Devan Dubnyk good to go to face his former team, the Oilers

Devan Dubnyk, the former Oilers goalie, vs. Cam Talbot tonight at Xcel Energy Center.

This will be our first look at the one and only Connor McDavid, the Edmonton rookie and No. 1 overall choice in the 2015 draft, who is starting to catch fire.

The Wild is 20-3-1 in its past 24 games against the Oilers at home since Feb. 25, 2007. The Wild's 24 victories against the Oilers at Xcel Energy Center and 45 wins overall are its most against any franchise.

Courtesy of Fox Sports North's Anthony LaPanta: In the past nine years, the Oilers' average first-round draft position is first in the NHL at 4.67. The Wild is 15th, averaging a 15th pick every first round the past nine years. The Oilers have four No. 1 overall picks in their lineup tonight (2010, Taylor Hall; 2011, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins; Nail Yakupov, 2012, McDavid (2015), the Wild none.

It takes a lot of commitment to stink this long, eh? But things look on the up now with coach Todd McLellan, GM Peter Chiarelli and McDavid in the fold.

Dubnyk says his knee is good to go tonight. He had an MRI yesterday, and everything was positive. He said there was irritation and inflammation.

"The joint moved up over top of each other, which is what seemed to be a pop on Saturday, which wasn't actually a pop," Dubnyk said. "The joint moving over top is what causes irritation and soreness. It was quite sore Sunday. I was very happy with how it felt yesterday morning and throughout the day. I got it worked on, and today, it's nothing to talk about anymore."

He said it's nothing he will think about during tonight's game. "I think it'll be completely gone by tomorrow. It will be not even a fraction in my mind playing tonight. Nothing I'm worried about. I wasn't that concerned about it in the first place. I wouldn't have gone into the net [Sunday] if I thought there was any chance of it continuing to hurt. It was difficult in the second pain-wise every time I went down," but it got worked on in the intermission and he felt good in the third.

Coach Mike Yeo also said, "There'd be no way that we'd be putting him in the lineup if we had concerns this might set him back."

Since being traded by Edmonton two years ago, the former Oilers first-round pick is 5-1 against his old team with a 0.99 goals-against average, .960 save percentage and one shutout.

In 171 games with the Oilers, Dubnyk was 61-76-21 with a .453 points percentage, 2.88 goals-against average and .910 save percentage. In 67 games since with the Wild, Predators and Coyotes, he's 41-17-5 with a .690 points percentage, 2.17 goals-against average and .925 save percentage.

He's 32-11-2 with the Wild (5-2 this year, with one of the losses being in relief of Darcy Kuemper, who gave up four of the five goals, the other day in Winnipeg).

Nate Prosser will play tonight, Christian Folin won't. Yeo said Folin could play tonight, but he's not 100 percent with lower-body tightness and Prosser played well his last game Saturday vs. Anaheim. So why risk Folin?

Still, Yeo talked to Folin for awhile on the ice this morning and he clearly wants him to take his game to another level. He said there's a difference between playing too safe and smart, and he's playing too safe right now.

Tyler Graovac, who will miss his eighth game tonight with a strained groin, took part in the morning skate today for the first time since getting hurt opening night in Colorado. He is expected to practice Thursday (Wild's expected to take Wednesday off).

He's still a ways off from returning. He's missed awhile and needs to get his conditioning back. He has been skating the past four days with skating instructor Andy Ness and goalie Niklas Backstrom (which makes me think Backstrom wasn't with the team in Winnipeg, like I figured).

Graovac said his injury was a combination of a groin and the hip flexor issue he had before training camp.

He said proof of his conditioning being a little off was the fact that his face was so flushed when he talked to us. It's just a matter of getting skating and "just get my lungs back and then I'll be able to jump in 100 percent."

He has been in the team hotel for two months.

"I've gotten to know the menu and the waitresses are nice," he said. "Now I just sit down and know what I want already."

That's it for now. I have a lot of work to do. Also, stop by Tom Reid's Hockey City Pub at 4 p.m. and you can take part in the latest Russo-Souhan Show (all of them are archived at malepatternpodcasts.com).