Afternoon from fall-like, but beautiful Minneapolis, where the Wild expanded its training-camp roster by 18 today.

The Wild's training camp roster currently consists of 56 players, including 18 players from the Wild's entry in the 2011 NHL Prospects Tournament in Traverse City, Mich. The following players were added to the training camp roster today: Brett Bulmer, Josh Caron, Tyler Cuma, Justin Fontaine, Kris Foucault, Kris Fredheim, Chay Genoway, Tyler Graovac, Matt Hackett, Colton Jobke, Mike Kramer, Sam Lofquist, Darcy Kuemper, David McIntyre, Kyle Medvec, Taylor Peters, Zack Phillips, Carter Sandlak.

Of the 18, Kramer (pride of Como Park), Fredheim, Lofquist (former Gopher), Peters and Sandlak are tryouts. Wild signed Jared Spurgeon, Caron and Jobke last September after tryouts.

Everybody is healthy, except Caron, who the Wild says has a minor injury. He'll see the docs Friday.

Training camp FINALLY and officially opens Friday morning with fitness testing, physicals and photos, as well as a media luncheon with the coach and GM ... because the media likes to eat.

The first on-ice sessions start Saturday at 9 a.m. The early portion of training camp, the team is split up into three groups, with the third group being mostly prospects and extra players.

At 9 a.m. Saturday, Group 1 practices while Group 2 works out off the ice. Then, at 10:05 a.m., Group 1 and 2 will scrimmage, and that scrimmage is free and open to the public. Gate 1 opens at Xcel Energy Center at 9:50 a.m.

Afterward, Group 2 practices and Group 1 works out off the ice before a late practice/workout by Group 3.

On Sunday, flip it. Group 2 starts off practice at 9 a.m. while Group 1 works out. Then, at 10:05 a.m., Group 1 and 2 will scrimmage, with that also free and open to the public.

There will be three days of practice before the first exhibition game Tuesday in Edmonton. In fact, I'm on an airplane seven straight days starting Tuesday.

See, five months of not covering hockey, and it took a grand total of three minutes for me to whine.

Aren't you glad I'm back?

Remember, the home exhibition games are Sept. 23, 27 and 30 against Columbus, St. Louis and Edmonton, respectively. Oct. 8 is the home opener against Columbus, and the Wild will be heading to Duluth Oct. 3-4 for team bonding and practice.

Anyway, lots of work to do. Had a couple outstanding interviews the last few days, so there should be some really good stories, player profiles and features throughout training camp in the Star Tribune.

I'll be on KFAN on Friday both at 9:55 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

Here is the updated training-camp roster:

2011-12 MINNESOTA WILD TRAINING CAMP ROSTER
LEFT WINGS HT WT SHOOTS BORN BIRTHPLACE 2010-11 TEAM LGE GP G A PTS PIM ACQ
54 Brett Bulmer 6-2 182 Right 4/26/92 Prince George, B.C. Kelowna WHL 57 18 31 49 109 EN/10
72 Kris Foucault 6-1 202 Left 12/12/90 Calgary, Alberta Calgary WHL 65 25 23 48 60 EN/09
18 Colton Gillies 6-4 207 Left 2/12/89 Surrey, British Columbia Houston AHL 64 11 15 26 82 EN/07
28 Matt Kassian 6-5 240 Left 10/28/86 Edmonton, Alberta Houston AHL 60 4 4 8 132 EN/05
48 Guillaume Latendresse 6-2 230 Left 5/24/87 Sainte-Catherine, Quebec Minnesota NHL 11 3 3 6 8 TRD/09
23 Eric Nystrom 6-1 193 Left 2/14/83 Syosset, New York Minnesota NHL 82 4 8 12 30 FA/10
80 Carter Sandlak 6-1 190 Left 5/18/93 London, Ontario Belleville OHL 34 9 7 16 44 TRYOUT
CENTERS HT WT SHOOTS BORN BIRTHPLACE 2010-11 TEAM LGE GP G A PTS PIM ACQ
27 Cody Almond 6-2 221 Left 7/24/89 Calgary, Alberta Houston AHL 65 15 19 34 124 EN/07
21 Kyle Brodziak 6-2 209 Right 5/25/84 St. Paul, Alberta Minnesota NHL 80 16 21 37 56 TRD/09
7 Matt Cullen 6-1 200 Left 11/2/76 Virginia, Minnesota Minnesota NHL 78 12 27 39 34 FA/10
53 Tyler Graovac 6-3 179 Left 4/27/93 Brampton, Ontario Ottawa OHL 66 10 11 21 10 EN/11
9 Mikko Koivu 6-2 214 Left 3/12/83 Turku, Finland Minnesota NHL 71 17 45 62 50 EN/01
34 David McIntyre 6-0 190 Left 2/4/87 Pefferlaw, Ontario Albany AHL 78 12 18 30 51 TRD/11
45 Carson McMillan 6-1 190 Right 9/10/88 Brandon, Manitoba Houston AHL 78 12 10 22 80 EN/07
83 Taylor Peters 6-3 212 Left 1/24/92 Delta, British Columbia Portland WHL 72 8 11 19 47 TRYOUT
43 Warren Peters 6-0 201 Left 7/10/82 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Houston AHL 62 15 17 32 47 FA/10
61 Zack Phillips 6-1 175 Right 10/28/92 Fredericton, New Brunswick Saint John QMJHL 67 38 57 95 16 EN/11
36 Chad Rau 5-11 188 Right 1/18/87 Eden Prairie, Minnesota Houston AHL 60 13 27 40 12 FA/10
19 Jeff Taffe 6-3 215 Left 2/19/81 Hastings, Minnesota Rockford AHL 74 30 37 67 22 FA/11
RIGHT WINGS HT WT SHOOTS BORN BIRTHPLACE 2010-11 TEAM LGE GP G A PTS PIM ACQ
96 Pierre-Marc Bouchard 5-10 173 Left 4/27/84 Sherbrooke, Quebec Minnesota NHL 59 12 26 38 14 EN/02
73 Joel Broda 6-0 208 Left 11/24/89 Prince Albert, Saskatchewan Bakersfield ECHL 32 17 13 30 39 FA/10
22 Cal Clutterbuck 5-10 209 Right 11/18/87 Welland, Ontario Minnesota NHL 76 19 15 34 79 EN/06
29 Jon DiSalvatore 6-1 200 Right 3/30/81 Bangor, Maine Houston AHL 80 28 33 61 57 FA/09
52 Justin Fontaine 5-10 160 Right 11/6/87 Bonnyville, Alberta Minnesota-Duluth WCHA 42 22 36 58 42 FA/11
15 Dany Heatley 6-4 220 Left 1/21/81 Freiburg, Germany San Jose NHL 80 26 48 64 56 TRD/11
81 Mike Kramer 5-10 200 Right 8/28/87 St. Paul, Minnesota Princeton ECAC 31 13 18 31 4 TRYOUT
41 Jed Ortmeyer 6-1 205 Right 9/3/78 Omaha, Nebraska San Antonio/Houston AHL 60 8 11 19 45 FA/11
79 Jarod Palmer 6-0 200 Right 2/10/86 Fridley, Minnesota Houston AHL 65 9 19 28 64 FA/10
14 Darroll Powe 5-11 212 Left 6/22/85 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Philadelphia NHL 81 7 10 17 41 TRD/11
10 Devin Setoguchi 6-0 200 Right 1/1/87 Taber, Alberta San Jose NHL 72 22 19 41 37 TRD/11
16 Brad Staubitz 6-1 215 Right 7/28/84 Edmonton, Alberta Minnesota NHL 71 4 5 9 173 TRD/10
17 Casey Wellman 6-0 184 Right 10/18/87 Brentwood, California Houston AHL 42 14 21 35 14 FA/10
DEFENSEMEN HT WT SHOOTS BORN BIRTHPLACE 2010-11 TEAM LGE GP G A PTS PIM ACQ
42 Drew Bagnall 6-3 222 Left 6/3/83 Oakbank, Manitoba Houston AHL 72 0 2 2 112 FA/10
68 Josh Caron 6-3 215 Left 2/10/91 Campbell River, B.C. Kamloops WHL 27 1 1 2 47 FA/10
26 Tyler Cuma 6-1 198 Left 1/19/90 Toronto, Ontario Houston AHL 31 1 3 4 15 EN/08
44 Justin Falk 6-5 217 Left 10/11/88 Snowflake, Manitoba Houston AHL 55 3 11 14 41 EN/07
59 Kris Fredheim 6-2 195 Right 2/23/87 Campbell River, B.C. Houston AHL 66 3 6 9 24 TRYOUT
65 Chay Genoway 5-9 177 Left 12/20/86 Morden, Manitoba North Dakota WCHA 36 6 31 37 26 FA/11
25 Jordan Hendry 6-2 200 Right 2/11/86 Milo, Alberta Chicago NHL 37 1 0 1 4 TRYOUT
74 Colton Jobke 6-0 170 Left 4/20/92 Delta, British Columbia Kelowna WHL 51 1 9 10 84 FA/10
62 Sam Lofquist 6-2 205 Right 3/15/90 Somerset, Wisconsin Guelph OHL 62 8 28 36 57 TRYOUT
2 Mike Lundin 6-2 191 Left 9/24/84 Burnsville, Minnesota Tampa Bay NHL 69 1 11 12 12 FA/11
67 Kyle Medvec 6-6 225 Left 6/16/88 Burnsville, Minnesota Vermont HE 29 2 4 6 28 EN/06
51 Jeff Penner 5-10 183 Left 4/13/87 Steinbach, Manitoba Providence/Houston AHL 67 5 18 23 38 TRD/11
39 Nate Prosser 6-2 221 Right 5/7/86 Elk River, Minnesota Houston AHL 73 8 19 27 31 FA/10
6 Marco Scandella 6-3 206 Left 2/23/90 Montreal, Quebec Houston AHL 33 3 16 19 17 EN/08
55 Nick Schultz 6-1 203 Left 8/25/82 Strasbourg, Saskatchewan Minnesota NHL 74 3 14 17 38 EN/00
46 Jared Spurgeon 5-8 171 Right 11/29/89 Edmonton, Alberta Minnesota NHL 53 4 8 12 2 FA/10
4 Clayton Stoner 6-3 206 Left 2/19/85 Port McNeill, B.C. Minnesota NHL 57 2 7 9 96 EN/04
5 Greg Zanon 5-11 198 Left 6/5/80 Burnaby, British Columbia Minnesota NHL 82 0 7 7 48 FA/09
3 Marek Zidlicky 5-11 186 Right 2/3/77 Most, Czechoslovakia Minnesota NHL 46 7 17 24 30 TRD/08


GOALTENDERS HT WT CATCHES BORN BIRTHPLACE 2010-11 TEAM LGE GPI W-L-OT SO GAA SV% ACQ
32 Niklas Backstrom 6-1 186 Left 2/13/78 Helsinki, Finland Minnesota NHL 51 22-23-5 3 2.66 .916 FA/06
30 Dennis Endras 6-0 167 Left 7/14/85 Immenstadt, Germany Augsburger GER 46 20-22-4 1 3.14 .900 FA/10
31 Matt Hackett 6-2 179 Left 3/7/90 London, Ontario Houston AHL 45 23-16-4 2 2.37 .916 EN/09
37 Josh Harding 6-2 199 Right 6/18/84 Regina, Saskatchewan Minnesota NHL DNP – Injured EN/02
35 Darcy Kuemper 6-4 200 Left 5/5/90 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Red Deer WHL 62 45-12-5 13 1.86 .933 EN/09
Talk to you tomorrow.