Carolina Hurricanes vs Minnesota Wild: Rosters and Projected Lineups

Good news/bad news on the injury front for the Hurricanes. It appears that Brock McGinn will draw back into the lineup tonight after missing eight games with an upper body injury. He’ll be needed on the penalty kill as Jay McClement is expected to be out for a “couple of weeks” after suffering a lower body injury in Tuesday’s game against the Islanders.

Phil Di Giuseppe skated with the team this morning and Valentin Zykov skated after practice wrapped up. Both players are making progress but neither are close to a return.

Ryan Murphy will draw back into tonight’s lineup on defense, and Eddie Lack will get the start in net.

Bill Peters covers a lot of ground in his post-practice audio, including more details on the injury situation, the depth of the Canes leadership core, why the Wild are a hard team to play against, and a few props for his former captain.

Hurricanes Projected Lineup

Sebastian Aho - Jordan Staal - Teuvo Teravainen
Jeff Skinner - Victor Rask - Elias Lindholm
Joakim Nordstrom - Lucas Wallmark - Lee Stempniak
Brock McGinn - Derek Ryan - Patrick Brown

Jaccob Slavin - Justin Faulk
Noah Hanifin - Brett Pesce
Klas Dahlbeck - Ryan Murphy

Eddie Lack
Cam Ward

Injuries and Scratches: Jay McClement (lower body), Phil Di Giuseppe (upper body), Valentin Zykov (upper body), Matt Tennyson (healthy)

Closing our their five-game road trip (where so far they are 1-3-0), the Minnesota Wild practiced in Raleigh yesterday but decided to take this morning off. They will be without the services of Martin Hanzal (acquired at a high price from the Coyotes on Feb. 26), who didn't travel with the team (strep throat). Marco Scandella was a bit gimpy after Tuesday’s loss to the Capitals and didn’t practice with the team yesterday, but is expected to be in the lineup.

It feels weird typing Eric Staal’s name in the opposing team’s lineup. Probably always will. The Star Tribune’s Michael Russo offers up a perspective as the former Canes captain approaches his 1,000th career NHL game (which thankfully is not happening tonight), and Section 328 offers a fan perspective on Staal’s return that rings true to this writer’s feelings today.

Wild Projected Lineup

Nino Niederreiter - Eric Staal - Charlie Coyle
Jason Zucker - Mikko Koivu - Mikael Granlund
Zach Parise - Erik Haula - Jason Pominville
Chris Stewart - Tyler Graovac - Ryan White

Ryan Suter - Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin - Nate Prosser
Marco Scandella - Matt Dumba

Devan Dubnyk
Darcy Kuemper

Injuries and Scratches: Martin Hanzal (illness), Jordan Schroeder (healthy), Christian Folin (upper body), Gustav Olofsson (upper body), Erik Haula (healthy)