Mike Yeo on Wild's roster, the D battle, Nate Prosser, Erik Haula

With one exhibition game left Saturday night against the St. Louis Blues in St. Paul, the Wild is getting down to the nitty-gritty in terms of its roster.

The five guys recalled for Thursday's game were sent down today, as well as Curt Gogol (waivers) and Gustav Olofsson (expected).

There were effectively two cuts today – forwards Brett Sutter and Michael Keranen. Sutter is on waivers and will be assigned to Iowa if he clears Saturday. Keranen, who eventually does have an out where he can return to Finland, is willing to give Iowa a try.

As I mentioned the past week, strength is the only issue with him and just adjusting to the NHL rink. He's not a fourth-liner and since there's no room on the power play, the Wild felt it was better to get him to Iowa and get him playing. With him, Mike Yeo said it's fit. There's not too many players in the Wild organization (not in Minnesota) with Keranen's vision and skill, so if the Wild loses a top-9 winger or power-play guy, Keranen would be one of the first guys to call up.

Sutter was on for a couple goals last season and he was competing with Cody Almond for one spot. Almond is on a one-way contract, which gives him the inside track, plus he can head back to Switzerland if he doesn't make the team. And since the Wild doesn't have a lot of centers to call up if there's an injury, I just don't think the Wild's willing to let what is its fifth-best center leave.

So, here's the deal: The roster is at 27. Josh Harding will be a non-roster injured player, putting it at 26. As of now, there likely isn't room for Ilya Bryzgalov (barring something unforeseen Saturday; hey, this is the Wild, so anything's possible), so he'll have a decision: My guess is the Wild will offer him a two-way contract or an AHL contract (AHL contract may actually be better for him because then it gives him flexibility if somebody comes calling). If he accepts, he'll go to Iowa eventually. If he doesn't, he'll be released from his tryout.

Regardless, Bryzgalov's departure in some capacity puts the roster at 25 – two more than the maximum. Justin Fontaine will start on injured reserve.

The roster hopefuls left: left wing Jason Zucker, right wing Stu Bickel (he played wing today; more on this below), left wing Stephane Veilleux, Almond and defensemen Christian Folin and Matt Dumba. It is very clear that Nate Prosser is not considered a roster hopeful. He is sticking for now.

I think Zucker has made the team. Same thing with Almond. So, the Wild can either keep Folin AND Dumba or risk waivers with one of either Bickel or Veilleux. Of those two, I think Veilleux would be the one because of how much the Wild values Bickel's ability to play up front and the blue line and his toughness.

But again, if Folin and Dumba both aren't in the top-six consistently, it would be one of them to eventually go. But technically, there is room for both.

"They're making it tough," Yeo said. "It's not like one guy's pulled ahead from the other. It's not like both guys are not playing well. Both guys have made a case to be not only one of our top six but both of them are making us think do we need to put both these guys in the lineup?"

Folin said, "I think I've been making small adjustments to my game, getting better every game here. Four or five games I've played now and Traverse City, too. It definitely helped going to Traverse City to get my lungs going, but overall I feel I'm getting better."

Dumba said of the stress of trying to make the team, "It's part of hockey. You get a little stressed, but you can't really focus on that. I'm here right now. That's all that counts. I've been pretty happy with my camp. I thought I've played well. I've done well on the power play and made some plays out there. I feel a lot more confident this year. I feel like there's a lot of little things in my game that are a lot better that maybe the regular eye doesn't see, but I hope the coaching staff and everyone else does."

On Prosser, Yeo said he plans to talk to Prosser. "I just want him to have a bit of patience because we do have some things to sort out [with Folin and Dumba] and I know Pross' game and I know he can come in and be a very good player for us."

But he won't play Saturday and probably not in Thursday's opener vs. the Avs.

With Prosser, it's about trust. "I know he's going to compete, I know that he's going to play the system, I know he's going to be very difficult to play against. He's a tough guy in front of the net and a tough guy to get scoring chances against. That's something that all the coaches value greatly and he's a big part of our dressing room, too, so we're happy to have him back."

Prosser said, "It feels like I never left, like nothing's changed. Same exact stall. It literally feels like I just went somewhere for two weeks and skated with a few different guys and came back right where I was. Good to be back."

Assistant coach Andrew Brunette joked, according to Yeo, that it felt like the movie, Saving Private Ryan: "Saving Private Prosser. Go behind enemy lines. We smuggled him out and brought him back on the flight home for us. I coached Pross a long tme. Happy to have him back."

Yeo said with the demotions, "I guess the message is there's nothing permanent, and that message also goes to the guys that are here. Nothing's permanent. This is where we're at today."

Bickel played right wing in the skate today. Yeo said that's where he'll stay unless he needs him back at the blue line. One reason is it opens the door for Dumba and Folin and Prosser, but I also wonder if Yeo saw what havoc physical forwards like Ryan Reaves and Paul Bissonnette caused last night and wonders if Bickel can play that role on the fourth line with Fontaine injured.

Haula centered the fourth line today. After those early scrimmages, Haula's camp hasn't been very good. He had a very bad game in Pittsburgh and struggled last night.

Yeo admitted today that he's not happy with Haula's camp, talked to him on the bench during last night's game and planned to pull him in his office after today's practice.

Yeo said the fourth line role today wasn't a message, but in the next breath, he said he was rewarding guys who have been playing the way the team expects.

Haula said of his camp, "It's been tough. I feel like I've done good things and I've also been a little inconsistent maybe. Good thing it's preseason. I know what I'm capable of, I know what my identity is and what my job is. I've just got to play strong and keep my mind strong and just get ready for the next practice and the next game.

"There's been times where I haven't played as well as I wanted to play. It's preseason, thank God, luckily. I still have a few practices and a game hopefully to get ready and get going."

Trust me, DO NOT freak out about all this Haula stuff. He will be fine. He will have a significant role. This isn't Yeo picking on him. This is just a coach making sure that a very important player on this team wakes up and gets his game in order.

But Haula is a second-year pro and still has to earn his place. And his game in Pittsburgh was, by his own admission, awful (three glaring turnovers). And last night, he had one scoring chance, but he was on for the tying goal and just did not play well. He has got to play better, and as we all have seen, can play better.

Darcy Kuemper will start Saturday. Yeo didn't tell us yet the rest of Saturday's lineup. He indicated it will largely be the NHL lineup (and frankly, it should, because in my opinion, the only game we saw the Wild play most its lineup was earlier this week against Pittsburgh, and despite three third-period goals by Jason Pominville, I thought the played terribly).

But Yeo indicated some guys in Saturday's lineup will be there because "we have to finish answering questions we need answered."