Just days after kids around Minnesota were opening Halloween candy, the Minnesota Wild got an early holiday present on a Friday in the New York City suburbs.

After a few weeks of progressively more involved on-ice work as he recovered from a lower body injury that required off-season surgery, veteran Wild forward Mats Zuccarello was activated from injured reserve and available for a return to the Wild lineup on Friday night when the visited the New York Islanders.

The Wild played the first 15 games this season without Zuccarello, 38, and his presence has been missed on and off the ice.

“He’s a competitive guy. He plays the right way,” said Wild coach John Hynes last week in anticipation of Zuccarello’s eventual return. “Like when you see him, he’s tracking, and I think he plays both sides of the puck. But I think he’s kind of a little bit of an inspirational player — not only his ability to make plays and turn plays that other people can’t, which are important in today’s game offensively, but also just his presence in the way that he plays the game and the energy he brings to the team.”

Limited to 69 of 82 regular season games last year due to another injury that required surgery, Zuccarello still posted 19 goals and 35 assists, which was top five on the team. The chemistry between Zuccarello and star forward Kirill Kaprizov, both as top-liners and leading the Minnesota power play, is one of the factors that has Wild fans most excited to see him back in action.

“They obviously are really close, I think as people and then they think the game the same way,” Hynes said. “I think that they’re instinctual players, they have a true connection. They have a chemistry. So, when you have two high-end offensive players that have that type of chemistry, it’s important.”

Spend some time around the Wild, and Zuccarello’s importance in the locker room becomes readily apparent as a voice that can rally the team, and as a no-nonsense veteran who will defend his teammates when necessary — and toss out all excuses when they are not warranted.

After games, members of the media request three or four players they would like to speak with in the postgame locker room. Last March, in the midst of the team’s doldrums — when Zuccarello was healthy but Kaprizov was not — Zuccarello waited in the room to speak to the media, unrequested, on behalf of the team on at least one occasion.

“I think his voice in the room is important, and just his presence,” Hynes said. “The way that he plays, and I just think his demeanor in the way that he is, he’s been so experienced. There’s not much that rattles him.”

One of the rare Norwegian players in pro hockey, Zuccarello got a special treat during his time away from the Wild, holding a youth hockey clinic in Minneapolis last month when the crown prince of Norway was in the Twin Cities on an official visit.

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