Minnesota Wild forward Zach Parise has a sprained MCL in his right knee and his return will be evaluated on a week-to-week basis, the Wild announced Saturday.
"I think it's great news. He'll be out a few weeks but all things considered, in terms of knee injuries, it's best-case scenario," Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher said. "It's certainly not months but it's not days. He'll be out this week but next week we'll have a better feel for how the recovery is going."
Parise, who leads the Wild with seven goals, sustained the injury Thursday in a 3-2 loss to the Nashville Predators. It happened on the second shift of the game when he was hit by Predators forward James Neal. Parise's right knee made contact with Neal's left knee and Parise limped slowly off the ice to the dressing room.
He returned to play five shifts in the first period totaling 4:59 of ice time but did not come out for the second or third period. Neal was not assessed a penalty on the play.
"Most players would not have been able to come back and he came back. Even then the doctors said, 'You gotta come out,'" Fletcher said. "You're managing the injury, but you're also managing Zach. He'd probably want to play tonight. But we want to do what's right for Zach and for the team long-term."
The Wild on Saturday recalled forward Christoph Bertschy from Iowa of the American Hockey League. He'll make his NHL debut at Xcel Energy Center against the Tampa Bay Lightning (8 p.m. ET; SUN, FS-N).
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