Real work starts now for Folin; Former Bruin makes the final cut with the Minnesota Wild
Published 10:31 am Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Minnesota Wild defenseman Christian Folin skates to the puck against the St. Louis Blues during his NHL debut on April 10, 2014 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Folin, a former Austin Bruin, was named to the Wild’s opening day roster Monday. Photo provided by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images
Former Austin Bruin Christian Folin made the final cut with the Minnesota Wild for the 2014-2015 hockey season.
The team picked its final roster on Monday and Folin is on the team. The pressure of making the roster is off for Folin now, but he isn’t about to relax.
“It took a lot of work to get here and it feels great,” Folin said. “But the real work starts now. It’s not about just making the roster. I want to become a solid NHL defenseman.”
The wild kept three young players on the roster: Folin, 23, Jason Zucker, 22, and Matt Dumba, 20.
“Those guys have come in and had very strong camps,” Wild coach Mike Yeo told the Pioneer Press. “We gave them the opportunity to succeed, and we also gave them the opportunity to fail, and they went obviously in the (right) direction.”
It was thought that Folin was competing with fellow rookie defenseman Matt Dumba for a spot on the team, but both of them made the squad. Veterans Keith Ballard and Nate Prosser were also among the eight players kept on the blue line.
Folin was playing with Dumba in the same line in the last couple of preseason games.
“I think we both had pretty good camps and we’ve played together,” Folin said. “I hope that continues.”
But because of their youth, Folin, Zucker and Dumba have a slim margin for error. If anyone slips out of the top six for an extended period he’ll likely be sent to Iowa, where he will be guaranteed big minutes.
“They had good camps, so they should be proud of that,” Yeo told the Pioneer Press. “But this is the same message that I’ll give them: Every day is a new day, and you should feel real good about being here, but you have to make sure that you stay here.”
Folin, from Gothenburg, Sweden played in one game for the Wild at the end of last season and he had one assist. He spent two seasons at UMass-Lowell, where he compiled 41 points in 79 games and played in the Frozen Four. Folin had two seasons with the Austin Bruins, where he played in 87 games and had 41 points.
Folin was back in Riverside Arena to watch the Austin Bruins play Friday and he got a chance to pay a visit to former Bruins’ head coach Chris Tok and his wife Melissa.
“It was great to go back and watch the game,” Folin said. “It was good to get a nice home cooked meal from Melissa.”
The Wild have filled 22 of their 23 spots and the final spot is for Justin Fontaine, for when he returns from the injured reserve.
The Wild play their opener Thursday when they host Colorado at Xcel Energy Center at 8:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on NBC Sports Network.
—MCT Information Services and the Pioneer Press contributed to this report.
