Wild’s Thursday Preseason Lineup Revealed, 5 Recalled From Iowa

Thursday is the second to last preseason game for the Wild and it’s a big one for every player who isn’t locked into a spot on the opening night roster. It’s their last chance to prove themselves as Saturday’s preseason finale will feature a roster that hues pretty close to the opening night lineup.

So, who’s playing? Well, the Wild actually increased the number of players at camp today. They’ve recalled forwards Tyler Graovac, Zack Phillips and Joel Rechlicz, as well as defensemen Jonathon Blum and Justin Falk from the Iowa Wild. Those five will join the team in St. Louis tomorrow and will be getting one final look before the October 9 season opener at Xcel Energy Center. That puts the total number of players at camp at 35.

With those five players entering the lineup, here’s who you’ve got heading to St. Louis.

Forwards
Jason Zucker
Cody Almond
Brett Sutter
Michael Keranen
Stephane Veilleux
Tyler Graovac
Zack Phillips
Joel Rechlicz
Nino Niederreiter
Erik Haula
Charlie Coyle
Kyle Brodziak

Defensemen
Stu Bickel
Jonathon Blum
Justin Falk
Keith Ballard
Matt Dumba
Christian Folin
Marco Scandella

Goaltenders
Niklas Backstrom
Ilya Bryzgalov

With this tentative roster, one player will have to be scratched and it will likely be a defenseman. Though, I suppose that could be a forward if Yeo plays Stu Bickel at wing again. (A move that really does not make much sense at this point.)

This is a big game for a lot of the guys who will likely have the coaching staff determine where they start the season after this game. A post at the Star Tribune has a great quote from Mike Yeo on the significance of tomorrow’s game for those bubble players:

"“Not to say that game [Thursday in St. Louis] is going to be the deciding factor, but if you want to compare it to school, that’s going to be the final exam and probably the grades in that one are going to count a little bit more than the ones from the start of the year,” Yeo said. “We will evaluate everything as a whole, but what we’re looking for is the progress.”"

In net Niklas Backstrom is expected to play the full 60, with Darcy Kuemper getting a full 60 on Saturday against St. Louis in St. Paul. That battle is still up in the air. Ilya Bryzgalov is on the outside looking in, which he seems to know based on his selfie parade in Monday’s game. Wild brass hasn’t officially counted him out, but based on the ice time Backstrom and Kuemper are getting, the writing is on the wall.

Notably missing from this roster is Justin Fontaine, who, it was announced today, is out with a lower body injury. Fontaine will miss the rest of the preseason and will also miss the season opener. That’s terrible news for Fontaine — and the Wild, who are better off with him in the lineup.

However, as mentioned earlier today on GPW, that opens up another roster spot on forward, at least for the season opener, and makes Thursday’s game even more important for the players on the cusp. The lineup as it’s currently projected leaves three open spots for forwards that will likely be filled by three of these five: Michael Keranen, Jason Zucker, Stephane Veilleux, Brett Sutter, and Cody Almond.

As mentioned in the Fontaine post, Jason Zucker is basically a lock for opening night. I think of the remaining four that Keranen has the most upside, but if the Wild believe he could be a part of the team’s future and could use some development, he’s probably better off in Iowa where he’d play a lot of minutes and get used on the power play. In Minnesota, he’d probably be a fourth line guy who isn’t getting any power play time.

That means it’s probably Veilleux, Sutter, and Almond competing for two spots.

On the blue line — I’ll keep this short because we’ve talked about this 40 times now — there are two open spots. Now that Keith Ballard is back in the lineup (he’d been out with an injury) that means there’s likely one spot with him and then a seventh defenseman who will spend time as a healthy scratch. Fletcher doesn’t want Matt Dumba or Christian Folin in the lineup unless they’re playing. If either would be a scratch, they’re better off in the AHL and don’t currently have to clear waivers if they’re sent down. That would mean it’s likely Dumba or Folin with Ballard, and then Bickel, Falk, or Blum taking the final spot. The only way it’s Dumba and Folin is if they both are playing and they’d have to both make Ballard irrelevant to do that (which is possible). Of Bickel, Blum, and Falk, Bickel has been getting a lot of love from Yeo and the team had sent Blum and Falk to Iowa before calling them up for Thursday’s game. That kind of makes the most likely scenario Dumba or Folin in one spot and Bickel in the other.

Whew. Ok.

I think Blum should really be a part of that grouping, but the coaching staff has not liked how he has performed in camp. That makes two straight camps where Blum hasn’t been great. Easy to see how he starts the season in Iowa and has to work his way back onto the NHL roster.

Thursday’s game is going to tell us a lot about what the Wild are starting the season with.

In other roster news, Jordan Schroeder cleared waivers today and was assigned to the Iowa Wild.

UPDATE 10/02/14 2:22pm

Here’s the Blues’ lineup for the game:

Forwards
Jori Lehtera
Robby Fabbri
Jaden Schwartz
Alexander Steen
Patrik Berglund
Paul Stastny
Paul Bissonnette
T.J. Oshie
Ryan Reaves
Vladimir Tarasenko
Maxim Lapierre
David Backes

Defensemen
Jay Bouwmeester
Kevin Shattenkirk
Alex Pietrangelo
Petteri Lindbohm
Ian Cole
Jordan Leopold

Goaltenders
Brian Elliott
Jake Allen

The Blues are fielding a lineup not too far from who will be in their opening night lineup. This will be a tough game for the young unit that the Wild are putting out there. Yeo had a great quote via Russo on Twitter:

Russo also tweeted out the two powerplay units for the Wild.