With one final practice Wednesday morning at Tria Rink, the Wild completed its 10-day training camp for the truncated, 56-game 2020-21 NHL season and turned its attention to Thursday night's opener at Los Angeles.
"Looking forward to getting there and seeing what everything's all about," said Wild coach Dean Evason, who will lead the team for the first time in a season opener after taking over for Bruce Boudreau last February. "Obviously, looking forward to that drop of the puck [Thursday] night."
Evason will bring 13 forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies to Los Angeles, plus a taxi squad of six players. The Wild announced its roster during Wednesday's practice, with forward Gerry Mayhew and defenseman Brad Hunt grabbing the final spots.
The Wild's line combinations in training camp have been: Nick Bjugstad centering Zach Parise and Kirill Kaprizov; Nick Bonino centering Marcus Johansson and Kevin Fiala; Joel Eriksson Ek centering Jordan Greenway and Marcus Foligno; and Victor Rask centering Nico Sturm and Ryan Hartman.
The team's defensive pairings are: Ryan Suter and Matt Dumba, Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon, and Carson Soucy and Greg Pateryn.
Cam Talbot and Kaapo Kahkonen are the goalies.
On the taxi squad, the Wild has forwards Kyle Rau and Luke Johnson, defensemen Matt Bartkowski, Louie Belpedio and Dakota Mermis, and goalie Andrew Hammond. The NHL added the taxi squad this season to allow teams roster flexibility amid the coronavirus pandemic. Players on the taxi squad, who have cleared waivers, can be placed on the active roster as late as 4 p.m. on game days.
Evason liked what he saw as training camp concluded.