Greetings from Ft. Lauderdale.
If you didn't see today's articles, here's a feature on how the Wild says it's not "Anti-Russian" and is more receptive to taking Russians after drafting none in Chuck Fletcher's previous six drafts and having only one Russian player (Ilya Bryzgalov)
Here's the story on Devan Dubnyk's grand evening, as well as other notes on Wild pending free agents like Kyle Brodziak and Chris Stewart and the unsigned restricted free agents.
Speaking of Dubnyk, Fletcher and Dubnyk's agent, Mike Liut, were expected to meet first thing this morning.
This morning, the Minnesota Wild's schedule for next season was released.
As you can see, the schedule's start is a lot like last year where the Wild has seven days off between the exhibition finale and season opener, plays two games and then is off for a bunch of days before starting a three-game road trip at Arizona.
The biggest reason for optimism in the schedule? Buffalo comes to town Game 43. I say that partially tongue in cheek: The Wild beat the Sabres in Game 43 in each of the last two seasons, and both those wins triggered second-half turnarounds that pretty much saved the Wild's season.
The Wild has two four-game homestands and three four-game road trips. There are 15 sets of back-to-backs.
Mark this one: The Stadium Series game Feb. 21 will be at 2:30 p.m. at TCF Bank Stadium against the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks.
2015-16 MINNESOTA WILD SCHEDULE
DAY DATE OPPONENT TIME (CT)
SEPTEMBER PRESEASON
MON. 21 BUFFALO 7:00 P.M.
Tue. 22 at Winnipeg 7:00 p.m.
Thur. 24 at Columbus 6:00 P.M.
Sat. 26 at Edmonton (Saskatoon, Sask.) 5:00 P.M.
SUN. 27 WINNIPEG 7:00 P.M.
OCTOBER
THUR. 1 BUFFALO 7:00 P.M.
OCTOBER REGULAR SEASON
Thur. 8 at Colorado 8:00 p.m.
SAT. 10 ST. LOUIS 7:00 P.M.
Thur. 15 at Arizona 9:00 p.m.
Fri. 16 at Los Angeles 9:30 p.m.
Sun. 18 at Anaheim 7:00 p.m.
THUR. 22 COLUMBUS 7:00 P.M.
SAT. 24 ANAHEIM 5:00 P.M.
Sun. 25 at Winnipeg 5:00 p.m.
TUE. 27 EDMONTON 7:00 P.M.
FRI. 30 CHICAGO 7:00 P.M.
Sat. 31 at St. Louis 7:00 p.m.
NOVEMBER
THUR. 5 NASHVILLE 7:00 P.M.
SAT. 7 TAMPA BAY 7:00 P.M.
TUE. 10 WINNIPEG 7:00 P.M.
Thur. 12 at Carolina 6:00 p.m.
Sat. 14 at Dallas 7:00 p.m.
Tue. 17 at Pittsburgh 6:00 p.m.
Thur. 19 at Boston 6:00 p.m.
SAT. 21 NASHVILLE 7:00 P.M.
WED. 25 VANCOUVER 6:00 P.M.
FRI. 27 WINNIPEG 3:00 P.M.
SAT. 28 DALLAS 7:00 P.M.
DECEMBER
Tue. 1 at Chicago 7:30 p.m.
THUR. 3 TORONTO 7:00 P.M.
SAT. 5 COLORADO 7:00 P.M.
Mon. 7 at Colorado 8:00 p.m.
Fri. 11 at Arizona 8:00 p.m.
Sat. 12 at San Jose 9:30 p.m.
TUE. 15 VANCOUVER 7:00 P.M.
THUR. 17 N.Y. RANGERS 7:00 P.M.
Sat. 19 at Nashville 7:00 p.m.
MON. 21 DALLAS 7:00 P.M.
TUE. 22 MONTREAL 7:00 P.M.
SAT. 26 PITTSBURGH 7:00 P.M.
MON. 28 DETROIT 7:00 P.M.
Thur. 31 at St. Louis 7:00 p.m.
BOLD INDICATES HOME GAME
DATES AND TIME SUBJECT TO CHANGE
DAY DATE OPPONENT TIME (CT)
JANUARY
Sat. 2 at Tampa Bay 6:00 p.m.
Sun. 3 at Florida 5:00 p.m.
Tue. 5 at Columbus 6:00 P.M.
THUR. 7 PHILADELPHIA 7:00 P.M.
Sat. 9 at Dallas 7:00 p.m.
SUN. 10 NEW JERSEY 7:00 P.M.
TUE. 12 BUFFALO 7:00 P.M.
FRI. 15 WINNIPEG 7:00 P.M.
Sat. 16 at Nashville 7:00 p.m.
Wed. 20 at Anaheim 9:30 p.m.
Thur. 21 at Los Angeles 9:30 p.m.
Sat. 23 at San Jose 3:00 p.m.
MON. 25 ARIZONA 7:30 P.M.
Sun. 31 NHL ALL-STAR GAME (Nashville, Tenn.) TBD
FEBRUARY
Tue. 2 at N.Y. Islanders 6:00 p.m.
Thur. 4 at N.Y. Rangers 6:00 p.m.
Sat. 6 at St. Louis 7:00 p.m.
TUE. 9 DALLAS 7:00 P.M.
THUR. 11 WASHINGTON 7:00 P.M.
SAT. 13 BOSTON 1:00 P.M.
Mon. 15 at Vancouver 9:00 p.m.
Wed. 17 at Calgary 9:00 p.m.
Thur. 18 at Edmonton 8:00 p.m.
SUN. 21 CHICAGO 2:30 P.M.
TUE. 23 N.Y. ISLANDERS 7:00 P.M.
Thur. 25 at Philadelphia 6:00 p.m.
Fri. 26 at Washington 6:00 p.m.
SUN. 28 FLORIDA 2:00 P.M.
MARCH
TUE. 1 COLORADO 7:00 P.M.
Thur. 3 at Toronto 6:30 p.m.
Sat. 5 at Buffalo 12:00 p.m.
SUN. 6 ST. LOUIS 7:00 P.M.
THUR. 10 EDMONTON 7:00 P.M.
Sat. 12 at Montreal 6:00 p.m.
Tue. 15 at Ottawa 6:30 p.m.
Thur. 17 at New Jersey 6:00 p.m.
SAT. 19 CAROLINA 1:00 P.M.
Sun. 20 at Chicago 7:30 p.m.
TUE. 22 LOS ANGELES 7:00 P.M.
THUR. 24 CALGARY 7:00 P.M.
Sat. 26 at Colorado 2:00 p.m.
TUE. 29 CHICAGO 7:00 P.M.
THUR. 31 OTTAWA 7:00 P.M.
APRIL
Fri. 1 at Detroit 6:30 p.m.
Sun. 3 at Winnipeg 6:00 p.m.
TUE. 5 SAN JOSE 7:00 P.M.
SAT. 9 CALGARY 6:00 P.M.