Preseason Preview: Avalanche vs. Minnesota

COLORADO AVALANCHE VS. MINNESOTA WILD
7:00 PM MT | BALL ARENAWATCH: ALTITUDELISTEN: 92.5FM
The Colorado Avalanche head into their third game of preseason action as they host the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday Night. The matchup is set for 7:00 PM MT at Ball Arena.

Following Tuesday's game, a portion of the team will head to Vegas to take on the Golden Knights Wednesday at 8:00 PM MT.

COLORADO-MINNESOTA CONNECTIONS

Brad Hunt played Division I Hockey at Bemidji State, where he was a part of the 2009 Frozen Four Cinderella run, helping the Beavers become the first No. 16 seed to make the Frozen Four. Hunt also spent three seasons with the Minnesota Wild from 2018-21.
Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson and center Ben Meyers are both Minnesota natives that played collegiately for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers.

HISTORY

AVALANCHE VS WILD
AVALANCHE ARTICLES
Avalanche Training Camp Day 3
Landeskog to Miss Start of Season with Lower-Body Injury
Avalanche 2022-23 Training Camp Roster
Avalanche Eager to Begin Defending Their Stanley Cup
GAME EXTRAS
Avalanche 360
Avalanche Tickets
The most notable postseason moment between the Avs and Wild was when (current General Manager) Joe Sakic scored his eighth (and final postseason) overtime goal in Game 1 of the 2008 Western Conference Quarterfinals, a series the Avs would go on to win in six games. Sakic's record of eight overtime postseason goals still stands today.
Most recently, Colorado lost to Minnesota in the first round of the 2013-14 playoffs in seven games.

ROSTER REPORT

Gabriel Landeskog will be out to start the season for the Avs (lower-body injury). Darren Helm and Valeri Nichushkin (lower body) have been skating.
Minnesota Wild Head Coach Dean Evason dismissed any concerns over Kirill Kaprizov taking a shot off his skate in Sunday's game after missing practice Monday morning.
Wild forward Jordan Greenway and defenseman Jon Merrill remain limited participants in camp and will not be ready for the start of the regular season following offseason upper-body surgeries.

SCOUTING THE WILD

Coming off their best regular season in franchise history, the Wild went shopping this off-season. Minnesota began their busy offseason by shipping off star forward Kevin Fiala to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for defenseman Brock Faber and a 2022 first-round pick (19th overall, selected Liam Ohgren, signed to a three-year, entry-level contract).
Minnesota followed up the move by signing Marc-Andre Fleury to a two-year, seven-million dollar contract. In a somewhat surprising move, the team then traded their starting goalie from last season (Cam Talbot) to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for Filip Gustavsson.
The Wild's most recent transactions were signing Sam Steel to a one-year contract and trading Dmitry Kulikov to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for future considerations.