Minnesota Wild releases 6-game preseason schedule for 2021-22 season
Joel Eriksson Ek #14 and Jordan Greenway #18 of the Minnesota Wild celebrate Greenway's first-period goal against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game Five of the First Round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs at T-Mobile Arena on May 24, 2021 in Las Vegas ((Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images))
MINNEAPOLIS - The Minnesota Wild on Monday released its schedule for a six-game preseason before the 2021-22 regular season.
The Wild will have three road games, and three home games, all split between the St. Louis Blues, Chicago Blackhawks and Colorado Avalanche. The preseason slate will start Sept. 25 at the Blues, then heads to the Avalanche Sept. 30.
The Wild will have three straight preseason home games, starting Oct. 4 against the Avalanche at Xcel Energy Center. They’ll host the Blues on Oct. 6, and finish the preseason home slate against the Blackhawks on Oct. 7. The road preseason schedule finishes Oct. 9 at the Blackhawks.
Here’s a game-by-game look at the preseason schedule:
- Sept. 25 at St. Louis Blues, 7 p.m.
- Sept. 30 at Colorado Avalanche, 8 p.m.
- Oct. 4 vs. Colorado Avalanche, 7 p.m.
- Oct. 6 vs. St. Louis Blues, 7 p.m.
- Oct. 7 vs. Chicago Blackhawks, 7 p.m.
- Oct. 9 at Chicago Blackhawks, 7:30 p.m.
The NHL is expected to release the 2021-22 home openers on Wednesday. The complete regular season schedule is expected to be announced on Thursday.
The Wild also released on Sunday its list of players protected from the NHL Expansion Draft. The Wild is protecting goalie Cam Talbot, defensemen Jonas Brodin, Jared Spurgeon and Matt Dumba and forwards Joel Eriksson Ek, Kevin Fiala, Marcus Foligno, Jordan Greenway, Ryan Hartman, Nico Sturm and Mats Zuccarello.
That means those players won’t be available for the Seattle Kraken to take in the Expansion Draft Wednesday night. Seattle must take at least one player from 30 NHL teams, consisting of 14 forwards, nine defensemen and three goalies.