Kirill Kaprizov missing from practice on Monday.

The Minnesota wild may already be dealing with an injury to one of their top players.

According to a report from Minnesota Wild insider Mike Russo, notably absent from the Wild's practice session on Monday morning was star forward Kirill Kaprizov. The news comes off the back of Kaprizov largely being forced to leave an exhibition contest against the Colorado Avalanche over the weekend prematurely, for what at the time were reported to be precautionary reasons. The situation initially even seemed to be quite comical given that the Wild's athletic trainer had to talk to Kaprizov for an extended period of time before finally convincing him to leave the bench.

The whole thing started when Kaprizov was the unfortunate victim of an errant shot from Wild teammate Freddy Gaudreau, one that appeared to strike him around the ankle/foot area. While the reasons for his departure were deemed precautionary when he left the game, the fact that he is absent from the Wild's skate today may be a cause for concern.

Things have not gotten off to a good start this season for the Russian forward, with reports earlier this summer indicating that Kaprizov's return to Russia in the offseason had led to some complications. As all of you reading this will surely know by now, tensions between Russia and the United States of America are running high at the moment over the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which in turn caused some issues for Kaprizov when it came to returning to North America.

Returning to the Wild and getting back on the ice had appeared to put him in good spirits despite all the headaches he had to deal with in the offseason, and it would be a shame to see an injury derail that positivity for any amount of time.