It may appear that the playing field is even after the Minnesota Wild evened up their series against the Dallas Stars, but looks can be deceiving. With the series shrinking to a best-of-three, the Wild are set to get Mats Zuccarello back after missing three games and are on the cusp of also getting the muscle of Yakov Trenin back on the ice as well.
Zuccarello's return is the highlight, as Minnesota's power play badly needs him back, but Trenin coming back as well is quietly just as important. He set a single-season franchise record for hits -- ironically setting it against the Stars in March -- and his physicality has been sorely missed.
We've heard much less about Trenin's status than Zuccarello's, but the fact that he traveled with the team to Dallas and is skating again is as good a sign as Wild fans could have hoped for.
Yakov Trenin returning to the Wild in Game 5 could flip the series on its head
Zuccarello practicing on No. 1 power play. Yakov Trenin also just came out for practice https://t.co/STZfgddYe2
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) April 27, 2026
It's not exactly Gandalf showing up at the Battle of Helm's Deep, but Trenin rising back up out of the injury ashes is exactly what the Wild need percisely because it's never what happens. Injuries have plagued Minnesota in previous playoff trips, whether it was Kirill Kaprizov taking a dirty hit from Ryan Suter or Joel Eriksson Ek trying to skate on a broken leg, it seems the worst possible injury luck always hits the Wild at the wrong time.
That was shaping up to be the case again this year. Zuccarello took a dirty hit from Tyler Myers in Game 1 and Trenin was sent to the shadow realm on a monster hit by Colin Blackwell a game later. Neither player has been on the ice since their respective injuries and their absence has been felt.
Zuccarello's is more obvious, as the Wild's power play has been a joke without him. Minnesota is 1-for-16 with a man advantage over the last three games and Kaprizov's fire power has been a rumor on offense. Trenin's physicality returning can help tip the scales even more in Minnesota's favor, as the Stars have been pushing the Wild around all series in ways they shouldn't.
Marcus Foligno has tried -- perhaps too emotionally -- to get some physicality going but without Trenin the Stars know the Wild are vulnerable. If he returns, especially with the series tied, that could be the unjury luck bounce back we're not used to seeing that can flip the series back in Minnesota's favor right when it matters the most.
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