The Minnesota Wild resume their schedule following the Christmas break with a divisional matchup against the rival Dallas Stars, but there's some discouraging news on the health front.

Superstar forward Kirill Kaprizov will be unavailable for the Wild against the Stars thanks to a lower-body injury; he also didn't travel with the team to Dallas. The Wild will have to attempt to secure their second-straight win after breaking a four-game losing skid on December 23, a 4-3 win over the struggling Chicago Blackhawks.

Meanwhile, the Stars will be without forward Tyler Seguin along with former Wild defenseman Matt Dumba.

Kaprizov is easily the MVP for the Wild so far in 2024-25, scoring at over a point-per-game pace with 23 goals (tied for second in the NHL) and 27 assists (fourth overall in NHL total points). He also has an impressive +21 rating.

Friday night's game against the Stars will be the second game this season that an injury has forced him to miss; he was also unable to play on November 23 against the Calgary Flames.

Unfortunately, Kaprizov isn't the only Wild player who is unavailable due to injury. They'll also be playing without  Joel Eriksson Ek (lower body), winger Jakub Lauko (lower body), and defenseman Jake Middleton (upper body).

The Wild and Stars will drop the puck at American Airlines Center starting at 8:00 PM EST.

Kirill Kaprizov is the most important player on the Wild roster 

Minnesota Wild left wing Kirill Kaprizov (97) looks on during a game between the Minnesota Wild and Toronto Maple Leafs at Xcel Energy Center.
Brace Hemmelgarn-Imagn Images

The Russian forward, who won the Calder Trophy as the NHL's best rookie for 2020-21, broke a Minnesota Wild franchise record earlier this season. Coincidently, it was his own record that he broke.

Kaprizov reached the 30-point threshold in just 16 games played; he previously set the Wild franchise mark for the quickest player to reach 30 points in 2022-23, but did so in 22 games.

In 312 career NHL games, Kaprizov has scored 183 goals with 197 assists.