The Minnesota WILD are well into their 2022-23 season training camp. They played the defending Stanley Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche in St. Paul this afternoon in their preseason opener and came away with a 3-2 OT victory. Ryan Hartman got the GWG with assists going to Marco Rossi and Matt Dumba. The Avs only had one player from their big club roster with them today, while the WILD suited up nine. It almost backfired on them late in the game when world-class player Kirill Kaprizov took a Freddy Gaudreau shot to the ankle. He played one more shift and the team told him to hit the showers. Marc Andre' Fleury took the net for the first half of the game and stopped 12 of 12 shots on goal in 31:10 of ice time. Rookie netminder Jesper Wallstedt played the remainder of the game and stopped 11 of 13 in 29:24 of ice time. Kaprizov and Calen Addison were the other WILD scorers. Based on some post-game comments from Head Coach Dean Evason, I feel that those in charge of the process, GM Bill Guerin, Evason, etc, already have a concrete idea of who will be where when the season starts for real. Evason mentioned that as early as this evening, and into tomorrow, they'll be taking players aside and begin filling them in as to what the club has mapped out for them. Those conversations can be nerve-racking for all involved. It's a part of the process though, and with the regular season opener coming up on October 13th versus the NY Rangers, there is a lot to get done between now and then. That's only 18 days out as of this moment. As it is with some amateur tryouts and selection processes, all of the real work goes into making those last two or three roster selections. They are always the hardest. The rest of your roster has likely already separated itself from those that will be chosen to be on the other end of the roster in 'support' roles. That is usually your last two roster spots (19th & 20th) and who your 21st to 23rd rostered players will be. The challenge is that these play
