

Sign up for our Wild Update newsletter

A fifth-round draft pick in 2018, Chisholm missed a chunk of the season due to injury and has suited up for just eight games, including only two in the NHL. But the Wild were intrigued by the 24-year-old defenseman's skating and puck-moving abilities. They'll be without captain Jared Spurgeon for the rest of the season; Spurgeon underwent successful hip surgery on Tuesday and is scheduled to have back surgery in about a month.

Chisholm did not practice with the team on Monday or Tuesday while sorting out a work visa. The plan is for him to meet the Wild in Chicago.

"He's got some offensive instincts," Hynes said. "From a defensive standpoint, I haven't seen him too, too much. But when you talk to the management about the player, he does have some good talent."

As for Marc-Andre Fleury, the goaltender passed the NHL's concussion protocol before the team went on break and felt better during the time off.

"It was good to get your mind off it a bit," Fleury said. "Everybody asked, 'How you doing?' every day and always wondering when you're back on the ice. So, it was good to get my mind away from it."

Fleury was injured when he was hit behind the net by Florida's Will Lockwood on Jan. 19.

Lockwood was suspended three games for goaltender interference.

Although he initially kept playing, Fleury felt sluggish as the action continued and eventually pulled himself.

"I just felt slow, and the game felt so fast," said Fleury, whose last victory lifted him past Patrick Roy for the second-most wins in NHL history at 552. "I couldn't track as good, so first [period] was OK and then I went back for the second and just didn't feel good."

Overcoming injuries and a bleak picture in the standings aren't new challenges for the Wild.

They regrouped rejuvenated and happy to be back on the ice together, but the stakes are getting higher: They're running out of time to extend their season, and the cost for every misstep is going up.

"It is what it is now," Fleury said. "I think everybody enjoyed the break, put their minds away from it, and I think we'll be ready to go again here and have a good push to put ourselves in a spot here for playoffs."