Wilderness Walk- 9-19-2013: Pre-Game-Day Edition

So, Wilderness, tonight we get to see the Wild back in-

LIIIIIIIIIIIINKS!

Um, OK. The Wild head to Winn-

LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINKS!!!!!!

As I was saying, the Wild are playing a pre-season game-

LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TheWildplaythejetstonightontothe-

LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ontothewalk!

Wild News

Dumba gets another chance to stick with Wild | Star Tribune- There's too much smoke for Dumba not to stick with the Wild, at least for 9 games. I wouldn't be surprised if he stays with the team the whole year, either. The Wild really want his offense, it seems.

Wild's roster for Thursday's preseason game at Winnipeg | Russo's Rants | StarTribune.com- Here's who's playing tonight.

Minnesota Wild: For Charlie Coyle, new position, more responsibility - TwinCities.com- If Charlie Coyle is indeed faster this season, as Yeo and Zach Parise indicated, then he's even more in business. Big men who can skate? I'll take a dozen, please. I also don't think Coyle will be playing center. That's Granlund's job to lose- I don't care about the competition- and Coyle did well enough on the wing that I think they'll want to keep him there. And there will be a place for Coyle regardless of what position he plays.

Minnesota Wild: Different agendas for young, old defensemen - TwinCities.com- Keith Ballard and Mathew Dumba made quite the pair on Tuesday.

Wild forwards jockeying for roster spots - Gone Puck Wild- A breakdown of the camp competitions.

Report: Minnesota Wild Close to Contract Extension w/ Jason Pominville- Gone Puck Wild- I can't read French, so I'll believe this when Russo says it.

Minnesota Wild Roster Infused with Talented Young Guns, All-Star Vets- Gone Puck Wild- A look at the Wild's roster construction.

The Team of 18,001: Preseason Thoughts/Disclaimers- Giles dishes his thoughts on the first pre-season game. It's good to hear good things about Granlund, again.

Tending the Fields

First Round Bust: FRB Top 20 Prospects: #6...Zack Phillips- Zack Phillips, who will be playing in Winnipeg tonight, gets a spotlight in the FRB Prospect Rankings.

The Team of 18,001: Top 10 Prospects: #1 Mikael Granlund- Would be curious as to whether Granlund would be 1, 2, or 3 if Coyle and Brodin were included. Thoughts, Wilderness? My guess is 2. Brodin's so advanced right now that you'd be hard-pressed to argue that he won't get even better than he is now. Which was pretty damn good. Their upsides are at about the same caliber of player, and Brodin is better now. Granlund's upside still outweighs that of Coyles, in my opinion.

The Minnesota Wild in Traverse City- The Hockey News- Just a reminder: It was bad.

First Round Bust: Wild Notes: Draeger Surgery, Dowell Fight & Others Give Preseason Reactions- Perhaps this links article could go into Wild News, but Draeger having surgery is significant, as it could potentially hinder his sophomore season at Michigan State, where he did well last year.

Off the Trail

The David Perron trade: A glimpse into what life is like for an NHL player when he’s been sent packing | Backhand Shelf- A pretty in-depth read about what moving is like for an NHL player.

New Year's Resolutions for the NHL Fan - The Triangle Blog - Grantland- I started reading it, but I couldn't finish because there weren't any jokes in the first few seconds so I was like "JOOOOOOKES!!!!!" and I left early.

ESPN says Bobby Ryan isn’t one of the top 100 forwards in NHL | Puck Daddy - Yahoo Sports- Maybe Ottawa should have thought about that before making that huge trade for him.

#NHLrank: Forwards - ESPN- Here is that list, by the way. Three Wild players made it. I didn't realize it yesterday, but Jonas Brodin was actually 32nd in ESPN's defenseman rankings, ahead of top young guys like Justin Faulk, Michael Del Zotto, Victor Hedman, Zach Bogosian, and Justin Schultz. Interesting to see him get that much recognition.

Fresh Prince Will Smith makes Jordan Binnington’s mask one of the flyest (Photo) | Puck Daddy - Yahoo Sports- The best use of Will Smith's head since this.

Ovechkin's 'scary' night in Baltimore- Hopefully, it involved Omar coming.

Blues coach isn’t satisfied with team’s ‘response’ to Sobotka hit | ProHockeyTalk- I was also really pissed about the Sobotka hit. I mean, all Sobotka ever did was his job. He put himself out there for his union brothers every day, working hard, and making sacrifices, and what happens? Boom! Taken out by The Greek. Screw you, The Greek! Re-Elect Sobotka for Secretary-Treasurer!