Wild Announce Lineup For Wednesday Preseason Game Against Pittsburgh

The Minnesota Wild have announced their lineup for Wednesday’s preseason game in Pittsburgh. Here’s the full roster. Two of the skaters on this roster will not suit up for the game.

Goaltenders
Ilya Bryzgalov
Darcy Kuemper*

Defensemen
Keith Ballard
Stu Bickel
Christian Folin
Marco Scandella*
Jonas Brodin*
Jared Spurgeon*
Matt Dumba*

Forwards
Mikko Koivu*
Zach Parise*
Cody Almond*
Justin Fontaine*
Jason Zucker
Matt Cooke*
Thomas Vanek*
Brett Sutter
Joel Rechlicz
Jason Pominville*
Michael Keranen
Erik Haula*
Mikael Granlund*

* denotes a preseason debut

Mike Yeo said this week that he plans on playing Darcy Kuemper for the first two periods and then giving the third to Ilya Bryzgalov. Also, with Justin Fontaine nursing a groin injury and just getting back to practice today, Charlie Coyle will replace him in the lineup should he be unable to make the trip.

With Coyle not on the roster, Yeo has Fontaine skating with the Mikko Koivu and Thomas Vanek line. (No, that does not mean anything at all. It’s the preseason. Everyone is going to play; everyone is going to get some rest.) The Wild are sending a roster full of more of their stars and NHL-ready players for this, their second preseason game. It’s basically only Coyle, Niederreiter, Suter, Backstrom, and Brodziak who are the NHL regulars not making the trip with the team. So the lineups are shaking out as Yeo had said they would, more NHL regulars more often this preseason in an attempt to get the team up to speed more quickly and to have the team open the season with a stronger record than they have previously under Yeo’s regime.

The team has not yet revealed lines for Thursday’s game, but the complete Mikael Granlund line will be in Pittsburgh and we know that Fontaine/Coyle will jump up on Koivu’s line. That leaves a third line likely centered by Erik Haula and a fourth line centered, possibly, by Cody Almond.

The Penguins have also announced their Crosby-less, Malkin-less, Kunitz-less lineup, via Seth Rorabaugh. It is as follows:

Goaltenders
Thomas Greiss
Jeff Zatkoff

Defense
Rob Scuderi
Scott Harrington
Paul Martin
Brian Dumolin
Robert Bortuzzo
Simon Despres

Forwards
Nick Spaling
Brandon Sutter
Blake Comeau
Beau Bennett
Steve Downie
Andrew Ebbett
Zach Sill
Kasperi Kapanen
Oskar Sundqvist
Marcel Goc
Jayson Megna
Patric Hornqvist