Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon returns after two major surgeries and nine months on sidelines

Jared Spurgeon went more than half the year — almost nine months, or 40-odd weeks — in between games, not that the Wild captain was keeping a running tally.

“I tried not to count,” he said, “but it’s been a while.”

A whopping 272 days, to be exact.

But when he finally returned to action on Tuesday night for his preseason debut against Chicago at Xcel Energy Center, Spurgeon played like he always did — like one of the Wild’s best defensemen.

“He looks like he’s game-ready,” coach John Hynes said.

Spurgeon has been on the ice at training camp after undergoing not one but two season-ending surgeries earlier this year, first on his hip and then his back.

He hasn’t felt any setbacks since rejoining the team for practice, although it’ll take time for him to recalibrate to normal, but drawing back in the lineup still had the build-up of a final exam.

And Spurgeon passed with flying colors.

His fingerprints were all over the Wild’s 7-2 romp against a veteran Blackhawks squad, with Spurgeon scoring twice off a team-high five shots and taking shifts on the power play and penalty kill.

“It was fun,” Spurgeon said. “A lot different than practice. Obviously, the win makes it a lot better, too. I thought the guys played great.”

How much better the Wild would have been last season if Spurgeon wasn’t sidelined is a question that will never be answered.

First, a shoulder injury in the second-to-last preseason game (also against Chicago) knocked him out of commission for around a month. Once he returned, Spurgeon skated in just 16 games, the fewest he’s logged out of all his 14 NHL seasons, before wear and tear on his hip and back forced the 34-year-old to address each issue.

A Jan. 2 tilt vs. Calgary was his last appearance; two weeks later, he was officially shut down.

“Even when he was playing near the end there a couple games, he’s trying to untie his skate after every shift because he couldn’t feel his toes,” Hynes recalled.

Without Spurgeon, the Wild had spurts of success but never sustained enough momentum to catch up to contention and they missed the playoffs for just the second time in 12 years.

As for how Spurgeon was affected by his absence, the toll was physical and mental.

“It was hard,” said Spurgeon, the longest-tenured player on the Wild and franchise leader in games played by a defenseman at 867. “Definitely dark days and low days where rehab maybe isn’t going as well or you’re just not feeling yourself. It was definitely tough, but that’s why I tried to come to the rink every day and try and be around just to feel a little bit normal.”

Even in that situation, though, Spurgeon was limited in how he could help.

“You’re not in the fight,” he explained. “You can sort of voice your opinion when they’re out of the room, but obviously during the game you’re not in there. Even from [watching] up top, it’s a completely different deal. It definitely was tough, but you just try to be a sounding board for the guys and try to bring a smile every once in a while if they’re down.”

The Wild are getting one of their top players back, someone who can help stabilize the much-maligned penalty kill and bring a balance to the blue line that was missing last season when Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin were hurt.

But a healthy Spurgeon also means the Wild once again have their captain leading the way.

“He’s a calming voice during the games in those times where we might have gotten down on ourselves,” said Jake Middleton, Spurgeon’s defensive partner. “He’s usually one to straighten us out, calm us down, pick us back up, and we didn’t have his voice last year.

“It carries a lot of weight.”