SAN JOSE, Calif. — Good morning from my flight to the Bay Area, and so much has changed since the last time we did one of these MEATY mailbags.



Jason Zucker was traded and Zach Parise almost was. Bruce Boudreau was fired. Dean Evason has settled in as coach and has his team playing hard with victories in six of nine games as the interim and on the verge of a playoff position as they begin a three-game trip to Cali with a game against Alex Stalock’s old team, the Sharks.



Ohhhhh, and some guy named Kirill Kaprizov has — we all assume — played his final KHL regular-season game, snatched his second consecutive league goal-scoring title and is on a team — CSKA Moscow — that hopes to win a second consecutive league championship before he debuts next season with the Wild.



Not a shock, but this thick mailbag is full of questions about Kaprizov, the Wild’s endless pursuit of a center or two and perhaps a goalie. Shockingly, it...