Wild announce 2019-20 opening night roster

After a long preseason, the Minnesota Wild have finally unveiled their opening night roster for the 2019-20 season. The Wild will carry 13 forwards, eight defensemen and two goalies to start the year.

Forwards

- Ryan Donato
- Mikko Koivu
- Zach Parise
- Eric Staal
- Joel Eriksson Ek
- Jason Zucker
- Marcus Foligno
- Jordan Greenway
- Luke Kunin
- Kevin Fiala
- Mats Zuccarello
- Ryan Hartman
- Victor Rask

Defensemen

- Ryan Suter
- Carson Soucy
- Matt Dumba
- Jonas Brodin
- Greg Pateryn
- Jared Spurgeon
- Nick Seeler
- Brad Hunt

Goalies

- Devan Dubnyk
- Alex Stalock

A couple things to note; first, the Wild announced that forward Mason Shaw has been designated as an injured non-roster player — he suffered a torn ACL back in April and still isn’t ready to resume action quite yet. It was also revealed Tuesday morning that defenseman Greg Pateryn had successful bilateral core muscle repair surgery and will miss approximately six weeks as he recovers.

After much speculation, forward Victor Rask has, in fact, made the opening night roster. However, it’s unlikely he will crack the lineup (barring an injury of some sort). The 26-year-old was acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes last season in exchange for forward Nino Niederreiter. In 23 appearances with the Wild in 2018-19, Rask collected a total of two goals and one assist.

Not that there was much doubt, but youngsters Luke Kunin and Jordan Greenway both made the roster. Greenway stood out a number of times throughout the preseason and figures to play a an expanded role for the Wild this season after collecting 12 goals and 24 points in 81 games last season. Kunin’s preseason wasn’t as impressive. In five exhibition appearances, the 21-year-old had a 36.25 Corsi For percentage at 5-on-5 and failed to register a point. However, he did lead the Wild with nearly 16 minutes of shorthanded ice time, so it seems clear that he’ll play a significant role on the penalty kill this season.

What will Minnesota’s lines look like when they take on the Nashville Predators in Bridgestone Arena on Thursday? Possibly something similar to what they iced at practice Tuesday morning.