The Wild's projected lineup for Thursday's preseason home opener against Winnipeg includes a line with Charlie Coyle centering Nino Niederreiter and newcomer Marcus Foligno. Another line has Luke Kunin centering Jason Zucker and newcomer Tyler Ennis, and another with Matt Cullen centering Zack Mitchell and newcomer Daniel Winnik.

Veterans Ryan Suter, Mikko Koivu, Eric Staal, Mikael Granlund and Devyn Dubnyk are not expected to play until Saturday, when the Wild faces Colorado at home in its third preseason game.

Finnish president here

Finland president Sauli Niinisto will drop a ceremonial puck before Thursday's game. He's in town as part of FinFest USA, one of Finland's 100 celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of Finland's independence.

Finland natives Koivu and Granlund will attend a luncheon and present Niinisto with a Wild jersey Friday. Later Friday, Koivu will join Niinisto at the Minnesota Orchestra concert — music director Osmo Vänskä is a native of Finland — which is also part of the Finland 100.

JOE CHRISTENSEN