Bruce Boudreau is tired of scouring video daily, tired of driving to Edina from St. Paul's eastern burbs to examine every aspect of every player he was not yet allowed to get his hands on.
But that finally will change Friday when the first-year Wild coach, hired in May after barely being out of work a week, skates onto Xcel Energy Center's ice for the first time.
"We can't wait," Boudreau said, including assistants Scott Stevens, John Anderson and Darby Hendrickson. "I've never been in an office as long before a season as this year. I mean, we're going on a month. I look forward to getting this thing started."
Players report Thursday. Zach Parise and Ryan Suter and most likely Mikko Koivu, Mikael Granlund and Erik Haula will return from the World Cup of Hockey on Friday. The United States and Finland have been eliminated, but each still has a meaningless game to play Thursday.
That means Boudreau will have a full training camp (the returning players will get a few days off, though) to work with most his players (Nino Niederreiter and Team Europe advanced to the semifinal). That should be beneficial when it comes to line combination experiments and the implementation of his system.
Here's a primer heading into training camp:
What are the potential lines to start the season?
A lot depends on if Granlund and Charlie Coyle start at center or wing. Initially, it'll be wing. The Niederreiter-Erik Haula-Jason Pominville line was great during last season's second half, so they'll get a chance to reunite. But Boudreau wants to give Niederreiter a shot with Koivu and Granlund. Granlund could start at right wing, not left, which means Jason Zucker also will get a crack on the line. Initially, free-agent pickup Eric Staal will center Parise and Coyle. The fourth line is up for grabs. Reacquired Chris Stewart could start there, but Boudreau knows about Koivu and Stewart's chemistry two years ago. If Haula isn't up to par or if Tyler Graovac doesn't earn a spot, that could force the Wild to start Coyle at center and Haula on the fourth line. Graovac, Zac Dalpe and Tomas Fleischmann will battle for fourth-line center. At wing, tryouts Ryan Carter, Fleischmann and roster hopefuls Jordan Schroeder and Kurtis Gabriel will compete.