#mnwild lineup at St. Louis; Wild cuts eight, signs three (updated)

This came after the Wild officially signed Jobke, Caron and Jared Spurgeon to entry-level deals as the Wild continues to restock the cupboards in unique ways. Since March, the Wild has signed college or junior free agents Casey Wellman, Nate Prosser, Jarod Palmer, Joel Broda and now Jobke, Caron and Spurgeon.

On Nik Backstrom's game last night (five goals on 18 shots): "We just watched the chances – we went through the whole game – we had the puck on our stick a number of times. I think the first three goals we had the puck on our stick. One was a penalty kill, we didn't get it all the way down the ice. One, the puck bounces over Mikko's stick. And the other was a turnover (by Barker). It hit the official, but we had the puck and we needed to make a better play leading up to that. At the end, everyone always looks at the goalie and says we need a save, but we made a lot of mistakes leading up to those points. Looking at the goals, I don't know if there's one you can point the finger at Nik and say he's necessarily got to be better on. But you always count on your goaltender to make some key saves at some key times, and Nik is that goalie, and he will do that when we get into the season." "Looking at the game systematically, I went through our systems, it wasn't systems. We had individual breakdowns that led to goals. We gave up 13 scoring chances. They scored on five of them. We generated 14 scoring chances and scored one goal. That's how we had it. … If we're better with the puck, we manage it a little bit better, I don't know if it's a different result, but the score's not 5-1." "Everybody's a professional and prepare and they work. No questions about that. But sometimes those games are hard to play. It's your first game, you're down 4- or 5-1. I liked the way we played in the third. There were a couple plays here or there that ended up fishing the puck out of our net." On giving up a flurry of goals again like last year: "Exactly. We'll address it more. Giving up three goals in a period, we did that too many times last year. We have to recognize that when a goal gets scored, that next shift is so important. We gave up their first goal, and I think it was about 1:15 later, they score their second goal. And again, that's where as a team you've got to be really good. Now you're battling uphill. It was a 1-0 game, we give up one. OK, that's fine. It's a 1-1 game, let's be ready to go. Now, a minute and a half later, it's 2-1. Now we're looking up. Now we're chasing. Like last year." Richards is really intrigued to see some of these guys vying for spots tomorrow, like Wellman, Peters, Prosser, Cuma, etc. He said many of these guys will get two of the next three games.