ST. PAUL, Minn. — Marat Khusnutdinov looks good in green.
The Minnesota Wild’s 2020 second-round pick took the ice for the first time Sunday morning with the Wild’s healthy scratches and Filip Gustavsson, the backup goalie for Sunday’s game against the Nashville Predators.
The fast-skating forward motored around the ice and worked with the Wild’s assistant coaches in his first skate in nearly a week. Khusnutdinov, whose KHL season wrapped up in Sochi late last month, couldn’t skate in Kazakhstan during the immigration process, then flew all day Friday before arriving in Minnesota late in the evening. He got a head-to-toe physical Saturday and toured his new hockey market and the team’s game and practice facilities.
“He looked good,” said coach John Hynes, who peeked at Khusnutdinov while he skated Sunday. “He’s excited to be here and the skate today was good for him. He hadn’t skated in five days, so it was nice for him to be able to get out there and skate. We’ll get him again on the ice (Monday) and then move forward from there.”
Hi welcome home Marat 💚 #mnwild pic.twitter.com/ZBpu5Duo9U
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) March 10, 2024
One must assume Khusnutdinov, who had never been to the United States, will make his NHL debut Tuesday against Arizona or Thursday against Anaheim before getting to experience the Wild’s first-class air travel to St. Louis and California for games against the Ducks and Kings.
“He’s certainly going to get an opportunity here in the short term,” Hynes said. “It just depends on trying to help him just get acclimated and give him the best chance to be able to be successful. But he looked good out there, good skater, good shot. So, we’re excited.”
The question: Is one practice on Monday enough to throw him into the lineup?
“There’s a lot that goes into it, particularly I think for a young Russian player that’s coming over,” Hynes said. “Obviously there’s cultural things I think in his life and then trying to figure everything out and then it goes into the hockey part of just meetings and understanding what it is.
“So, we’ll spend some time with him (Monday) with some of the system stuff and, again, skating. I think the big thing is the system stuff will work its way out but I think the (biggest) thing is just acclimating with coming over. I think the jet lag and then (it’s) just kind of a whirlwind for him. So I think you want to make sure that you give him the best chance when he gets in that he feels at least as comfortable as he can be and you’re not kind of rushing him forward.
“But we’ll certainly talk to him and see how he feels about things and he’ll get an opportunity here soon.”
Meanwhile in Minnesota 😤#mnwild pic.twitter.com/T4nbyfIYT8
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) March 9, 2024
In the meantime, the Wild are working to help him off the ice. They found him a place to live very close to Kirill Kaprizov in downtown Minneapolis, so he’ll have plenty of rides to and from practices and games and a dinner date often. He’s expected to chat with reporters after Monday’s practice.
“We have somebody who can help him out, similar to what we did for Kirill,” said Wild president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Guerin. “It’s amazing how far Kirill’s come in a few years. It’s about being in the mix, and I think that’s how they learn. He’s never been in that position.
“You’ve gotta learn, and he’s a smart kid. He does have a good amount of English; maybe not confidence in it, like Kirill, but it comes around.”
(Photo of Marat Khusnutdinov courtesy of Minnesota Wild)
