Kirill Kaprizov cannot return to Wild until at least March 2

After undergoing surgery to repair a lower-body injury on Friday, the Minnesota Wild placed star winger Kirill Kaprizov on long-term injured reserve on Sunday. 

That means Kaprizov has to miss at least 10 games, putting his earliest possible return date at March 2 when the Wild host the Boston Bruins. The move to long-term IR is retroactive to Jan. 26, so he's already missed three of the minimum 10 games. 

It may not matter anyway because general manager Bill Guerin has said Kaprizov's surgery will keep him out of action for a minimum of four weeks, with Michael Russo of The Athletic reporting recently that a six-week timeline might be the most likely scenario for the 27-year-old superstar. 

If Kaprizov returns March 2, he'll miss these seven games: 

• Feb. 4 at Boston Bruins
• Feb. 6 vs. Carolina Hurricanes
• Feb. 8 vs. New York Islanders
• Feb. 22 at Detroit Red Wings
• Feb. 25 vs. Detroit Red Wings
• Feb. 27 at Utah Hockey Club
• Feb. 28 at Colorado Avalanche

If he misses six weeks and is out until mid-March, he could also miss a handful of games more. If he's out through March 15, the Wild still have 15 games left in the regular season. That would give Kaprizov ample time to get back into form ahead of a possible playoff run.