Tonight the Wild wrap up the preseason in Denver against Nathan MacKinnon and company.
The lineup tonight will feature the 20 somethings for the Wild while the wily vets get the night off.
The lines will be a bit juggled with the 30 plus guys out of the lineup. Look for the Jordan Greenway, Charlie Coyle, Joel Eriksson Ek line to remain intact.
The fourth line guys are all in the lineup tonight, with Eric Fehr, Matt Hendricks, J.T. Brown, Matt Read, and Kyle Rau ready to make that final impression on the Wild coaching staff.
Brown, Read, and Hendricks are in quite a battle to make the squad. Once that is settled the who actually gets into the lineup will be determined by who is playing the best of course and also by the makeup of the Wild opponent on any given night.
Matt Dumba, Jonas Brodin, and Greg Pateryn will dress tonight, with Ryan Murphy, Nate Prosser, and Matt Bartkowski who are in a battle of their own for the 7th defense position.
These decisions are not going to be easy and as we say in this blog all the time, competition is great for the growth of the organization.
This Wild team from top to bottom along with the top end of the Iowa Wild talent pool is much better than it has been in years past. Internal competition breeds excellence, and if the Wild are going to improve this season, it starts from within the organization.
Finally tonight we will be able to put a nice bow on the preseason and put that in the rear view mirror. I for one am ready for some real hockey, enough of games that mean very little.
Just my 2 cents worth...which probably is worth far less than that.
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