Mikko Koivu has been out of the Minnesota Wild lineup for quite awhile, but the team's captain is expected to return to action on Thursday night. The team's lone NHL All-Star selection missed a total of eight games.

Koivu is expected to be in the lineup when the Wild play the Vancouver Canucks, according to a report at 1500 ESPN.

Koivu, the Wild's captain, suffered a shoulder injury on Jan. 14 at St. Louis and missed eight games. Koivu, who was elected to the All-Star Game but could not play because of the injury, is second on the Wild with 33 points (nine goals, 24 assists) and has a plus-9 rating in 41 games.

It'll be interesting to see whether he's effective in the game considering he sat out for nearly an entire month, but it shouldn't be that much of a problem considering he's been skating for about a week as he got closer to returning.

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