The Wild are getting closer to finalizing their opening-night roster after announcing their largest round of cuts at training camp on Monday.
They still have decisions to make, and a few statuses are up in the air because of injuries, but the lineup they’ll ice for the season opener Oct. 9 at St. Louis should become clearer as they wrap up their preseason schedule this week.
Only 31 players remain in camp after the latest exodus shored up the Wild’s minor league team.
Forwards Caedan Bankier and Rasmus Kumpulainen, defensemen Carson Lambos and David Spacek, and goalies Samuel Hlavaj and Riley Mercer were sent to Iowa in the American Hockey League. Forwards Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Ben Jones, defensemen Ben Gleason and Matt Kiersted went on waivers to get assigned to Iowa, and defenseman Wyatt Newpower was released from his tryout; he will report to Iowa training camp, which opened Monday.
Like Jones a year earlier, Aube-Kubel, Gleason and Kiersted were among the Wild’s offseason depth signings, and they all will be call-up options if the Wild get depleted.
This will be Kumpulainen’s first AHL season after he played professionally in Finland.
Bankier and Spacek are returning for their third seasons with Iowa; same with Lambos, who had a solid showing at camp. A first-round pick in 2021, Lambos did join the Wild briefly last season but never made his NHL debut. That opportunity, though, looks closer than ever.
“It’s patience, but I also have to earn it, too, right?” Lambos said Sunday after playing in the Wild’s 4-1 preseason loss to Chicago. “Nothing’s going to be given to me. Just have to focus on one day at a time, and gotta be where my feet are. That’s patience, but part of that is just trying to grind and trying to earn a chance to get some games.”