CLG says: I still think the Wild need a big & nasty D to shut down the opposition’s top line - more than a power forward - what do you think?

Russo: I would just agree the Wild needs blue-line help. It’s become especially glaring in recent games. The Wild has plenty of scoring threats, especially with Pavol Demitra and Marian Gaborik playing exceptionally well together. But the Wild’s blue line is too erratic/inconsistent. You never know what you’re going to get from shift to shift. Last night, one of our columnists asked me who I’d consider the three best defensemen on the team. It took me about five minutes to finally give him a long-winded, convoluted answer. I analyzed each player and had to throw in two or three caveats on each depending on what they do well or not. Martin Skoula has the tools to be a complete defenseman, but we all know, he isn’t. Kim Johnsson has offered nothing in the offensive zone, and then does stuff like last night, where with 50 seconds left in overtime, he decides to pinch in even though he hasn’t scored a goal since Oct. 12. Brent Burns has the range, speed and size to be tremendous, but shift to shift, he varies dramatically. I think we’ll see him improve with age and sticking in the same position. Keith Carney is the steadiest, but only when he plays 15 minutes. Anything more and he tires. Petteri Nummelin could get severely exposed in the playoffs, and since there won’t be as many power plays and no shootouts, he could be rendered useless. I’d actually say their best defenseman inexplicably was in the press box last night, Kurtis Foster. The blue line is a big issue. The questions are what is the Wild willing to offer for a defenseman. Ask Nashville, and I bet it wishes it never gave up a first-rounder for Brendan Witt last March.

ceber says: Do you get the sense that Risebrough thinks he’s got a team ready for the playoffs? Any hint that we might see another move?

Russo: I think he’s still looking to tinker, but I don’t expect anything dramatic. The market was set with Ladislav Nagy - a first-round pick and depth player to Phoenix by Dallas. If Nagy cost a first, what does Peter Forsberg cost? A couple first-rounders and the entire Manitoba Moose? Also, Risebrough’s made it very clear he’s not willing to give up a first-round pick, although that still surprises me because this is not supposed to be a very deep draft past the top-15. Risebrough also won’t acquire players who will take away the ice time (i.e. experience and responsibility) that players like Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Mikko Koivu could potentially gain these final two months and perhaps postseason. That kind of shortens the pool.

BDB says: Why do you refer to the Wild using the pronoun “it” as opposed to “they” or them?” Just curious. Thanks.

Russo: I get this question all the time. Trust me, it’s a topic of much debate, even inside the sports department, but our newspaper’s current policy is that it remain an ‘it’ rather than a ‘they’. Several papers across the country have this policy, including my old newspaper. It never bothered me there because I covered a team that was plural, so it only affected me when I referred to the Lightning, Wild, etc. Here, it took a while to get used to. Personally, I think the Wild is a collective noun, and thus, we should consider it plural. It often makes for awkward-sounding sentences. Just my opinion though.

ballgame says: What was Phoenix thinking giving up Nagy to Dallas of all teams? They want their fans see this guy 8 times a year when they could have kept him and built a team around him (and a few others)?

Russo: Nagy is an unrestricted free agent, so Phoenix, a team in full-blown sell mode, is banking on the Stars not re-signing him. Nagy is looking for big money.

Ballgame says: Where and how is Hall going to fit in? Whose line do you see him playing with - assuming that Jacques keeps a line together for more than 8 minutes? Do you see the Gabby / Demitra / somebody (Walz?) line sticking together for a while?

Russo: I like what I’ve seen so far from Hall. He drives the net, which the Wild needs more of and will need if its gets to the playoffs. His skating is a bit of an issue, although the same could be said for Andrew Brunette. And he’s succeeded in the faster NHL. Right now, he’s playing with Mikko Koivu and Mark Parrish. But as you pointed out, that means nothing when Jacques’ the coach. I see him playing on the third line the rest of the way. As for Walz, he could be there for awhile. He has the speed to keep up with Gaborik and Demitra, and if those two are going to be able to go offensively, Lemaire needs somebody to come back. Walz, at center in Lemaire’s system, is the perfect guy to potentially save the day when those two become a little overly aggressive.

dave misner says: Were you one of the locals who sat down with Gary Bettman last week? If so, please offer up your honest appraisal of his past efforts and the viability of his future plans for the league.

Russo: I was. I also attended his state-of-the-league address at the All-Star Game and visited him for a one-on-one in his office last season when the Wild played at the Rangers. With Bettman, I see the good and the bad. I think overhauling the economic system was a must. Giving the players 75 percent of the pie was a recipe for extinction. I like the faster NHL, although it was sure refreshing to see a hard-hitting contest last night. This was starting to become the No Hitting League. But I think Versus was a major, major mistake on the league’s part. I think ESPN did a horrible job promoting a game it should have wanted to sell. It buried the league in SportsCenter, it took away a terrific show in NHL 2Night, and then whined about ratings. But the reality is ESPN is a staple in every American household. The NHL should be there if it wants to be considered a relevant league. And just having NHL games on ESPN2 muted in every sportsbar in the country would be a positive thing for the NHL. I literally talk to people on airplanes that are shocked when told the NHL actually is currently in season. It’s disappeared off the sports landscape in the states. To me, this was just too fragile a time to take the game off a major network and try to turn a mama and pop station into the next TNT. And I’m not saying Versus doesn’t do a good job because I think it’s improved dramatically since its inception. But ESPN means legitimacy. There are also too many teams in struggling markets. I don’t know too many people that thought Nashville was a good idea. Now it has one of the best teams in the league and gets 11,000 for a game against Anaheim. Shocking. Although, apparently Saturday’s game against the Wild is expected to sell out. Now, I do think Bettman takes too much blame for the ills of the league. He reports to the owners, who could screw up pouring a bowl of cereal, i.e. the ridiculously dumb schedule. Where I think Bettman hurts himself is he has an answer for everything. It’s OK to stand up sometimes and admit, you know, attendance in some cities is a big concern, Versus hasn’t exactly gone as we hoped, it’s inexcusable that ticket prices keep increasing when the lockout was for the fans. Or something like that.

Spamsmom says: Do you think it is possible for any of the current Wild players to step up and win more faceoffs or do we need to trade for someone?

Russo: I’ll be writing about this for Saturday’s paper and my Sunday column because I think this is a huge problem. I’d investigate trading for Yanic Perreault - although the Wild should have probably pounced on him when he could be had in November for zippo - or a few others I’ll throw into my Sunday column. But Doug Risebrough says it’s up to the centers to improve, and for the wingers to do their job. And he’s right on that one. The last two games, the Wild has actually won the faceoff game, but too many times, the Wild’s centers win the puck, tie up the opposing center and the wingers don’t swoop in for the loose puck. So the center’s often take too much of the flack because the win or loss goes on his stat sheet. But winning a faceoff is a five-guys-on-the-ice-thing (how bout that for a new term?). It’s the same mindset as digging a puck out of the corner. You need to have the willingness to fight in the trenches. The Wild needs to find that mentality more often.

JK says: What is Backstrom’s contract status? There has been conflicting reports regarding him being a UFA this summer. Are the Wild in a position to trade a goalie considering they now have 3 goalies, none of which have anything to prove in the AHL?

Russo: He’s an unrestricted free agent if unsigned by July 1. As for your second part, I wrote about this today a bit and I think in the last Q&A, but it’s a huge risk to trade Backstrom right now. Manny Fernandez is coming off a sprained knee. What if he reinjures it? What if he can’t rediscover his ‘A’ game? And remember, most the contending playoff teams have bona fide starters, with the exception of possibly Tampa Bay. So the market isn’t exactly big right now. And if you’re going to trade Fernandez, again, now would not seem to be the time. This is purely hypothetical, but if you would make a decision like that, you’d want to increase the pool of teams to drive up the price. And non-playoff teams that potentially need a goalie next year - off the top of my head, Florida, Phoenix, L.A., Philly - likely aren’t looking to make that deal now. I still believe the end result here will be simply losing Backstrom after the season for a Fernandez-Josh Harding tandem next year.

Kyle says: I believe we have 6 RFAs at the end of the year - Bouchard, Koivu, Hall, Boogaard, Schultz, and Foster who make roughly $5.5 million. I believe we have 5 UFAs at the end of the year - Walz, White, Skoula, Smith, and Backstrom who make roughly $5.8 million. With roughly $30 million already committed to 11 players next year, which RFAs do you think they try to re-sign, which UFAs do you think they try to re-sign?

Russo: I have them at 10 players at $25.7 million cap (not salary) number. The cap is expected to rise from $44 million to north of $48 million, although I think the Wild has learned with the amount of injuries it’s had that it shouldn’t go too much higher than the $42 million it’s at. The Wild will attempt to re-sign each of its restricted free agents, although I don’t see the Wild hitting the free-agent market until after it re-signs Koivu and Bouchard. If for some reason another team came in and signed Bouchard and Koivu to ridiculous offer sheets, the Wild wants to make sure it has the cap space to match. They’re the priority this offseason. As for the UFA’s, that’s a crapshoot. The Wild wants Skoula, Walz and I’d assume White back, but if those players aren’t re-signed by the Feb. 27 trade deadline, why wouldn’t they wait until July 1 to see what they could command on the open market? But in the new economic system, there will be a flood of free agents. Risebrough’s philosophy now is in this system, you’re going to lose good players. If you lose them, you replace them with others.

Kyle says: Sid’s column on Sunday reported that A.J. Thelen could become an unrestricted free agent after this year if he is not signed by the Wild. Could Thelen be part of a deal? Any chance they would try to get Jason Blake as a rental?

Russo: Not to correct Sid, but as far as I know the rules, Thelen would not become a free agent, but he could go back into the draft if the Wild don’t sign him by June 1. Sure, it could conceivably trade Thelen. The team has been unhappy with his development and wishes it took Ottawa’s Andrej Meszaros instead. It’s unlikely the Wild will sign Thelen. If the Wild doesn’t trade him and it doesn’t sign him, it would receive a compensatory pick - the 42nd pick in this year’s draft, I believe. It’ll be interesting to see how Thelen plays in the Memorial Cup, which Vancouver, the WHL team he was traded to, will host. As for Blake, I just don’t see the Islanders trading him even though he made clear last week that he’ll test free agent if unsigned. The Islanders are two points from a playoff spot.

Nate says: Why is it when Vancouver plays here we move the game to 8pm c/st but when we play there the game remains at 9pm c/st? I understand moving the game back an hour as a friendly gesture to accommodate the ‘Couv’ fans but shouldn’t they reciprocate?

Russo: The game was at 8 because it was nationally televised in Canada on Wednesday Night Hockey by TSN, Canada’s version of ESPN. Same thing with the game in October, and same thing next month in Calgary, which means a 9 p.m. start here. It wasn’t a “friendly gesture” by the Wild. But because the Wild is in a division with three Canadian teams, lots of games are televised nationally up there.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 15th, 2007 at 11:33 am and is filed under Q&A. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.