Wild forward Fontaine to miss opening night

Minnesota Wild forward Justin Fontaine is sidelined with a lower-body injury and will not play opening night Oct. 9 against the Colorado Avalanche at Xcel Energy Center.

"He's probably not going to be with us for, say, a couple of weeks here," coach Mike Yeo told the Wild website. "Hopefully it'll be less than that, but that's what we're preparing for right now. Nothing serious that we wouldn't expect him to be completely fine afterward. It's just going to take a little bit of time."

Fontaine, 26, tied for 12th among NHL rookies last season with 13 goals, the third-highest by a Wild first-year player. He signed a two-year, $1 million contract in July.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that Fontaine's injury leaves three forward spots available for five players: Jason Zucker, Cody Almond, Brett Sutter, Michael Keranen and Stephane Veilleux.