ST. PAUL - The Minnesota Wild host the Dallas Stars tonight for the final preseason game of the year. Minnesota will be playing their full roster, except Jared Spurgeon who suffered an upper-body injury in Chicago on Thursday.
The Stars on the other hand will be playing most of their regulars as well, including Jason Robertson, Jamie Benn, Matt Duchene, Tyler Seguin, Miro Heiskanen, and Jake Oettinger, to name a few.
It will also be Ryan Hartman's first game with the Wild following the three-year extension he signed earlier today. Hartman joins Mats Zuccarello and Marcus Foligno who got extensions before the season officially starts.
Look for the Wild to get out in front early and establish the tone. It's a big key to the game something they need to get used to doing before their season starts on the 12th.
Avoiding another slow start to the season would be huge for the Wild and even bigger if they can do it without their captain.
Also worth noting, that old friend Sam Steel is in the lineup tonight for the Stars after he signed a one-year deal with Dallas after the Wild let him go to free agency.
Projected lineup
Kirill Kaprizov - Ryan Hartman - Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson - Joel Eriksson Ek - Matt Boldy
Marcus Foligno - Marco Rossi - Freddy Gaudreau
Pat Maroon - Connor Dewar - Brandon Duhaime
Defensive pairs:
Jake Middleton - Alex Goligoski
Jonas Brodin - Brock Faber
Jon Merrill - Calen Addison
Starting goaltender: Filip Gustavsson
Required Reading
• Jared Spurgeon expected to miss a few weeks