Wild Open Preseason Tonight in Vancouver
by Chris Thompson

Thursday September 18, 2003

Preseason hockey is generally considered by the masses to be boring an unimportant. It's just a bunch of kids who will never see a real NHL game getting a glimpse at a dream they'll never reach. But for die hard fans....the preseason is as important as any regular season game. This is the time of year we get to glimpse not only the present of the club, but also the future.

With a farm system full of talent, Minnesota Wild fans get that very chance starting tonight when the Wild square off against division foe Vancouver on the road in Winnipeg. Tonight's game will feature about 1/2 of the current players in camp. The lineups should look something like this:

Matt Johnson, LW, Darby Hendrickson, C, and Bill Muckalt, RW
Armands Berzins, LW; Marc Chouinard, C, and Dan Cavanaugh, RW
Christoph Brandner, LW, Sergei Zholtok, C, and Alexandre Daigle, RW
Stephane Veilleux, LW, Rickard Wallin, C, and Kyle Wanvig, RW.
On defense:
Filip Kuba, Eric Reitz, Nick Schultz, Travis Roche, Brad Brown and Andrei Zyuzin should play.

Many interesting story lines present themselves with this lineup.
1.) can the Veilleux, Wallin, Wanvig line that played so well for Houston last season all make the jump to Minnesota?
2.) how will newcomers Chouinard and Daigle fit into the picture?
3.) will youngsters like Brandner, Berzins and Cavanaugh find a way to squeeze into the picture?
4.) Do vets like Johnson, Hendrickson, Muckalt and Zholtok need to be worried about losing their roster spots with so many talented young kids eagar to play?

The answers to these and many more questions will begin to be seen tonight. Minnesota was a perfect 8-0 in the preseason last year, but the record may not be as important this year as making sure everyone gets enough ice time to make sure the team can put together it's best possible lineup heading into the regular season. Very few players are assured of anything in camp, so everyone needs to play at their highest level, even if it is only the preseason. Competitive camps like this breed exciting hockey and are a sign of a solid, stable, healthy franchise. We are fortunate to be in this position after only three seasons in the NHL. It's truly a testament to the job the Wild organization has done in building the club.

Puck drops at 7:30 tonight. The game will be broadcast on KCCO 950 AM due to a conflict with the Twins on WCCO.