OK, first off, as a former Islanders fanatic, I nearly flipped off the chair when the Wild took Colton Gillies. I couldn’t wait to tell the kid, “Your uncle was one of my heroes.”

Then he told me he never met his uncle and I almost screamed, “I’ve even met your uncle!” But Clark is not like Colton’s father or mother’s brother. It’s like one of those twice-removed, brother of a brother, type things, so they’ve never even spoken. Actually grandfather’s brother, he said. Still, Colton said, “His blood runs in my blood and I’ll try to be like him.”

Anyways, we’ll get to the Manny Fernandez stuff in a second.

As for moving up three spots from No. 19 (traded the 19th and 42nd to Anaheim for the 16th) to take the 30th-ranked North American skater in the draft (by Central Scouting), that might make some go, “Huh???”

But assistant GM Tommy Thompson says that this is the guy he wanted all along (I’ve covered 11 drafts and have never been told differently by a chief scout), and he was convinced that the Calgary Flames would take Gillies at 18.

Now, Thompson would not fill us in on why he was so convinced, but I bet I know why. Calgary’s table was right next to the Wild’s? Hmm, eaves-dropping, perhaps? Regardless, Thompson believes his suspicions were proven correct when the Flames traded down two picks later.

The Wild had such high regard for the great Clark Gillies’ nephew, Minnesota took Colton over Angelo Esposito, who two years ago was supposed to be the No. 1 pick in this draft, the talented Russian Alexei Cherepanov, who apparently spends several games not caring, and all the defensemen Thompson loved in this draft.

Gillies is a fantastic skater and a guy who’s relentless along the wall. The Wild doesn’t believe he’ll be a guy that gets a lot of goals in the NHL. He only had 13 for Saskatoon in the WHL last year. On Gillies, Red Line Report (scouting guide) says, “The object is to score, not beat the puck to death.” The Red Line Report ranked Gillies 31st player in draft.

But he’s clearly a guy that’ll battle and bring size (he’s 6-4). He was telling me a story about his latest facial scar on his nose. Second to last game of the season, some guy hit him from behind, so Colton chased him down the ice, hit the guy, who toppled over. That caused nothing but boards in front of Colton. He went face first into the boards and his face was torn to shreds by his visor.

Since the Wild doesn’t have a soul other than Derek Boogaard who would even contemplate chasing a guy up the rink, now we know why Thompson adores the kid.

As for Manny Fernandez, if you read my previous blog post, I think you know what happened here by now. 

Boston was the team the Wild zeroed in on. The Bruins pulled back last night to inquire about Vesa Toskala and Tomas Vokoun. Toronto, which had some interest in Fernandez, traded for Toskala. Florida, which had zero interest in Fernandez, traded for Vokoun.

That left Boston and Phoenix. Wild didn’t want Nick Boynton from Phoenix, I was told.

As for Boston, prior to the draft, somebody from the Bruins came back to the media risers to seek me out. He wanted to know every detail of what Manny Fernandez is like off the ice. He made it very clear to me the Bruins were very concerned about Manny’s off-the-ice reputation as being a difficult teammate “and a bad person.”

It was an awkward conversation for me because I don’t want any part of influencing trades, although I did make clear Fernandez is not a “bad person.”

After the conversation, he led me to believe there was still a chance. The price was clearly the eighth pick, PJ Axelsson (one of Brian rolston’s best friends and a guy that probably would have won the Selke under Jacques Lemaire) and what the Bruins writer heard was a second-round pick. At the end – and the Wild’s table is 50 feet in front of me – Risebrough never got a phone call.

When Boston took Zach Hamill, Risebrough got up, went to Ducks GM Brian Burke, shrugged his shoulders in an “Oh well” sort of way, and executed a previously agreed on deal: If the Wild wasn’t able to trade up to get the eighth pick for Fernandez, Risebrough would trade up to get the 16th pick.

As for Fernandez, the Bruins are still a player, I believe down the line, because they’re goaltending is not good enough. So is Phoenix, I believe. But there’s a very good chance now Fernandez will be a Wild goalie in October, or at least deep into the summer.

That, Risebrough contends, is OK with him because he feels he can get more if he waits for a desperate team. But that also means the Wild will be severely hamstrung when free agency begins.

So I am very surprised Risebrough didn’t make some kind of deal today. Very surprised.

Incidentally, I have a story in tomorrow’s paper on Alexei Yashin and the fact the Wild may go after him if it can get him cheaply (as in $2 million or so) July 1. I think he’ll get closer to $3 million, but we’ll see. The Wild clearly needs a No. 1 or 2 center and I’m pretty sure Todd White will wind up in Florida or Carolina.

Good night. Speak to you tomorrow from Draft Floor. Although, it should be quite boring tomorrow now that the Wild doesn’t pick til the fourth round.

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This entry was posted on Friday, June 22nd, 2007 at 10:34 pm and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.