Tonight the Wild take on the Blues in Des Moines at the Wells Fargo Arena, home of the Iowa Wild. 5he contest will mark the first time and NHL game is being played in the state of Iowa, and the barn is expected to be packed.

Gustav Olofsson, one of the key defenseman battling for what is expected to be the 7th defense position, suffered a significant shoulder injury on Monday night in Winnipeg.

This is a big blow to the 23 year old defenseman as he looks to establish himself as a regular in Bruce Boudreau's system. We all know what happened last season where Boudreau lost faith in Olofsson, and this year was set to be different. Olofsson changed his offseason plans and stayed in Minnesota to train and come to camp ready to fight for his spot.

At least in the short term that appears to be derailed and it is a wait and see what the results are of the MRI on his injured shoulder.

Either way the battle for that final defense position will continue on the ice this evening. Nick Seeler took another step in securing the left defense position on the 3rd pair with his strong performance on Monday. Boudreau, referred to Seeler as a " beast" on Monday, stating the Wild faithful will continue to love watching this kid play, with his no nonsense approach and physical game.

Alex Stalock will get the nod between the pipes tonight as he looks to hold onto his backup role in the Wild net.

The first line of Eric Staal, Mikael Granlund, and Jason Zucker will be making their preseason debuts tonight as they look to build on the chemistry they established in the 2nd half of last season.

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