Watching the Wild opener? Here's what you'll see on the ice tonight

With just enough healthy players at forward and defense on their roster, the Wild had one lineup decision to make ahead of their season opener tonight vs. Florida at Xcel Energy Center.

Who starts in net?

Answer: Filip Gustavsson.

Gustavsson is first up for the Wild after signing a three-year, $11.25 million contract extension over the summer indicative of his breakout performance last season.

After coming over in the Cam Talbot trade with Ottawa, Gustavsson went from the backup to splitting starts with veteran and future Hall-of-Famer Marc-Andre Fleury. He finished 22-9-7 with the second-best goals-against average (2.10) and save percentage (.931) in the NHL and started five of the Wild's six playoff games against Dallas.

Last Saturday, Gustavsson wrapped up the preseason with a 22-save shutout in a 4-0 win over Dallas.

"If you talk to him, he's very quiet but has a very funny personality to him," coach Dean Evason said. "He's got a lot of really good one-liners, which you wouldn't think he would have.

"If anything, he's more confident within the room."

In front of Gustavsson, the Wild have no surprises.

Kirill Kaprizov is back with Ryan Hartman and Mats Zuccarello. Marcus Johansson has reunited with Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy. Rookie Marco Rossi will skate alongside Marcus Foligno and Frederick Gaudreau, and offseason trade pickup Pat Maroon is joining Connor Dewar and Brandon Duhaime.

On defense, the Wild were left with only six options after captain Jared Spurgeon suffered an upper-body injury in the preseason.

Alex Goligoski has stepped in to take Spurgeon's spot next to Jake Middleton. Jonas Brodin is working with rookie Brock Faber, and Jon Merrill is paired up with Calen Addison.

But the Wild will be calling up a reinforcement.

Dakota Mermis is expected to arrive in time to skate warmups as insurance, and he'll also go on the team's upcoming road trip to Toronto and Montreal.