The Minnesota Wild started training camp earlier this week, and now they’ll take one more step closer to the regular season as they play their first preseason game. They’ll open the preseason on the road Saturday evening, Sept. 21, against one of their biggest divisional rivals, the Winnipeg Jets, and it’s likely to be a physical game as always.
The Wild will play six preseason games, and there will be a different lineup in nearly every single game. In the first few games, the roster is mostly players who won’t make the final cut, with a few veterans scattered around to allow them some extra practice in a game situation. As the preseason winds down, the lineup becomes nearly all veterans, so in this first game of the 2024-25 preseason, it’s mostly players we won’t see again this season. In this article, we’ll look at what to expect in this first preseason game, who to watch, and how these games may not involve points, but they do matter.
Wild Play Jets Rough
Some may be surprised Kirill Kaprizov isn’t playing, but the stars typically don’t play until the final few preseason games to get their legs under them. In this instance it might be better that he’s not playing since he’s gotten hurt against the Jets the past couple of seasons. The Jets always play rough, and the Wild typically return the favor.
Many young players want to make an impression on the roster, so they’ll be looking to throw their bodies around to be noticed. However, it shouldn’t be out of control because they also don’t want to risk injury this early. The play also may not be as fluid as a regular NHL game because most of these players haven’t played together before this week, and that’s not much time to adjust.
As far as the Jets are concerned, two former Wild players will be on the roster for the game later today. Kappo Kähkönen is a name many will recognize from a few seasons ago, as he was supposed to be the Wild’s future number-one goaltender before Jesper Wallstedt jumped onto the scene. However, after a few seasons in the net, Kähkönen wasn’t what the Wild hoped for and he ended up traded to the San Jose Sharks for Jake Middleton the same day Marc-André Fleury joined the Wild roster.
The other player was on the Wild up until this offseason, and that was Mason Shaw. He suffered four ACL tears through his tenure with the Wild’s organization and proved his worth well but ultimately ended up…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at The Hockey Writers…