Wild coach Bruce Boudreau was back with the team for the first time since his 58-year-old brother, Bryan, passed away suddenly on Saturday.
Minnesota played two preseason games without their coach, who tended to business in the Toronto area the past few days. Boudreau returned this morning and will be behind the bench tonight when the Wild and Blues play in Kansas City.
"It's good to be back," Boudreau said.
Much has changed since Boudreau left.
The team cut nine players on Wednesday and has seen 11 players sent to Iowa since Tuesday. With 26 players remaining on the training camp roster, Minnesota's roster is looking more and more like the group that will suit up in Detroit one week from today.
One of the roster spots still up for grabs is for the third-line center job, a battle between Joel Eriksson Ek and Luke Kunin.
While most Wild players have been in town and on the ice for 13 days, both Kunin and Eriksson Ek got their feet wet the weekend before, playing for Minnesota's team in the Traverse City Prospects Tournament.
While Eriksson Ek appears to be the front runner, Kunin said he doesn't feel any pressure with the preseason winding down and precious few opportunities left to show why he should make the team out of camp.
"I look at every game the same, I focus and prepare the same way I always do," Kunin said. "My goals have been the same the whole time; I want to make the team, that's my goal."
Boudreau said he's gotten a good idea what Kunin will bring, based on camp and what he saw in Traverse City. Whether he starts the year in Minnesota or in Iowa, he's likely going to be a big part of the Wild's future.
"He's going to be a solid NHL player for a lot of years whether it's right now at the start or much down the road or six months down the road," Boudreau said. "We know his character and he can play."
Here are the projected lineups:
WILD
Nino Niederreiter - Eric Staal - Tyler Ennis
Jason Zucker - Mikko Koivu - Mikael Granlund
Marcus Foligno - Joel Eriksson Ek - Charlie Coyle
Daniel Winnik - Luke Kunin - Chris Stewart
Jonas Brodin - Jared Spurgeon
Mike Reilly - Kyle Quincey
Gustav Olofsson - Ryan Murphy
Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock
BLUES
Jaden Schwartz - Paul Stastny - Vladimir Tarasenko
Vladimir Sobotka - Brayden Schenn - Sammy Blais
Magnus Paajarvi - Oscar Sundqvist - Klim Kostin
Wade Megan - Kyle Brodziak - Chris Thorburn
Joel Edmundson - Alex Pietrangelo
Vince Dunn - Colton Parayko
Jake Walman - Robert Bortuzzo
Jake Allen
Carter Hutton