Tonight’s preseason home opener versus the Winnipeg Jets will feature the Minnesota Wild’s headliners. Marc-André Fleury is expected to play 60 minutes in his first preseason appearance. Tonight’s game will also feature Minnesota’s top players upfront and on the backend, while also featuring some of the team’s top prospects. (Tonight’s lineup vs. Jets)
Despite dressing only a few NHL regulars, the Wild beat the Jets six days ago in Winnipeg, 5-2.
Wild’s Top Players to Play
On Friday night, the Wild’s big four will play, with Kirill Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello, Joel Eriksson Ek and Ryan Hartman making their pre-season debuts; we can expect to see some experimenting with line combinations as the team figures out who fits with who. Expect a top line with Hartman all game, but head coach John Hynes might want to see how Liam Ohgren and Marat Khusnutdinov look with Kaprizov and Zuccarello.
Related: John Hynes Demands Intensity Change In Training Camp
The Wild lacked intensity over the first two games. The hope is with more veterans getting into the lineup, plus with Winnipeg being the Wild’s arch-rival, the intensity will only increase. Ben Jones and Sammy Walker will be bent on impressing, as both are on the outside looking in and are likely to be cut.
Tonight’s Forward Lineup:
Here are the current forward lines at today’s morning skate.
- Kirill Kaprizov – Ryan Hartman – Mats Zuccarello
- Liam Ohgren – Joel Eriksson Ek – Yakov Trenin
- Ben Jones – Marat Khusnutdinov – Riley Heidt
- Hunter Haight – Caedan Bankier – Sammy Walker
Brock Faber Headlines Defense
Sophomore sensation Brock Faber will lead the blue line tonight. When Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin were sidelined for most of last season, the Maple Grove native Faber became the team’s top defenseman. He will be paired with his usual partner, rugged veteran Jacob Middleton. Daemon Hunt, Jack Peart, Carson Lambos, and Kyle Masters will round out the defense.
Lambos and Hunt are battling for the eighth defensive spot on the team. While they have an outside chance of making the team, they will want to leave it all out on the ice. Lambos and Hunt are both Western Hockey League grads and will likely be the top pairing in the American Hockey League this season with the Iowa Wild.
Fleury Starting Tonight
All three goalies in Fleury, Jesper Wallstedt, and Filip Gustavsson should get two starts each during the Wild’s six-game preseason schedule. Fleury will start tonight, while Wallstedt was great in the first game against Winnipeg, and Gustavsson was alright vs the Dallas Stars on Thursday night. Fleury and Gustavsson will be on the team’s opening-night roster, so the big question is whether Wallstedt makes the team. The backup for tonight is Samuel Hlavaj, a goaltender from Slovakia who is coming over to North America to play with AHL Iowa.
Jets Lineup
The Jets’ top guns in Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, Nikolaj Ehlers, Josh Morrissey, and Adam Lowry stayed home for this contest. However, some familiar names will be on the ice, like former Wild forward Mason Shaw, who is hoping to make the Jets out of training camp.
It won’t take much to get things going tonight as the two teams have a heated history. Over the years superstar Kaprizov has been a target of the Jets and has been injured in previous matchups against them.
Matt Boldy Still Sidelined
Matt Boldy is still considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury. Hynes expects Boldy to be ready by the end of training camp, and he should be on the ice one week from tonight in the last preseason game versus the Chicago Blackhawks. He was second on the team in scoring last season with 69 points, and his importance cannot be understated. Management must not rush him back if he’s not ready to play next week.
Tonight’s two points will not matter for any standings, but for more than half the players in both lineups. tonight might be the last time they can impress their coach or general manager. The talk is both teams will be making cuts over the weekend.
