Wild veteran forward Marcus Foligno sported a smile as he glanced across the team’s locker room following their Saturday morning skate, watching rookie Michael Milne slip off his shoulder pads and elbow pads, and getting ready for his NHL debut in a few hours.

For Foligno, who has been in the NHL for more than a decade now, it brought back memories of Dec. 20, 2011, when he first donned a Buffalo Sabres sweater for a game versus the Ottawa Senators. He said the approach with welcoming a rookie like Milne to “the show” is to be encouraging.

“You just give them confidence and positivity throughout the game, and let them play,” Foligno said. “That’s the biggest thing is you don’t want to be restrictive. I think that was the old school way…but we know how good he is as a player. He has been playing great down in Iowa, and he’s a special player.”

For Wild coach John Hynes, Milne was a bit of an unknown commodity, having missed the team’s rookie camp and training camp due to injury. For Milne, that was more incentive to make an impression in Iowa, and clearly it worked.

“You never want to get hurt, obviously, at camp. It’s not ideal, but I’ve had bumps along the road. I’ve had surgeries before,” said Milne, facing his first media scrum. “So I kind of just looked at it as another bump in the road and just tried to keep pushing forward, work hard every day and try to get healthy as quick as I could, and that’s what I did.”

Making your NHL debut versus a juggernaut like Dallas is also likely less than ideal. Hynes said with a rookie of Milne’s potential, the coach does not need to offer much in the way of advice, other than reminding him to do the things it took to reach this level.

“You have conversations with him, but there’s always going to be that emotion,” Hynes said. “Most guys, in my experience, know they want to keep it simple, just get into the game, and that’s really all he needs to do. It’s more of just ‘bring what you bring.’ You don’t have to be something different. You’re here for a reason.”

Milne said his first call upon hearing the news of his impending debut was to his parents, who were able to fly in from British Columbia late Friday to be in St. Paul for the milestone.

Manpower update

Defenseman Jonas Brodin was on the ice for the team’s morning skate but missed his second consecutive game since suffering an upper body injury last Sunday in an overtime loss at Chicago. Forward Joel Ericksson Ek, who left Thursday’s win over Montreal in the first period with a lower body injury, did not skate with the team and missed Saturday’s game as well.

Hynes expressed some optimism that they might be ready to return for the Wild’s game in St. Louis on Tuesday.

“(Brodin) looked good today. Ekkie feels a lot better today too…I would anticipate both full practice Monday and then up and moving,” Hynes said.

He admitted that facing Dallas, which swept the Wild last season, with reduced manpower would be a litmus test for his team.

“When you have guys out of the lineup, regardless of the role they play…it’s really no different,” he said. “Everybody has to do their job. We need everybody to contribute. We need everybody to play at the competitive level that gives you a chance to win, and we need attention to detail in the defensive areas of the ice.”

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