Practically every member of the Minnesota Wild — players, coaches and staff — can admit it has been a long and grueling road trip, as Thursday night’s game in Seattle concludes two weeks away from St. Paul — with one exception.

Defenseman Daemon Hunt joined the team in the Pacific Northwest for the seventh and final game of the road trip, activated after missing the past 10 Wild outings with a lower-body injury.

“It’s been a long time coming. At least it feels like it,” Hunt told reporters at Climate Pledge Arena for the Wild’s morning skate. “I was pretty lonely at home, just doing rehab with all the boys on the road. So, I feel good, 100%, so I’m really excited. It’s been a while.”

In a Dec. 16 home win versus the Washington Capitals, Hunt took a knee to the leg from Washington forward Ethen Frank. While nothing was broken or torn as a result of the hit, the contusion to his quad muscle was so severe that Hunt couldn’t walk for the next two weeks.

“It’s just like a really, really bad charley horse,” Hunt said. “Like, my whole leg was blue and black and yellow. It just takes time for that quad to heal.”

He rejoined the Wild after they had gone 3-1-2 in the road trip’s first six games, and the team had played Monday night’s loss in Los Angeles without veteran Zach Bogosian, who is missing time for the third stint this season.

On Thursday, Wild coach John Hynes said Bogosian remains day to day and that Hunt would play after the team used Matt Kiersted in that spot during the loss to the Kings.

After a dominating win in Anaheim six days earlier, the Wild had a shootout loss and a regulation loss — their first since before Christmas — in Los Angeles. Hynes placed a premium on finding a way to rebound in their second visit to Seattle.

“You’ve got to be where your feet are, and where we are is here. We’ve got to be able to win a game and play well,” the coach said. “We’ve come off two losses, so we’d like to finish the trip strong. We had a good practice yesterday and I think we’re in a good spot. Everyone’s excited to get home, but we do have an opportunity to win a game tonight.”

Briefly

There will be a 10th member of the Wild organization headed to the Winter Olympics in Italy, it was announced on Thursday. Goalie Samuel Hlavaj, who has spent much of this season with the Iowa Wild, was named to Team Slovakia for the games in Milan and Cortina.

Hlavaj, 24, has skated in 13 games for Iowa this season, with a 4-7-2 record.

Also named to Team Slovakia was Minnesota Duluth sophomore Adam Gajan, who has been the Bulldogs’ mainstay in goal this season. He begins the second half of the college campaign with a 14-6-0 record in 20 starts.

The Wild organization will have three players representing the United States, four on Team Sweden, and one each skating for Germany, Czechia and Slovakia in the Olympics, which begin in early February.

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