Will the players who want to make the Minnesota Wild’s Opening Night roster please stand up?

Bruce Boudreau is basically begging at this point.

The number of roster hopefuls is decreasing almost daily, with the team making some significant cuts Wednesday, most notably assigning top prospect Alex Tuch to the minors and placing the big-body Tyler Graovac on waivers. Graovac cleared waivers Thursday and reported to the Iowa Wild, who are practicing at the Xcel Energy Center on Thursday and Friday.

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That crop includes a blue-chip prospect in Joel Eriksson Ek, a been-there-done-that veteran in Zach Dalpe, a crafty winger in Christoph Bertschy, and Ryan Carter, who is with the team on a professional tryout.

Nate Prosser, Mike Reilly and Christian Folin are defensemen fighting for a roster spot, though the Wild might opt to keep all three and carry an extra blueliner.

South St. Paul native Alex Stalock was still on the roster as of Thursday, but with Devan Dubnyk and Darcy Kuemper ahead of him on the goaltender depth chart, it’s only a matter of time before he gets sent down.

So who’s going to make the team? Seventeen players have locked up roster spots, leaving everyone else in camp battling for the final six slots.

ROSTER LOCKS

Forwards (10): Charlie Coyle, Chris Stewart, Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise, Eric Staal, Jason Zucker, Nino Niederreiter, Jason Pominville, Erik Haula, Mikael Granlund

Defensemen (5): Marco Scandella, Ryan Suter, Matt Dumba, Jonas Brodin, Jared Spurgeon

Goaltenders (2): Devan Dubnyk, Darcy Kuemper

ON THE BUBBLE

Forwards

RYAN CARTER

Why he will make the team: A veteran who has been with the Wild the past two seasons, he knows how the NHL works. And Boudreau has credited his leadership skills throughout camp.

Why he won’t: He hasn’t had a very impressive camp. “I’m not going to build him up when I don’t think he deserves to be built up,” Boudreau said last week. “And I’m not going to put him down because we know what we get from him.” He hasn’t helped himself by being injured the past couple of days.

ZAC DALPE

Why he will make the team: Similar to Carter, he has been in this position before. He has consistently found himself on the bubble throughout his career, and because of that Boudreau knows what he’ can get out of Dalpe. “It’s his experience,” Boudreau said. “If he has to play a fourth-line role, he’s done it before.”

Why he won’t: Not a prolific goal-scorer, Dalpe isn’t going to scare anyone at the NHL level. Boudreau might be looking for more pop out of a fourth-line center.

CHRISTOPH BERTSCHY

Why he will make the team: There’s a reason the 22-year-old is still here: He has consistently gotten better throughout camp, Boudreau said. “He blocks shots. He pays the price,” Boudreau said. He is “another guy that can play a fourth-line role and give us some minutes.”

Why he won’t: At 5-foot-10, 180 pounds, he’s small. Boudreau might want to beef up his fourth line with more size.

JOEL ERIKSSON EK

Why he will make the team: He’s looked good over the past week. “He’s getting better,” Boudreau said. “He’s a lot stronger than people give him credit for.” And as Boudreau noted, the team can play him in the NHL for up to nine games without burning a year of his contract.

Why he won’t: He’s still only 19 years old. As Boudreau said, “the only thing that’s holding him back is experience right now.” Which means the Wild might opt to send him back to Sweden, where he could see big minutes, rather than play him on the fourth line where he’ll rarely get more than 10 minutes per night.

Defensemen

MIKE REILLY

Why he will make the team: He has flashed ability as a playmaker on the backline. “You can see the skill right off the bat,” Boudreau said. “You can see that he’s going to be a real good player down the road.” That skill would fit nicely next to a hard-shooting blueliner like Matt Dumba.

Why he won’t: He hasn’t been consistent in camp. (He just needs) experience,” Boudreau said. Also, with Reilly not requiring waivers to be sent down, and the other two blueliners vying for rosters spots requiring waivers, he is really going to have to earn this spot.

CHRISTIAN FOLIN

Why he will make the team: He would be the biggest player on the backline. While players have said they will play to their strengths, which is their ability to jump out on the attack, it wouldn’t hurt to have an enforcer on the backline. Another thing Folin has going for him is he requires waivers. There’s a good chance he would get snatched up if the Wild placed him on waivers.

Why he won’t: He doesn’t necessarily fit the speedy style of play the rest of the blueliners possess.

NATE PROSSER

Why he will make the team: He’s a veteran, he’s a positive locker-room guy, and like Folin, requires waivers to be sent down. The Wild might not want to risk him being claimed by another team.

Why he won’t: He is what he is at this point in his career, and while that’s not necessarily a bad thing, Boudreau might be ready to see how the prospects perform when given a consistent chance to play.

Goaltender

ALEX STALOCK

Why he will make the team: He most likely won’t. While he has played well throughout the preseason, he knew what it meant when he signed a two-way deal in the offseason.

Why he won’t: The team basically pegged him as the starting goaltender with the Iowa Wild when they signed him. That hasn’t changed.