Wild's final roster taking shape

The Wild is more than two weeks into training camp and enters its final exhibition game Saturday night against the St. Louis Blues. The season opener is five days away, and the Christian Folin vs. Matt Dumba blue-line battle remains as intriguing as it did last month.

"They're making it tough," coach Mike Yeo said Friday. "It's not like one guy's pulled ahead from the other. It's not like both guys are not playing well. Both guys have made a case to be [in our top six]."

Folin, 23, offers a big body, big shot and perhaps a game that is more NHL-ready. Dumba, 20, is a risk-taker who offers a dynamic dimension.

"I feel a lot more confident this year," said Dumba, a 2012 first-rounder who played 13 games last season before returning to the Western Hockey League last winter. "I feel like there's a lot of little things in my game that are a lot better that maybe the regular eye doesn't see, but I hope the coaching staff and everyone else does."

Friday was simply one more day in camp on which Folin and Dumba, along with roster hopefuls Jason Zucker, Cody Almond, Stu Bickel and Stephane Veilleux, weren't sent packing.

Two guys were. Winger Michael Keranen was assigned to Iowa of the American Hockey League, while forward Brett Sutter was placed on waivers. If he clears Saturday, he'll be assigned to Iowa.

Keranen, 24, is still learning the North American game and needs to get stronger. He just didn't fit right now, Yeo said. The message was to hone his game in Iowa and wait for a potential injury to a top-nine forward in Minnesota.

Sutter, 27, was edged out by Almond, 25, who is on a one-way contact and could choose to return to his Swiss team in Geneva if he clears waivers. Almond provides depth at center, so the Wild doesn't want to lose him.

Friday's moves to reassign Gustav Olofsson and place Curt Gogol on waivers put the roster at 27. Goalie Josh Harding is suspended and, barring an injury, Ilya Bryzgalov will either have to sign a two-way contract, an AHL contract or be released from his tryout after the weekend.

That theoretically puts the roster at 25, which becomes 24 because Justin Fontaine will start the season on injured reserve. That means that if the Wild wants, it only has to make one more cut to get to a maximum 23-man roster.

Will it be one of the forwards? Or, could it be Folin or Dumba?

"I just try to show up every day like I'm in the NHL right now," Folin said. "I mean, why not enjoy it?"

On Thursday, the Wild plucked defenseman Nate Prosser, who played 126 games for the Wild over parts of five seasons, off waivers from the Blues. Yeo planned to meet with Prosser to ask him to be patient while the Wild makes decisions on Folin and Dumba.

"It feels like I never left, like nothing's changed," said Prosser, 28. "Same exact stall. It literally feels like I just went somewhere for two weeks and skated with a few different guys and came back right where I was."

Stu Bickel, a defenseman, skated a fourth-line right wing in Friday's practice and has a good chance of making the team because of his versatility and toughness. One interesting part of the practice was Erik Haula centering the fourth line. Yeo was excited by the start of Haula's camp, but he played two poor exhibition games, the latest being Thursday in St. Louis.

"We have to remember with Haulzy and it's important that he remembers it too, he hasn't played a full season in the NHL yet," Yeo said. "So we can't be too quick to throw the world at him and we can't be too quick to get down on him. He's still a young player who's developing."

Yeo and Haula met after Friday's practice.

"I feel like I've done good things and I've also been a little inconsistent maybe," Haula said. "I know what I'm capable of, I know what my identity is and what my job is. I've just got to play strong and keep my mind strong and just get ready for the next practice and the next game."