MINNEAPOLIS — Rest during the holiday break wasn’t enough for Wild superstar Kirill Kaprizov to return from a lower-body injury. Missing 12 games over five weeks didn’t sufficiently enable the injury to heal after a three-game return.

And now, the Wild and Kaprizov are taking the next step — surgery that will sideline the 27-year-old Russian for at least four weeks but not for the remainder of the regular season.

Wild general manager Bill Guerin delivered the news Tuesday at TRIA Rink, where Kaprizov was absent from practice before the team left for a four-game road trip that starts Wednesday at Toronto, hits Montreal on Thursday, Ottawa on Saturday and Boston next Tuesday.

Guerin didn’t have specific date for Kaprizov’s surgery.

“It’s unfortunate,’’ Guerin said. “Kirill was having a Hart Trophy-type season. It’s disappointing for him. It’s disappointing for us, too, but we’ve put ourselves in a good position in the standings and the way we’re playing. … It’s not the end of the world.’’

Kaprizov, who leads the Wild with 23 goals and 29 assists in 37 games played this season, played in three games since his return on Thursday, going pointless against Utah and collecting an assist on Saturday against Calgary and Sunday against Chicago. Still, it was noticeable that he didn’t have the explosiveness in his skating that he usually has.

Guerin said Kaprizov didn’t suffer another injury to the area since returning to action, but he hadn’t shown enough improvement.

“He just never came around,’’ Guerin said. “This is something that we feel, he feels, his agent feels that is just necessary.”

Kaprizov is a three-time 40-goal scorer for the Wild and coming off a season with 46 goals and 50 assists. He thrust himself into the early conversation for the Hart Trophy this season, with 50 points in his first 34 games as the Wild spent time atop the Western Conference standings.

Since then, they’ve been hit hard by injuries, with captain Jared Spurgeon, defensemen Brock Faber and Jonas Brodin and center Joel Eriksson Ek missing significant time. Brodin went on long-term injured reserve (retroactive to Jan. 7).

Kaprizov, who went on injured reserve, was not available to comment Tuesday and had been reluctant to discuss the injury upon his return last week.

“Just something happened,” he said last week. “I just don’t want to talk about this a lot. It’s now good.”

Guerin said Kaprizov is taking the news hard, though the chance of returning in time for the playoffs is motivation.

“Kirill’s very upset,” Guerin said. “Kirill is such a team-focused guy, and I think with what he has, he knows he could probably get by in games and try to help the team.”

Added coach John Hynes, “It was really weighing on him that, even though he told me, ‘Well, I’m only at 60 percent.’ I said, ‘Well, you’re one of the best players on the ice at 60 percent.’ But to him, it’s the standard of helping the team at the level he wants to help the team.”

Guerin acknowledged that Kaprizov’s injury could factor in his plans for the March 7 NHL trade deadline.

“It could, it could,” he said. “Thank God I have people that are much smarter than me around me, helping me with the salary cap stuff. So, we’ll see how much space we have and where this leads us. Hey, look, we will do what we’re able to do with the cap space that we have.”

If there is good news of the injury’s timing, it’s that the NHL will shut down from Feb. 12-21 for the 4 Nations Faceoff tournament — giving Kaprizov time to heal without game results affecting the Wild’s spot in the Western Conference standings.

“The best thing to do is to shut him down right now for a little while, fix the problem and then get him back to 100 percent,” Guerin said.

“We’re going to keep playing and continue to get better, and when Kirill’s healthy and all healed up, he’ll be back and we’ll be even better.”

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