As Wild opens camp, five youngsters to watch

Last April the Wild made the playoffs for the first time since 2008, but the salary cap ceiling dropped nearly $6 million. That meant veteran forwards Matt Cullen, Devin Setoguchi, Cal Clutterbuck and Pierre-Marc Bouchard, and defenseman Tom Gilbert were dispatched.

"We'll be a different-looking team," coach Mike Yeo said. "We are relying a lot on the kids, and with that comes growing pains. It's important for everybody — us as an organization, our team, players, coaches, fans, media — to have a bit of patience early in the year. It could take a little time, but once we get going, we'll be better for it.

"Now, I'm not saying I expect us to have a slow start or bad year. I still think we have the pieces to be a real dangerous team."

Training camp will be critical for many of these "kids."

"We went into the offseason with that mind-set, but when all of a sudden [the veterans left], guys finally realized we have to step up this year to help us as a team," second-year forward Charlie Coyle said.

Here are five young players to focus on as the team hits the ice for the first time in training camp Thursday:

The 6-3, 220-pound power forward acquired in the 2011 Brent Burns trade with San Jose burst onto the scene last season with eight goals in 37 games, and wound up finding a spot on the right side of Zach Parise and Mikko Koivu.

Coyle has played the middle for much of his young career. He spent the offseason working on faceoffs, and the fitness freak says he tried to get faster while also bulking up.

Confident heading into camp, Coyle hopes his ability to play every position will give him a better chance to make the team because he provides so many options. And he's officially changed his number from 63 to 3.

One year after the Wild got masterful play from 19-year-old Jonas Brodin, the team could be looking at another teenage defenseman to make the squad.

Dumba, the seventh pick in the 2012 draft, could add an element the Wild lacks: a flashy, big-hitting, right-shot horse from the back end — he had 20 goals with Red Deer of the Western Hockey League last season. As of now, the Wild's top six defensemen include five lefties: Brodin, Ryan Suter, Marco Scandella, Keith Ballard and Clayton Stoner.

Dumba is raw but intriguing because of his huge open-ice hits and threatening power-play presence. He must either play with the Wild or return to Red Deer, and the Wild has nine regular-season games to make that decision.

Expectations were too vast last season, partly because Wild fans and the media waited three years to see him after he was drafted ninth overall in 2010.

Granlund, who made the team initially but eventually was sent back to Houston, handled everything maturely and says he learned what he'll have to do to be successful in the NHL. He worked on his footwork this offseason — at 5-10, he was easily knocked off the puck as a rookie.

Granlund's best play in Minnesota came at wing, but he'll start camp by competing with Coyle for the second-line center spot.

"El Niño" — the highest-drafted Swiss player in NHL history at fifth overall in 2010 — is a projected top-six power forward who was acquired from the Islanders for Clutterbuck.

His skill is obvious — skates well, shoots well, dangles, has size at 6-2. He finished 10th in goal scoring in the AHL last season with 28 and had 130 points in 120 games in Portland of the Western Hockey League.

The Las Vegas-raised, California-born supremely-confident winger was a star at the University of Denver and became an instant fan favorite during his call-ups with the Wild last season. He scored four goals in 20 games with the Wild and had 24 goals in 55 games in the AHL.

Fast, skilled and exciting to watch, Zucker should make the team because the Wild needs a dangerous second-line left winger, especially with scoring a concern.

Zucker scored a bunch with Houston during the NHL lockout and had chemistry last season with Cullen and Setoguchi in Minnesota. Yeo wants to see more consistency from Zucker, meaning not straying from the system.