The City Pages Best Of issue got me thinking about some of my favorite things to do around this wonderful part of the country. I’m sure I’m missing things (and may change my mind), but here’s an initial shot at a metro area list. Ideas for outstate Minnesota are floating around in my head too.

1. Minnesota State Fair (above)

I write about this every year, so I won’t rehash, other than to say there’s a reason I’ve been to this every year since I was born. Pure awesomeness in so many ways – food, entertainment, people watching and much, much more.

2. Twin Cities Marathon

This also gets a lot of coverage on this site, as I’ve now run it 8 times. The Most Beautiful Urban Marathon in America® earns that circle “R” with fall colors, loops of the Minneapolis lakes, a stretch along the Mississippi River and a great finish down Summit Avenue past the Cathedral and State Capitol. Plus you never forgot your first.

3. Lebanon Hills Mountain Bike Trail

If you like mountain biking, this is my “don’t miss” track for the entire region. I’m relatively new to the sport, but I could ride this every day and not get bored.

4. Mall of America

A lot of locals say they hate the MOA, but sorry Burnsville Center, you just don’t cut when it comes to shopping on a grand scale. It can be overcrowded at times and I’m not a huge fan of the restaurants, but it’s still the place your visiting relatives and friends want to go when they come to town.

5. Barbette and Prohibition at the W

So many good restaurants in Minneapolis, but Kim Bartmann’s Barbette in Uptown continues to be my favorite because of one thing: flat iron steak frites. Mmmm…frites.

I’m not really a bar hopper, but Prohibition’s combination of Foshay architecture and atmosphere, great service, lovely views from the 27th floor and the wonderful ephiphany martini (Grey Goose La Poire, St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur and Duvalleroy Champagne) could turn me into a regular.

6. Cecil’s Deli, Carbone’s Pizza and Ristorante Luci

Since I grew up in St. Paul, it’s much harder for me to pick one favorite restaurant in that fair city. Therefore I present three: Cecil’s Deli in Highland Park for the hot pastrami sandwich, the original Carbone’s Pizza on Randolph and Ristorante Luci for some of the best Italian food I’ve had anywhere. Rotating daily through these three for the rest of your life wouldn’t be a bad thing.

7. Hockey at the Xcel Energy Center

While this is the State of Hockey, our teams have had their ups and downs lately. One thing is certain, though, the overall hockey fan experience at the X ranks right up there with the best anywhere. Be it the NHL’s Wild, the hockey Gophers or the state high school tournament, I loves me some hockey in downtown St. Paul.

8. Chain of Lakes

Heading back across the river, the Minneapolis Chain of Lakes is really the crown jewel of the Twin Cities. That’s hard for someone raised in Saint Paul to admit, but it’s true. Whether you run, walk, bike, rollerblade, sail, kayak, swim, drive, ski or skate them, you’ll be hard-pressed to not feel good about it afterwards. All that plus great park facilities and food options too.

9. First Avenue & 7th Street Entry

My first show at First Avenue was Living Colour in 1993. Somewhere I have a scan of all the tickets from early shows I attended, back when they had cool sparkly ink and you could usually score free tickets to another show each time you left the building. Can’t wait to get back to see the latest enhancements to the room…

10. Hazeltine National and Interlachen Country Club

Minnesota has a lot of great public golf courses, but there is nothing quite like these two private clubs. If you have the connections, make it happen. Both have history, conditioning, great staff, strong layouts and a day on the course you’ll remember for a long, long time.

Any favorites I missed?

Internet, hockey in HD, Cheez-Its, Feista and nice furniture, Marriott Marquis & Marina, San Diego, California

Kid one and two, row 5, section 105, Wild-Flames, Xcel Energy Center, Saint Paul, Minnesota

Minnesota Wild Forward Stephane Veilleux, Xcel Energy Center, Saint Paul, Minnesota

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/sports/hockey/derek-boogaard-a-boy-learns-to-brawl.html

I was shocked and saddened to learn of the death of 28-year-old Derek Boogaard yesterday in Minneapolis. The 6-foot-7 enforcer played five seasons for the Minnesota Wild (2005-2009) before signing with the New York Rangers last year.

The Boogeyman was a fan favorite and my family loved him. We had the opportunity to meet him in person several times and his off-ice personality was a complete opposite from his tough-guy fighter image during games. Kind, soft-spoken and great with kids, his personal appearances were always well attended and appreciated by all.

A few personal memories:

• The player appearance at the old Hockey Lodge at the Mall of America (above), when both of my kids got personalized autographs and had a chance to chat with him after the lines died down. The kids loved his pink glasses and I’ll always remember the image of him tucking a Wild Monopoly box under his arm and walking away alone through the Mall of America rotunda.
• The night I went to Buffalo Wild Wings in Savage to get a signed “Get Well Soon” card for my daughter, which he happily signed, along with a “tell her I said I hope she feels better.”
• Watching the video of his goal against the Caps, breaking his three year scoring drought (234 NHL games). Made me smile all day.
• Hanging the life-size poster of Boogey and Butch in my office, which became a daily reminder of just how big he really was.
• Watching him pull up in his black pickup truck outside the restaurant in downtown St. Paul where the team would usually eat lunch on game days, leave it running in the cold Minnesota winter, wolf down huge amounts of pasta, then hop back in the truck and take off.
• According to the New York Times, Boogaard had 70 career NHL fights. I don’t know if I have a favorite, but here’s one against the prettiest man in the NHL.

The wonderful Star Tribune beat reporter Michael Russo has written an emotional blog post that has more insight into his life and the impact he had on those around him. My heart goes out to his family members, who I feel like I know after reading all of the Russo stories the past few years.

Rest in peace, number 24.

It wasn’t under the greatest circumstances, but I was offered the chance to watch the last three Wild home games in my aunt and uncle’s seats. He suffered a stroke last week and had to spend most of the week in the hospital, but is now home and doing better.

The first two games, Phoenix and Atlanta, were frustrating losses. I felt the Wild played OK in both of them, though, and deserved at least a point both nights.

Sunday’s game versus Vancouver more than made up for it, with the Wild earning a 6-2 win in front of the third largest regular season home crowd ever. Kid two and her best friend were “bench buddies” before the game and got to sit on the Wild bench during pre-game warm-ups (pictures in the private section of the photo gallery).

The addition of Cam Barker was a surprise to me (Kimmy and our first round pick?), but I’ll give our new GM the benefit of the doubt. I don’t know what I’d do if I were him now – the playoffs seem like a long-shot, but I don’t think I’d go into sell-off mode either.

The Olympics stuff at the beginning of the game was nice. I was especially impressed that people applauded loudly for all of the Canuck Olympians, despite the intense rivalry (and general hatred) of that franchise. Minnesota fans know (and appreciate) good hockey players when we see them, even if they do play for the Canucks.

I know the Red Wings aren’t having their best year, but I’ve always admired the organization and it’s always a treat to get to see them play the Wild in St. Paul. I wrangled a last minute ticket from my aunt and uncle and got to see the return of Brent Burns to the Wild lineup. I thought he played pretty good for a guy coming back from missing 29 games. Gotta love his fitness quote in the Strib too:

“I can wash your shirt on my abs right now.”

We were one of the first 6,000 at the X who received the towel pictured above. I don’t really remember anyone waving them, but the start of the game was a little hard to watch. Harding was playing really well before he got hurt and it was extra painful to watch Bertuzzi with the breakaway goal.

As we’ve learned this year, never leave early. I usually would be happy with the loser point in this situation, but the Wild had so many good chances to win in the OT and shootout, that it really felt like a letdown.

Not much else to report – parking was a little harder to find for some reason and the pretzel I ordered was a little stale and way too salty. Oh yeah, I still long for free wi-fi in the building – will that ever happen?

Last night’s Wild game against the Nashville Predators was some good entertainment. The second period was a bit of a drag, but the rest of it was great. Some random thoughts:

• The yellow team kicked butt during the first intermission, so our side of the arena won free oil changes at that tire place.
• I tweeted during the game about Havlat appearing drunk – not sure if he was winded at the end of a long shift or what, but wow did he look dazed and confused for a while. He had an assist, though, so I guess he can coast again for a few games.
• My uncle and I looked for some new food and ended up with mini donuts. I wish there was a little more variety on the upper concourse.
• Koivu’s post-score dance celebration was awesome. It sure would be nice if that power play unit was so smooth all the time.
• Speaking of Koivu, the non-call in the third, followed by the hooking call with 2:20 left, was frustrating. Especially since the rest of the game was relatively event free from a penalty/ref standpoint.
• Boogaard came this close to getting that elusive goal in the first period.
• Ebbett’s game-winner was great, but I was more impressed with the 80% face-off win percentage. Not bad for a little guy!

Thanks again to my aunt and uncle for the invite.

Last night I took my friend Phil (above) to his second ever hockey game at the Xcel Energy Center to watch the worst team in the west play the second worst team. Now one of them is only the third worst team, and unfortunately it isn’t the Wild.

I don’t really know what to say about how the Wild have started the season. On paper, I like our team and the changes that were made in the off-season. The reality, though, has been total suckle:

• Complete lack of ability to clear the zone
• Out-hustled to the puck all the time
• Way too much standing around and waiting for the play to come to them
• No chemistry from any of the lines yet
• Burns at -13, Koivu at -12 and Havlat at -10? How is that even possible?
• Our leading goal scorer is Andrew Brunette with 7, then it drops down to 3 (Koivu)

The three goals in 1:47 was amazing, but only one shot in the remaining 17:42 of that period? And I agree with Russo – how do you scratch Sykora and play both Scott and Boogaard? On defense, I wanted Skoula gone as much as anyone, but Zidlicky and Hnidy seem to be battling for the new crown of Wild defensive goat. Zids and his turnovers make me cringe and Sheriff Shane can’t seem to hit an outlet pass to save his life – it’s either a turnover or icing almost every time.

As Mr. Fletcher said during an interview in Chicago, “we’re still trying to get on the same page.” I was hoping that would have happened during training camp and the pre-season, but here we are 12 games into the season and the Wild sit in the western conference cellar with none of our “stars” hurt. Maybe that’s it – Johnnson and Butch are the secret sauce we need to turn it around.

If only it were that easy…

Thanks to the Wild’s youth hockey donation offer, I picked up a free ticket to tonight’s home opener versus the Ducks. I’ll be in section 114, row 16 – should be a nice spot to watch the Koivu brothers mix it up. Late start (8:15PM), but the Twins game will be on in the X starting at 4PM.

I haven’t written much about the preseason here, as there are now so many good sources of local hockey news. I rolled up all of my Minnesota sports into this one (including Hockey in Minnesota), so I haven’t had a pressing need to write just for the sake of having something new up. I will post when I go to games and hopefully have something unique to add to the Wild blogosphere. I’ll probably keep the @hockeymn Twitter account going this season too for some occasional in-game commentary.

For good hockey coverage this year, check the links in the sidebar for the sites and people I read regularly. Also, if you aren’t following these people on Twitter, you need to add them ASAP:

• Bill Robertson, Wild VP – @mnwild
• Michael Russo, Star Tribune – @Russostrib
• Fiona Quick, Minnesota Hockey Journal – @QuickFacts
• Nathan Eide, Hockey Wilderness – @hockeywildernes

There are a bunch of others, too, but I’m finding it’s becoming increasing easy to get overwhelmed with information (and a lot of repetition via re-tweets). Hell, between the team’s own PR group (which gets better and better all the time) and the superb work of Mr. Russo, you pretty much get all you need to know.

UPDATE:
Well, that turned out to be fun. Everyone in the arena was focused on the Twins for the first period, so I didn’t really notice how we got to a 0-0 tie at intermission. The second period was just horrible. I knew as soon as John Scott and George Parros lined up in the third period a fight was going down. People around me didn’t know why I starting clapping right away, but the coach said during the post-game interview that was the turning point of the game. I’d also like to thank Mr. Wisniewski for letting us have the extra point without having to go to the shoot-out.

Not much new to report from the arena experience tonight. Everyone got a team wall calendar, the sell-out streak is apparently over, they played the Twins rouser over the PA and the starting lineup sequence and national anthem were a little different (but that might just be due to it being opening night). Craig Leopold sat by himself in his suite for most of the game. I ordered some teriyaki chicken wings, but they are now Brakebush, not BWW (I think this actually changed last year). I think there may be a few new food items available this year, too.

Wild are away from the X for like two weeks now…

Tonight I was invited by my uncle to the second Wild pre-season home game against the Chicago Blackhawks. Normally, these early games that no one wants to pay for (or attend) are devoid of most entertainment value. This game was an exception to that rule for me.

Martin Havlat seemed intent to make an impression against his former team, scoring 86 seconds into the game by burying a nice pass from Pouliot. He added a second goal in similar fashion in the third, this time from Clutterbuck. His buddy “Siki” scored the third and final goal of the game with 2:57 left. I hope Havlat and Sykora stay healthy all year and get to play on the same line – seems like good chemistry there.

Chicago stars Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews were scratched, so you can’t take too much from the shutout part of the game, but Backstrom seemed strong in his two periods of play. Khudobin got some work in the third and made me feel a little better in the event we lose Harding this year to the trade pool.

There were five (!) fights in this game, and all were fun to watch:

• Dowell vs. Smith
• Bois vs. Scott
• Lalonde vs. Cuma
• Fraser vs. Sifers
• Johnson vs. Kassian

Attendance was never announced (that I can recall), so I wonder if the streak is over. The first 5,000 people received the magnetic season calendar (pictured above), but it doesn’t indicate which games will be in HD. Food seemed to be the same – the Davanni’s stand sold us two garlic cheese bread orders and two regular soft drinks for $15.50.

Should be an interesting season – Go Wild!

You know it’s almost time for hockey hibernation in Minnesota to end when you start seeing Wild players at the state fair. This year it was Derek Boogaard modeling the new third jersey and signing autographs last Sunday in the new Fan Central building.

Much has been written already about the new design and I’ll just say that I think it will grow on me, but it doesn’t knock my socks off. There are so many font styles battling that it seems a little disjointed (and that capitol “M” seems…weird). I guess I was just a big fan of the original Wild logo (that now only appears prominently on the white jerseys).

The new season is only 13 days away – let’s play hockey!

I made it down to the X for the first half of the scrimmage. Couldn’t stop laughing at “Coach Burns” and how he and Clutterbuck kept going back and forth. Classic.

There are a bunch of pictures I took that I uploaded to the Hockey in Minnesota photo gallery. This was the first time I was allowed to bring in my 80-200mm lens, so I wasn’t really sure how well it would work. Still need more practice, but there are a few OK ones in there.

Another funny note – I thought I saw Boogaard sitting in the stands behind the bench, but after reviewing my photos, turns out it was Russo:

I’m not sure who will find that funnier – Russo or Boogaard…

Last night we went to the 2009 edition of the Wild Select-A-Seat season ticket holder event and had a blast. I’ll write more on this over at Hockey in Minnesota soon, but I just wanted to link to the photos in the private section of the 7 Minute Miles photo gallery.

I didn’t write many blog posts here the past few weeks, as I mainly used Twitter (@hockeymn) to write about the end of the Wild season. 140 characters at a time was about all I could manage then.

I’ve had to scrap this post several times in the past few weeks, as the news just keeps flying fast and furious. The three exciting final games, our slim playoff chances dashed, the departure of our only coach and then what I thought couldn’t possibly happen, the firing of GM Doug Risebrough. Lots of uncertainty everywhere in the organization now. Hell, we might not even have two newspapers covering the team by the time the 09/10 season begins.

The original title of this post was going to be “If I Owned the Wild,” but then Mr. Leipold stepped up and took charge. Until this week, I was going to ask how the State of Hockey ended up with a cheesehead owner who moonlights as a Republican delegate. Apparently he heard from enough armchair owners during the season to figure out what needed to be done to prevent the pitchforks and potential loss of revenue.

Some random thoughts:

• Thanks, Jacques, for all you did here. I thought it was very interesting he knew nothing about the upcoming Riser events.
• Thanks, Doug, for all you did here in the beginning. What you did then was great, but the organization needs different things now to bring a cup to the State of Hockey.
• If half of the Burns concussion news is accurate, the medical team needs to go too.
• I’d still like to see Gaborik return under the new regime, but I’d only do an incentive-laden contract. The days of long-term, guaranteed money NHL deals may never return – or shouldn’t (do you hear me Detroit?).
• We probably can’t afford it, but if the new GM can get Mikko’s brother and Mr. Cammalleri to play in St. Paul, I’d be a very, very happy season ticket holder.
• Hey NHL, having non-stop NHL games on every night in HD for free is the best. Could we have this during the regular season somehow too? Pretty please?

I won’t be writing here much during the playoffs and during the draft (see Golfing in Minnesota and Run in Minnesota), but I thank all of you who visited during the past year. I’m planning to do much more next season, so please stop back and see us again soon…

The best hockey of the year is underway at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Follow us on Twitter for the latest (@hockeymn) and enjoy the excitement!

While the hockey operations part of the Wild is struggling these days, other parts of organization still have their act together. My kids have been members of the Wild Kids Club for a few years and we’ve found it well worth the cost. Two really nice recent things: the life-sized poster of Boogaard and Butch and a cool birthday card. Bravo!

The Wild gave up a loser point and then the extra point to a Kings team they should have slapped all over the place. The first period was so boring, I might have left if my daughter wasn’t with me. I probably should have, as I got a nice little $25 present on my car from the St. Paul Police Department that was placed there around 9pm. More on that in a minute…

The second period at least had some scoring, including the beautiful short-handed goal by Miettinen off the pass from Koivu. I’m pretty sure the Kings goal was scored by Johnsson, which ended the Wild’s long penalty kill streak. No goals in the third, although the Wild had a few chances. I am so sick of single digit shot totals in a period – what is up with that? Both teams seemed tired in the OT and just seemed to stop skating. I’m starting to hate the shoot-out even more now (and not because the Wild lost the last two I’ve witnessed). It’s a skills test, yes, but lately hasn’t really showcased a lot of skill. And please, Coach, keep Burns on the bench during shoot-outs for the rest of the year.

Now on to the real thing that made me mad tonight. I drive a MINI Cooper that used to fit just about anywhere in downtown St. Paul. Then the city put up signs that said no parking from here to corner. I’m fine with that. At the corner of Smith and Chestnut where I parked at tonight, though, there was no sign. Plenty of room for a MINI to fit. The curb was covered with snow, so there weren’t any markings I could see.

At 21:06, an Officer Lee decided that I was violating statute 169.34.1.a.6 – “Prohibitions – stopping, parking within 20 feet of crosswalk.” $25 fee – just enough to really not make it worth my time to dispute. So word of warning Wild fans – don’t park within 20 feet of a crosswalk, even if there are no signs or visible markings. Grumble, grumble.

Wild are off now on their six game road trip, which starts Friday in Calgary – 8pm start on FS North (no HD).

OK, so now you know just how far behind on things I am. Here is a scan of the holiday card I received from the Wild for being on the warming house season ticket waiting list.

Happy (belated) holidays!

Thanks to my “real job” nightmare, I haven’t had much time to focus on this site or on hockey in general. It’s hard to miss the general state of despair of the Wild online community, though. Russo thinks the Wild are toast, Hockey Wilderness is totally pissed and threats of season ticket holder revolts are flying left and right.

Yes, the Ottawa game was a massive choke. Yes, the Wild are uber-inconsistent this season. Yes, the Wild can’t string three wins in a row to save their lives. Yes, the upcoming stretch of games against top-ranked teams will be challenging. And, yes, 14 out of 17 games on the road is a bitch.

But you know what? I’m not ready to stop watching or call for Risebrough’s head on a platter just yet. Our beloved GM’s statement that “there are only four or five good teams in the league and the rest of us are all the same” is pretty much dead on. The Wild could very well stink it up for the rest of the season, but they also have a very good chance at any of the lower half of the playoff seeds (assuming San Jose, Detroit, Calgary and Chicago are locks for #1-4).

There is plenty of time at the end of the season to call for blood, but right now I’m excited to see what this crop of players can do. Hell, I’ll even give Dougie the benefit of the doubt at the trade deadline. History has shown this time of year isn’t exactly a showcase of his negotiating skills, but Mr. Leipold won’t let mistakes go on forever, right? Maybe he can redeem himself with the Gabby and Backstrom situations after all…

It cracks me up when I read posts from places like Detroit that can always find something to complain about. As if 82 points isn’t good enough, eh?

This clever ruse about consecutive sell-outs needs to end, though. I’m 99.9% sure all of those seats aren’t sold every game. Any insider informants out there that care to spill the beans? Leave us a comment or drop me a line at dk@hockey.mn.

Thanks to a last minute invite, I got to head down to the X to watch the Wild play a rare game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. We met some nice Leafs fans last week in Vegas, and as they bluntly told us, “our team sucks.”

This was the type of game the Wild is suppose to win (and usually don’t). I still hold the theory that if the Wild get in to the playoffs as the number 8 seed, they will win the cup. They can beat the best teams in the west and have dominated almost every eastern team they have played this year.

The Maple Leafs are struggling right now, but I don’t imagine that will last too long. Check back in a year or two and see what Mr. Burke can accomplish in the fish bowl that is Canadian professional hockey.

Thankfully, the Wild took advantage of poor Justin Pogge. The minor league goaltender was up for only his second NHL start and knew he was going to be sent back down tomorrow. Stats in this game were misleading: Toronto had more shots on goal (28-21) and dominated face-offs (60/40), but poor Justin let in six goals and was serenaded with the sieve chant by the team of 18,000.

A few other notes:

• Fans received boxes of Hot Tamales on the way out that had a donation request for the Salvation Army’s HeatShare program. Text “Army” to 90999 to donate $5 to the program.
• There were a ton of empty seats (and lots of ads on Craigslist today with very low prices). I’m beginning to think that the Wild are buying seats to keep the sell-out streak alive (just like other teams are doing to earn their league revenue sharing money).
• Boogaard just couldn’t get Brad May to dance tonight, despite multiple invitations. Probably a smart move, Brad, but wow do you look bad when you run away.
• Clutterbuck is starting to become our own little mini-Ovechkin: skates all over with passion, hits everything in sight and now is displaying a nice scoring touch. Nine hits tonight.
• Johnsson was a +4. When was the last time we had anyone be a +4 in a game? Nice job, Kimmy! Can you teach some of those skills to Skoula before you get traded?
• The Bethel women’s hockey team was selling game programs tonight and several of their players sat next to us after the first period. Nice kids.
• New singer tonight for both of the national anthems – I believe her name was Lauren Redpath. This blog says she auditioned to be the singer in 2007, but I’m not 100% sure this is the same person. Her last name was Redpath, but she looked different to me.
• Congrats to Andrew “Iron Man” Brunette today on his 500th consecutive game. After running into him at The Nook a few years ago and seeing him crash knees first into the boards four games ago, I would have never guessed he’d make it to this milestone intact. Too bad the Wild didn’t make a bigger deal out of it tonight.

The Wild’s next game is at Edmonton on Friday night (8PM on FS North, no HD), followed by another away game the next night in Vancouver (9PM on FS North, also no HD). That will be followed by a four game home stretch against the Ducks, Preds, Oilers and Avs. We’ll be there for two of those four, so stay tuned for more full Hockey in Minnesota blog entries.

I’d also like to thank all of the new people following us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/hockeymn). I really enjoy getting other people’s quick hockey updates via Twitter and hope you like our little contributions to the online Minnesota hockey community too.

Attending tonight’s Wild-Red Wings game at the X was sort of a last minute decision for me. My aunt got fed up with the team after the Chicago game and wanted to boycott, so I filled in for her in section 216.

The first period was a return to the bad trends of December: Detroit scored the first goal and the Wild got shut out. Shots stayed closer than I expected, though (11-8 Wings), and it was refreshing to have zero penalties on either team. I didn’t see Samuelsson’s goal very well, as it was at the other end, but I did see my buddy Skoula standing over Josh after it went in.

It was still 1-0 Detroit at the end of two, but the Wild ended the period with a 5-on-3 that carried over to the third. Somehow they also managed to out shoot the Wings in the second 16-8, although it really didn’t seem like it to me.

The third period started off with a bang, with new assistant captain Owen Nolan deflecting a Brent Burns blast from the blue line, quickly followed by a quick wrist shot by Antti Miettinen 16 seconds later. It was the aggressive play of Cal Clutterbuck that created the second goal, giving Clutter-butter his first assist of the year. Slim night for Cal on hits, though – only 3.

I have yet to see the disputed Franzen goal on replay. That goal was also at the other end of the arena from us, so I couldn’t really see anything. The ref that was standing right there with the perfect angle immediately waved it off and play was about to begin when Toronto decided to study the issue further. I’ll withhold further opinion until I see what the war room saw. Falness said on the post-game that he thought it was the right call…

I do have to say that the appeal of the shoot-out has faded for me. I now agree with those that say it’s a tricked up skills exhibition that awards an extra point instead of “real” hockey. One part of me wants a return of ties with no extra point, while another part of me wants to have them play until someone wins, like in the playoffs. Four-on-four, three-on-three, I don’t care – make them work for the extra point for real. They are professional athletes that get paid a lot of money – let’s see the show.

Not much else to report from the arena experience tonight. AT&T was handing out those packs pictured above, although I’m still not sure what’s in there. The Wild also had tables set up to hand out the mugs that didn’t arrive in time from one of the December games. I’m guessing they will have a bunch of those left over, as you needed a voucher and I’m sure a lot of those got lost.

The Wild travel to Denver to play the Avs tomorrow at Pepsi Center (7PM, FS North HD). I’ll be curious to see who starts and how well they bounce back from this game. Jacques said they would get pillows for the guys with big ice time (Burns – 33:33, Johnsson – 30:18, Skoula – 27:55). At least Colorado is dealing with some of the same issues we have right now (key injuries, on the outside, looking in, etc.).

This game was at least fun to watch:

• Gabby was sluggish and noticeably holding back his effort, but still was a big factor.
• The reaction from the crowd when he hit the ice was mixed from where we sat – boos mixed in with cheers.
• I’ve always felt Boogaard is more of a liability than an asset, but tonight he was awesome. A great hit and a great punch.
• It’s really fun taking people to games that have never been to the X before.
• The Wild seemed to be in control most of the time, but still have trouble winning battles along the boards and showing any break-out speed. Is there a need for better conditioning?
• Another current weakness: holding the zone at the blue line.
• The game winning goal by Bertuzzi was amazing, despite causing us to lose the extra point.
• The Wild emailed warming house members a coupon for 25% off at the Hockey Lodge, so I bought a new soft helmet hat that will cover my ears when I need to shovel again later this week.

Just checked the calendar and I don’t have tickets to another game under March. So sad.

With a 1-5 start to December (and the start of the Koivu captain curse), the Wild have plummeted down the Western Conference standings. While it’s too early to abandon all hope, it would be nice to see a little more fight from the guys. Sunday’s game against the Ducks could get ugly if we don’t see some urgency to return to the win column. Like Miettinen said after the 3-1 loss to the Kings, there is more wrong right now than just the lack of scoring.

Hockey in Minnesota will be live tweeting the Ducks game tomorrow (@hockeymn) and will be at the next home game versus Calgary on Wednesday.

Hopefully the Wild bring us some holiday cheer sooner rather than later…

If he gets more ice time with Koivu (and the refs don’t screw him over), it won’t be long…

Here’s to better days ahead for Nik (and a new contract)…

The Wild lost last night and I’m feeling OK about it. I didn’t realize I actually had tickets to the game until the day before, so it was nice just to be there.

Despite the loss of two points to a hated rival, I enjoyed watching the game. In some ways, a 4-3 loss is more entertaining than a 1-0 win. The bounces just didn’t go the Wild’s way last night – C’est la vie.

A couple of notes from our experience:

• The first free mug was handed out after the game, featuring Mikko Koivu, Moose Goheen, Mike Modano and Doc Romnes (see above).
• It’s fun reading Twitter feeds on my phone during game breaks, especially @hockeywildernes and @QuickFacts.
• I set up a Twitter account for Hockey in Minnesota (@hockeymn), but don’t like doing in-game tweets – too busy watching the game.
• Somebody really needed to level Avery when he was in Backstrom’s face.
• The scoring change from Skoula to Bruno was the talk of our section – “all is now right with the world again.”
• I took a bunch of photos during pre-game warm-ups from the side of the rink (instead of behind the goal) and got some unique shots.
• At the risk of sounding like an elitist, the Team of 18,000 needs less homers and more people with hockey knowledge.
• Speaking of 18,000, they announced a “standing-room only” crowd of 18,568 last night, but apparently my old single seat season ticket hasn’t been sold and is continually empty every game (even for an in-demand ticket like Dallas).

Next game for me: December 17 versus the Flames.

Mikko Koivu during pre-game warm-ups before the 4-3 home loss to Dallas, 11-26-2008.

The economy has me in the blues lately – I wonder how long before the NHL in Minnesota is impacted. I don’t have my season ticket this year (which is one of the reasons for the lack of posts here) and other NHL markets are seriously tanking, but hopefully it won’t spread too much before things improve.

On a happier note, both the Wild and the Gophers are playing good, entertaining hockey. Missed last night’s rare national game in HD, but it sounded good on the radio.

I still plan to add a new feature here soon, but to be honest, there are so many good hockey writers and bloggers out there now that I feel like I should only write when I have something unique to say and not just re-hash what is already out there.

Since new media revenue is starting to evaporate along with everything else, at least I don’t have any sponsors I need to worry about…

Finally got to watch my first regular season game in person this year. I didn’t buy the single season ticket next to my relatives seats this year, so unless Bill Robertson comes through for me (or any of the channel 45 connections), I’ll only get to about five games at the X this season.

My bullet points from tonight’s outing:

• The Wild were extremely fortunate to be where they were after two periods.
• I don’t buy the consecutive sell-out streak any more and wish they would just announce the true attendance.
• There are now two wireless networks in the building and both are password protected (MSE_Public and MSE_Media). Really hate that – AT&T is your wireless sponsor, right? Make them pay extra so we can have free wireless in the stands…
• Speaking of sponsors, the ads are getting to be a little much, in my opinion. I guess I should just get up and walk around more between periods and it wouldn’t seem so bad. I think the Best Buy ads for “all your HD hockey needs” pushed me over the edge, seeing as how there are what, five HD games on this year? And this was one of them…
• Programs are still $3 this year, with proceeds still going to youth hockey.
• They played the cool Andrew Brunette video with him and the equipment trainer, then said they were auctioning off the prop “17,615″ jersey. Nicely done.
• Some photographer dude came by our section before the third period taking pictures of people and giving them cards to look up the shots and order prints (just like at amusement parks!). http://www.wild.com/truefans
• “Mittens” is the worst hockey nickname ever and I refuse to use it.
• Why does the URL for Russo’s Rants keep changing? Same for the wild.com in-game commentary…

I have a few enhancements planned for this site that I hope to have online very soon – stay tuned!

Lame:

New autograph policy: A total of 150 autograph tickets will be distributed for Andrew Brunette and another 150 for Marian Gaborik. Those tickets will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis beginning at 2 p.m.

Now you get to wait in line twice in one day…

Screw the Slovak Mafia – Mikko to Antti all season, baby! Maybe we should have half the team be sick every night, eh? Or ask to play Eastern teams all year…

It just seems so right to have Bruno back in a Wild jersey, no?

Fun season opener tonight. Didn’t get to see it in person, but watched the beginning at Joe Senser’s in Eagan before heading home to see the end.

By the way, how long before all games are in HD? There should be a law…

Nice to finally be back! After a laptop issue that took a long time to resolve, too much stuff going on at work and my general disdain for pre-season professional sports, it’s been hard for me to get excited about hockey this year. That changed after back-to-back games this week at the X, though.

I took one kid each night and got more and more excited as each period passed. Thoughts from the past two days:

• Price increases all around it seems: tickets and most concessions – waiting to see if regular season game programs go to $4 too
• Buffalo Wild Wings appears to be MIA on the first floor (chicken strips with sauces now)
• Bergeron really, really needs to stop fighting (or attend Boogie’s fight camp)
• As if we needed a new reason to hate Skoula – watch that stick, buddy!
• Will Sheppard join Koivu this year as a face-off master? Initial signs are good…
• Took a bunch of pre-game pictures that I’ll get uploaded later this week

One final thought tonight. A lot of season ticket holders for pro hockey and football hate the pre-season because they are not “real” games, yet cost full-price. I think the NFL is considering a shortened pre-season, but I like what baseball does: cheap games in unique locations that people actually plan trips around. How about NHL scrimmages at college rinks for $5 or $10 a head? The teams make too much money under the current setup to change, but wouldn’t it be cool to have the local rink rats get to see their heroes in their own backyard?

Tonight we attended the first annual Wild season ticket holder BBQ on Raspberry Island in downtown St. Paul. Two trolleys ferried people from the River Centre parking ramp on Kellogg down to the entrance where we found:

• Coupons for a free brat or burger, chips, drink and Kemps IttiBitz ice cream
• A tent selling discounted Wild merchandise
• New owner Craig Leopold flipping burgers
• Tables with swag from channel 45 and the Pioneer Press
• Two caricature artists doing free drawings
• Lots of tables and chairs to sit and eat
• A stage for a live Hockey Unplugged with Kevin Falness, Dan Terhaar, Mike Greenlay and Craig Leopold
• A screen set up for the movie Miracle

I chatted briefly with Mike Greenlay (who plays in the Tapemark Charity Pro-Am) and asked him about the new owner. He said he worked with him before in Nashville and he thinks that Bob Naegele found a great successor in Mr. Leopold.

It was fun listening to Hockey Unplugged again, although a few of the questions asked weren’t the greatest (glad I don’t have to come up with answers for those).

The only disappointment of the night was the one caricature artist who said he had to quit at 8PM – right as my daughter got to the front of the line after waiting an hour. By itself that wouldn’t be so awful, but the guy did one more drawing after we left for a couple who offered him $10 to do a “free” drawing. Jerk.

I was looking at my personal blog today and remembered I met Mark Parrish at the 2006 Minnesota State Fair (post here).

He was a nice guy to talk to and I remember he asked me what “DK” stood for and always liked to hear stories about how people got their nicknames.

I understand the cap explanation and the player-coach tension, but I’m sorry to see him go. We still have a need for junk goals from in front of the crease and that was a Parrish specialty. His off year was in large part due to the injuries suffered by getting in there and battling. It’s hard for me to not see how you at least give him a chance with the new teammates–especially with the contract he had.

By the way, where do I sign up for one of those deals? Five million to not do anything is pretty sweet…

Good luck Grumpy, wherever you end up.

As reported by hockey writer extraordinaire Mike Russo, the Wild are almost at the salary cap after signing Pierre-Marc Bouchard last week to a long-term, $20.4 million deal.

He also posted an updated depth chart to his blog and I have to say, I’m pretty excited about the upcoming season:

LW – Brunette, Parrish, Veilleux, Boogaard
C – Koivu, Sheppard, Belanger, Pouliot
RW – Gaborik, Bouchard, Nolan, Miettinen, Weller
D – Burns, Johnsson, Schultz, Zidlicky, Skoula, Bergeron, Reitz, Foster
G – Backstrom, Harding

Of course there are no guarantees, but there seem to be plenty of worse teams in the NHL (at least on paper). Only 58 days to the pre-season opener…

Go Wild!

The Wild released next season’s schedule yesterday (PDF). Some thoughts:

• Sixteen back-to-backs (can’t remember how many there were last year)
• Longest road series: six games, 2/27 – 3/8, CGY/EDM/VAN/SJ/LA/ANA
• Longest home series: five games, 11/20 – 11/28, VAN/STL/WSH/DAL/TB
• Both Wings home games are on Saturday nights (1/3 & 2/21)
• Crosby @ PIT on 11/18 and Ovechkin here on 11/24
• Hopefully a healthy Manny in nets for the home opener vs. BOS (10/11)

Can’t wait!

We attended the 2008 edition of the Minnesota Wild season ticket holder select-a-seat event at the Xcel Energy Center earlier this week.

The good news for the new owner: very few open seats this year. The upper ends were sold out (as usual) and the upper sides had only scattered single seats available. The club level had surprisingly few open seats (so much for the recession) and the only reasonable supply of seats were lower level ends and corners on the side the Wild shoot at once.

Some other notes:

• The prospects were on the ice when we first arrived and were supposed to come up and sign autographs, but they still weren’t there by the time we left.
• Suite #56 was open for inspection, which was fun to see, but I was disappointed to see that they removed the 23-inch Cinema displays, though.
• While sitting in some seats on the club level, a very nervous gentleman purchased four of them ($12,300 – ouch).
• Free ice cream and Zamboni pictures were nice, as were the 30-percent-off coupons to the Hockey Lodge.
• My relatives kept their same seats, so I’ll wait and see if the Wild offer them the open single next to them for half price again.
• The “discount” at the River Centre parking ramp wasn’t so special – $7 instead of $10. How about free for the people spending thousands of dollars?

More on the prospects soon…

Wow, take a week off to watch the best female golfers in the world and the Wild universe goes nuts…

Some thoughts on those who have left:

• Rolston – sad to see him go, but he occasionally drove me nuts. No way the Wild could have matched the New Jersey offer (which I thought was very generous).
• Fedoruk – will miss his grinder line determination (and dance skills).
• Voros – Fedoruk lite, but his production dropped off and wasn’t worth $1 million/year.

And some thoughts on the additions:

• Andrew Brunette (LW) – glad to have him back. Maybe he can help Parrish get out of his slump.
• Owen Nolan (LW) – didn’t see this one coming. Anything that makes Calgary weaker is good in my book. Sort of a Walz replacement in some ways.
• Antti Miettinen (RW) – should be good for Koivu to have another Finn in the room. Stats look pretty good.
• Craig Weller (RW) – UMD connection, but not much NHL experience. Supposed to be a Voros replacement. Never thought $600K would be considered a “value” player…
• Marek Zidlicky (D) – Excited about this one. New owner must know him, we get a player whose name starts with “Z,” another Czech will maybe encourage Skoula to play better (ha!). Sort of pricey, but not Johnsson pricey.

And finally, issues we still need to deal with:

• Butch and Veilleux – I’d like to see both back, unless one of them helps us with:
• Another Center – as discussed everywhere, we are still lacking here.

All that and Select-A-Seat this week too…

Watched a bit of the Versus coverage of the first round. Here is the wild.com summary:

ROUND 1 – Tyler Cuma

The skinny: The Wild entered the draft at No. 24 overall, but moved up one spot to No. 23 in the first round to select the 6-foot-2, 180-pound Bowmanville, Ontario native.

ROUND 2- Marco Scandella

The skinny: Ranked No. 82 among North American skaters, Minnesota selected the Val d’Or defenseman with its No. 55 overall pick.

ROUND 4 – Sean Lorenz

The skinny: After skipping a round thanks to its acquisition of Marc-Andre Bereron from Anaheim, the Wild selected defenseman Sean Lorenz out of USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program with its fourth round pick.

ROUND 5 – Eero Elo

The skinny: Tommy Thompson saw Elo in Finland and, though the left winger was unranked by Central Scouting, Minnesota took him with the No. 145 overall selection.

I’m hoping Cuma becomes another Burns and the other picks obviously focused on building up the future blue line. The Versus commentators were high on Cuma and thought he should have been picked earlier, so that’s a good sign.

Sad to see Jokinen go to Phoenix and I’m discouraged by the Rolston negotiations. The Wild still have a mountain of issues to deal with this summer – next date to watch being the July 1st UFA deadline. I just hope we have a clearer picture before Select-A-Seat and the associated personal financial decision that entails…

Branko Radivojevic heads to Russia and the Wild sign Marc-Andre Bergeron on D. Got a little behind on posting here after being on the road for a week, but I wanted to throw these two changes up. Also looks like Rolston and Gabby might be close to re-signing too (I love how Shooter is getting mileage out of Rolston’s house on StoneRidge being up for sale).

A little sad to see Radio leave, although there are tons of role players that can step in. He really wasn’t much to write home about, but did step it up a little at the end of the season and always seemed to show a lot of effort (even if he couldn’t hit open nets).

As for Bergeron, I’m a little concerned about Russo’s comments that he’s error-prone and has low self-esteem. He was on the golf course when he was traded, though, so he’s got that going for him. The Wild don’t need a Skoula-lite, but if he turns into a Foster-lite instead, that’s not a bad thing.

Trade week coming up (with Select-A-Seat coming soon too), so keep your eyes and ears open for Wild news…

The Minnesota Wild announced yesterday that they have signed former Houston Aeros defenseman Maxim Noreau (max-EEM nohr-OH) to a multi-year deal. The 5-foot-11, 192-pound, twenty-year-old native of Montreal played 50 games for Houston last year and had 16 points (8 goals and 8 assists).

The story was posted on the Wild site, the Aeros site and the NHL news feed, but so far there has been no local commentary by Russo at the Strib or at the Pioneer Press (both used short AP stories).

I don’t really remember hearing much about him last year from the Aeros community, so I’m curious to see if he will actually make the big team. As usual for the Wild, terms were not disclosed.

The big three Wild players participating in the 2008 IIHF World Championship in Canada did us proud. Brent Burns (Canada), Mikko Koivu (Finland) and Niklas Backstrom (Finland) all had stellar tournaments.

Burnsie was named Best Defenseman of the tournament, scoring 3 goals with 6 assists and a tournament best +14. His nine points tied him for third highest defenseman (along with my favorite LA King – Vote for Lubo!).

Looking at the Finns, Mikko Koivu got to play on a line with his big brother Saku and, like Burns, had 9 points (4 goals and 5 assists). His face-off win percentage was almost 60%, about 3% lower than his brother.

Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom earned a shut-out in the bronze medal game against Sweden and had a 92.2% save percentage and a 2.11 goals against average for the tournament. He also played by far the most minutes of any goalie in the championship – 483:22.

Former Wild player Mattias Weinhandl also had a great tournament. The wiener was a +9 for Sweden, with 13 points (5 goals and 8 assists). Looks like he’s headed for Russia next year too.

Most importantly, no one seems to have been hurt. The future looks good for the Wild…

Mr. Simon, we hardly knew you.

Chris Simon is headed to Russia to play for Vityaz Chekhov.

Not exactly the highlight of Doug Risebrough’s career, the late-in-the-day trade deadline move that brought Simon to the Wild was widely criticized. I gave Simon the benefit of the doubt, as he seemed to honestly be happy to be here.

For better or for worse, we never really got to see if he was reformed or not. That’s a hard thing to prove when you’re sitting in the press box…

Former Wild Players still in the chase:

• Jim Dowd (PHI)
• Pascal Dupuis (PIT)
• Adam Hall (PIT)
• Johan Holmqvist (DAL)

I know he’s with Hossa and Crosby, but you’ve got to feel happy for Dufus, er, Dupuis.

Go Wings!

From wild.nhl.com:

“When you are younger, it’s a lot easier to make a decision. At the end of the year, I said I wanted to ask questions of Doug [Risebrough]. I wanted to make sure my boss is happy with the work I am doing and with the way I manage the team. This is what we talked about in our meetings. I am reassured of my work and I want to coach again.

“My satisfaction behind the bench is getting the team to play the best it can, individually and as a group. Success will come with that.”

With all of the other open coaching positions, this adds a little certainty to the Wild for next year. It remains to be seen, however, just what it was that Lemaire learned from Risebrough in Tampa that made him decide to stay another year…

The first change to the Wild roster for next year is official: Mike Russo reports the Troll is headed to Switzerland.

I felt bad for him during his Wild tenure, as he seemed to wear out by the end of the 2006-2007 season and spent a lot of the past season in the press box, despite other injuries and weaknesses both on the blue line and up front.

Last year my daughter and I went to see him with Koivu at one of the player appearances and he was just the nicest guy.

Alles Gute, Mr. Nummelin!

The Wild state their organizational values are team, preparation, honesty and passion. The issue this season, however, seemed to be leadership.

Multiple leadership issue were a factor this year:

• The Wes Walz retirement.
• Mid-season change in ownership.
• Lack of trade deadline moves.
• Noticeable frustration from the coaching staff.

Instead of lingering on this season (which the marketing department likes to do), let’s look at what the future holds for the Wild.

New Owners

Craig Leipold brings hope to the Wild faithful, but his initial comments (“If it’s not broke, don’t fix it”) and the restrictions of the salary cap don’t paint a great picture. His open letter to fans also makes one wonder:

And I pledge to do my part to keep making this team even better. Because as great as you make the atmosphere off the ice, it is my duty to make the team on the ice the very best it can be. I believe in the system that Doug Risebrough and his hockey staff have built here, and I support them 100%. My goal is winning; not to tinker with success. I just want to give them the tools they need to carry out their plan as best they can.

We’ll come back to Doug Risebough and his hockey staff in a minute, but Mr. Leipold finishes up his letter with the following:

Now, we’re beginning the Stanley Cup playoffs; one of 16 teams with a shot at a championship. I look forward to seeing you at each and every game. And I make no secret of hoping, one day soon, that I’ll see you at the parade the State of Hockey so richly deserves, and the Stanley Cup finally comes to where it belongs.

Part of leadership involves setting goals and expectations and I’m glad to see someone at the Wild mention the Cup. As a season ticket holder, I’m looking for two things: entertainment and a championship. If the team wasn’t fun to watch, they wouldn’t sell out every game.

The previous ownership never seemed to focus on winning the Cup (too Minnesota Nice to say what we want?). Enough talk about good effort, fight to the end, etc. The goal is the Cup!

Wes Walz and Doug Risebrough

I said I wasn’t going to linger on the past season, but I can’t start to talk about Doug Risebrough without talking about Wes Walz.

We’ll never know if there was more to the story or not, but retiring in the middle of the season was not a move a good leader makes. And Walz was apparently the leader on the team, as no one else seemed to step up to take on that role as the season continued. I appreciate what Walz meant to the team over the years, but his decision mid-season really hurt the team.

As for Risebrough, I’m sure there is plenty we don’t know about the trade deadline and what went on behind the scenes. But the fact of the matter is that with Walz leaving, the Wild were short at center and there was plenty of time to look for a replacement before the trade deadline. The market for big-name centers wasn’t huge, but other teams were able to make deals that didn’t mortgage their future. Then again, with the change in ownership hanging over the trade deadline, maybe the plan was to stand still for now and wait until Mr. Leipold took over. And there is the possibility that Risebrough was coasting anyway–uncertainty with a new owner, opportunities with other teams, etc.

It seems that Wild hockey operations didn’t have the greatest of years this season. In addition to Walz and the trade deadline, there were several instances when the Wild seemed to mishandle the mundane (filing paperwork with the league to make players eligible, roster move issues with Houston bringing players up and down, customs issues when Sheppard signed, etc.). I don’t know enough about what Tom Lynn (Assistant General Manager/Hockey Operations) and Tom Thompson (Assistant General Manager/Player Personnel) do, but you have to wonder if the new owner truly believes the hockey operations employees are the best in the league.

Coaching

Jacques Lemaire appears ready to walk away. His team seemed to stopped listening to him half-way through the season and the disdain between him and Gaborik was not a big secret. Lemaire’s post-game comments after each game are one of my favorite things to listen to and we all know his history of achievement in the NHL. His style of hockey doesn’t appeal to all players (and fans), but I disagree with anyone who says that Wild games are boring to watch because of the coach.

That said, it may be time for a change. If the new owner ends up having to shake things up everywhere else, why not at least consider a new coach? Rumors earlier in the year pointed to the hiring of Kevin Constantine in Houston as the heir-apparent to Lemaire and a season ticket holder in San Jose that I know had nothing but praise for him when he coached there. Aside from him being a Minnesotan and having lots of NHL experience, I don’t know enough about him to lean one way or another.

Those calling for Mike Ramsey have some valid points, but he seems like a wild card to me. The hockey background is great: Gopher, 1980 Miracle on Ice player, Sabres defenseman and Wild assistant since the beginning. No head coaching experience and perhaps too close to status quo for the new owner, though.

All that said, having Lemaire back with a new supporting cast would not be a bad thing either.

Free Agency

As reported all over, the Wild have a lot of roster decisions to make this summer. According to NHL Numbers, the Wild have ten unrestricted free agents and four restricted free agents to deal with. Add to that the Gaborik situation and this team will look very different next fall.

Let’s start with who we have locked up longer term: Schultz for six more years, Burns for four, Koivu and Parrish for three and Belanger, Sheppard, Boogaard and Johnsson for two. The first three are awesome. Belanger flamed out early this year and I really hope that Parrish just had the wrong partners this season.

Sheppard is a work in progress that hopefully will benefit from the forced big-time experience. The marketing department (and a lot of fans) love Boogaard, but his days may be numbered by health issues and a changing game. Johnsson is usually solid when he doesn’t have to play 30 minutes a game for weeks on end (but probably not $5 million solid).

As for the free agents, let’s look at the RFA’s first. Pierre-Marc Bouchard is small and likes to go for the fancy pants play more than I like, but if the price is right, I’ll take his 50 assists again next year. Nice guy too–drove through a blizzard two years ago to sign autographs for the fans.

Stephane Veilleux – ginger boy is aggressive, gritty and plays with determination and emotion. Need his fire and the price is right. Should sign an endorsement deal with the Gophers.

Aaron Voros – same type of character as Veilleux without the red hair. Needs to calm down and not take stupid penalties. Bring him back.

Kurtis Foster – supposedly already re-signed, but who knows if Risebrough will be around to honor his verbal commitment. Wild will be short on the blue line and need a healthy Foster back on the point, especially during the power play. We used to joke that Foster was Australian for Skoula, but that joke isn’t funny any more.

On the UFA side of things, the two big ones are of course Rolston and Demitra. My feelings on these two have reversed over the course of the year. I bought one of the first Demitra jerseys in town, but feel a bit let down. There is still nothing like watching Demitra feed Gabby on a breakaway, but it didn’t happen enough for how much that duo would cost next year. Of course if Demo goes, you need to deal with Gaborik, but I’ll leave that conversation for another day.

As for Rolston, I thought he was sort of a one-shot wonder who didn’t play at 100% all the time. My opinion has changed, as he seemed to step into a leader role and really played his butt off at the end of the year (he’s still a one-shot wonder, but it’s a damn good shot). Mixed reports in the news about his intentions, but I’d try to get him back if the money isn’t insane.

This post is getting way longer than I intended, so here’s a summary of the rest:

Keepers: Radivojevic, Fedoruk
Drop: Foy, Simon, Kelly, Carney, Nummelin, Hill

I’ll leave goaltending and a review of “in the system” players for another day as well.

The 2008–09 NHL season will be a fun one no matter what happens, as we get to play every team (hurray!) and the All-Star Game will be in Montreal to celebrate the Canadiens’ 100th Anniversary. Also looking forward to June 20–21 in Ottawa for the 46th NHL Entry Draft. And just a reminder about the draft from Wikipedia:

The Minnesota Wild’s sixth round pick will go to the New York Islanders due to a trade on February 26, 2008 that sent Chris Simon to Minnesota in exchange for this pick. The Minnesota Wild’s seventh round pick will go to the New Jersey Devils due to a trade on February 27, 2007 that sent Aaron Voros to Minnesota in exchange for this pick.

Will Mr. Risebrough be in Ottawa spending Mr. Leipold’s money or someone else’s?