Projected Lineup: Avalanche vs. Wild

The Colorado Avalanche hosts the Minnesota Wild at Pepsi Center tonight to begin the 2018-19 season. The Avs' top line of Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen from last year will remain intact to begin the campaign.
Semyon Varlamov is expected to be between the pipes, his eighth opening-night start as a member of the Avalanche--passing Patrick Roy (seven) for the most season-opening starts in franchise history.

After an optional morning skate, head coach Jared Bednar confirmed that Sheldon Dries will make his NHL debut and be on a line with J.T. Compher and Matt Calvert.
The bench boss also confirmed that Wilson will be with second-year forwards Alexander Kerfoot and Tyson Jost, while veteran center Carl Soderberg will be with Matt Nieto and Gabriel Bourque.
Bednar did not say what the defensive pairings will look like, but he did say that Mark Barberio will be Colorado's sole healthy scratch.
Below is the Avalanche's projected lineup based on the defensive pairings from practice. All forward combinations and defensive pairings are subject to change.

Forwards

92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
13 Alexander Kerfoot - 17 Tyson Jost - 22 Colin Wilson
83 Matt Nieto - 34 Carl Soderberg - 57 Gabriel Bourque
15 Sheldon Dries - 37 J.T. Compher - 11 Matt Calvert

*Defensemen

49 Samuel Girard - 6 Erik Johnson
16 Nikita Zadorov - 4 Tyson Barrie
12 Patrik Nemeth - 28 Ian Cole

Goaltenders

1 Semyon Varlamov (Starter)
31 Philipp Grubauer (Backup)
Healthy Scratch: Mark Barberio
Injury Report:Sven Andrighetto (leg)
\From even-strength drills during Tuesday's practice*