Wild adds size, dressing Christian Folin instead of Mike Reilly

Playing the heavy Winnipeg Jets, the Wild's lone lineup change for Saturday's home opener was to insert one of its heavier defensemen.

The 6-foot-3, 204-pound Christian Folin dressed for Mike Reilly, who had a tough opener Thursday in St. Louis.

The Jets are one of the biggest teams in the NHL, and the Wild spent training camp trying to get Folin, 25, to use his size more without skating out of position.

"He's one of our few big-body players that we have," coach Bruce Boudreau said. "He's got to lean on them a little bit more."

This is Folin's third year as a pro, and he has played only 67 games. So he's hoping to earn a full-time spot this season.

Folin was pleased with his camp and is trying to play more physically along the walls and in front of the net.

"I definitely see me as a top-four defenseman in the future in this league and play on the power play," the native of Sweden said. "It'll take time. You've got to start on the bottom and work your way up. You're always looking to prove yourself, and it's definitely a good season to do that."

Winnipeg's Paul Maurice, who coached Eric Staal for parts of five seasons with Carolina, believes the Wild free-agent pickup can have a career renaissance. Staal backed that up by scoring his first goal for the Wild on Saturday.

"No doubt in my mind he has the ability," Maurice said. "Eric's a really caring man, and he would have carried the weight of that transition Carolina was going through very hard. I think he's going to be fantastic for them here.

"He's a spectacular pro and human being off the ice, so your room gets better by that. But you're starting to see it, the speed now is coming back into his game. I think it was tough for him mentally [in Carolina]. Fresh start here, I think [the fans] will love watching him play."

Fourth-line center Zac Dalpe may be reassigned once rookie Joel Eriksson Ek debuts. Incidentally, Boudreau's former agent and current accountant Steve Bartlett happens to be Dalpe's agent.

"Does [Dalpe] want to be an offensive player, a checker, a defensive player? I don't know that he knows what he wants to be yet," Boudreau said last week. "I told Steve, 'Tell him to find his niche and then just be great at that.' "

The Jets, loaded up front with captain Blake Wheeler and center Mark Scheifele, are getting more daunting with rookies Patrik Laine, 18, the No. 2 overall pick this past June, and Kyle Connor, 19, last season's NCAA Rookie of the Year after scoring 35 goals and 71 points in 38 games for the University of Michigan as a freshman.

"We've played Connor twice," Boudreau said. "You can't give him an inch. He knows how to put the puck in the net. He's a natural at that. Laine, I think he was rope-a-doping in preseason and now he's ready to play like a lot of guys. You just can't let him shoot. He's got a world-class shot."

After an exhausting practice Friday, Boudreau, trying to learn the personality of his new team, had players stay off the ice on Saturday.

"It's really all on feel," Boudreau said. "[Friday] was a day where I thought they needed to be pushed. Every team is different, but you sort of read a lot of the body language and what went on [in St. Louis]. So it was one of the tougher practices we'll have."