Wild players have been in and out of Xcel Energy Center these past few weeks, most notably Niklas Backstrom, who just recently headed home to Finland, Andrew Brunette, who still describes his rehab as progressing slowly by surely, and Derek Boogaard, with whom I caught up to ask about his recovery from shoulder surgery:

“Slowly but surely, just doing the usual medical stuff then working out as well," he said. "It’s pretty simple,”

Boogaard will reach the six-week plateau on Tuesday, and he says there should be no restrictions in motion and he should be free to do everything, provided there is no pain.

He plans to stay in the Twin Cities throughout most of the summer with the exception of a few trips.

“I’m going out to Las Vegas for the Players Association meetings and the Competition Committee meetings will take place then, too. I might fly up to Saskatchewan to take a couple night shifts with my brother. He’s with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, so I’m going to do that probably at the end of July -- go up there for a weekend and that’s it.”

During his time in Minnesota, Boogaard will continue working out and preparing for next season.

“I’ll be biking in Woodbury, working out in Stillwater, and doing my boxing stuff with Jeremy Clark in Eagan.”