Wednesday’s late blog: I can see (well, almost)
Posted on November 7th, 2007 – 5:34 PMBy Michael Russo
I just logged in to read Kent’s blog update, and well, here’s mine (hah).
I know you’ve been nervous all day regarding my Lasik appointment. Good news, I’ve been approved for surgery in a couple weeks. So finally, you’ll get to read game stories from a reporter who’s actually seen the game, which should be helpful.
Anything else? I probably should offer up a Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra update. I know after my Lasik update, this was second on your curiosity list.
Both continue to be day-to-day, and Gaborik is going to test his groin on the ice tomorrow, according to the article Kent wrote for tomorrow.
Also, Wes Walz still has not contacted the team, according to Kent’s story. So we continue to wait. What’s bizarre, even if he chooses to return, he hasn’t practiced since last Wednesday. He’ll need a mini-training camp just to get back into game shape.
This is just the weirdest situation, and you have to hope he’s sincerely OK like the team believes.
116 Responses to "Wednesday’s late blog: I can see (well, almost)"
Definitely a wierd situation with Walz. Of course I wish him nothing but the best but this is getting stranger amd stranger. Just hope all is ok!
Can we just list the Groin Twins as day to day for the rest of the year and move on?
Also, as I said yesterday, Wes needs to poop or get off the pot. A week is enough time to decide ANYTHING.
BoogieNeedsAGoal -
Its not your choice, so I don’t think you can be the judge of how long it takes to make a big decision. the Wild are willing to wait, and we as fans should give him the benifit of the doubt.
Mike Russo: You assume Wes Walz hasn’t practiced since last Wednesday. Maybe not with the team, but on his own, trying to improve something which possibly reared its’ head in the Pittsburgh game? Improbable as it seems, it has to be ruled as a possibility. Not much, granted, but the possibility exists.
Possible new nicknames for Gaborik and Demitra: ‘Big Groin’ and ‘Little Groin’…
Nice to see that you’ll be able to see better soon. Hopefully by Nov. 28th…
If the trade deadline was Friday it would matter. Its not, so who cares how long he takes.
Chris K -
If the fire is still in the belly, it doesn’t take a week to find it. If the fire isn’t there, he knows what he has to do. I am not knocking him in any way because of what he has done for this team since day 1, but a gut check isn’t a two week process.
If the decision is to stay or to walk, he should already know. If there are other contributing factors that he isn’t discussing while incommunicado, then he should be asking for more time and they should be moving accordingly to get someone in here to help pick up the slack while he sorts it out.
WRT - Can we get the sound crew at the X to play the Sam Malone sound byte every time the Groin Gang are announced?
“G-g-groin, g-g-groin, g-g-groin injury…”
Russo brings uop a good point about Walz not practicing- (I was going to mention that yesterday) saying if Wes comes back, won’t he be a little rusty?
Howevver,WRT makes a point saying who knows if he hasn’t been practicing himself? Then again, who knows what he’s doing?
Not that he reads this or anything, but Wes, my son and I are wearing breathe rights until the hardest working man in hockey returns! We hope all is well for you and your family!!!
Maybe Wes is going to retire and then come back in February like Scott Neidermeyer is going to do.
It will be a sad day if Walzie does retire. We’ll be losing the man that has been the face of Wild hockey since the beginning.
Left and Right Groin?
I hope the Walz thing becomes crystal clear when we all have the information related to why.
Until then…it’s pretty weird.
Groin 1 and Groin 2.
Just a thought but maybe there is something in the water in Slovakia?
Groin softner?
Sharp wits!
I tend to wonder if Naegele is really in the dark on this. Dougie R and Tommy T are overseas scouting this week, so who exactly is in charge? Is everyone in the dark on this or are the Wild keeping the media and the public out of the info?
I still believe the groin problems have something to do with the Formula 1 race car simulator Gabby has in his condo. Of course, then Radio would have groin issues to, but maybe Gabby and Pavol take all the time in the simulator and Radio never gets a chance.
Wes Walz story=dead horse
Russotonians=guys and gals with sticks
I’m as guilty as the rest of us.
Sorry, too instead of to.
WonderGroin Twins
On another note, is Shultz wearing the A an anomoly or a sign of things to come? I think he certainly deserves it by now. And along those lines, who to you guys see as the leader of the D?
I’m beginning to think there is no reasoning at all behind who wears the C or the A on this team. And its sad. We need Gabby and Demo back on the ice, but only when they are healthy. In the mean time, there are plenty of (overpaid) players on this team who COULD step up in the G&D absence.
Wes Walz, I hope he is ok. We know they guy has a huge heart. Sometimes sports have to take a back seat to life. Let’s just pray its nothing serious.
Nicol N
Overpaid? There is a bunch of underpaid players. That’s why it is gonna be a problem to keep the team together the next season. You are not suggesting that Johnsson should score goals in bunches.
WonderGroin Twins…hilarious.
Totally gets my vote.
El Gato: Better to beat a dead horse than bet on one!
vedano - I agree that most players on the team are underpaid - Rolston especially. Johnsson may or may not be overpaid. I think he does his job well, moving the puck out and controlling the game, but the odd offensive play would be greatly appreciated.
Nicole, much of the captaincy does make sense. Rolson and Walz are the leaders of the team, and if anything I think they should have been co-captains the last few years with a rotating A.
I’d like to see Captain Koivu this year. The guy does more for the team on the ice than anyone else most games.
Vedano, I disagree.
There are emerging players who will command more $$$ in the future but the salary cap promises there will always be movement to other teams by players.
But, I cannot say I think our players are grossly underpaid.
Teams in all sports that manage their money wisely have a much better future.
wondergroin powers activate! Gabby in the form of an ice pack and Demo in the form of a tube of bengay.
Groin’ Pains?
Maybe Gaby and Demo can start a camp in Slovakia next summer where local kids come in and learn how to stretch their groins and then skate in a “low-impact” manner.
Wallshot - Agreed, I made Koivu my C in NHL 08 with Schultz and Rolston the A’s
Someone’s gotta teach these cats how to skate without pulling their gaboriks all the time.
Wallshot: I’d say this sounds like a case for “Thermablade” but my fear would be that, with all the standing around in the neutral zone Gaby does, the hot blades would melt ruts in the ice and he’d go to take off and blow out both ACLs instead.
Ha ha! No doubt, NiNY. Who does he know out there anyway?? Doesn’t he get lonely?
Wallshot says:
November 8th, 2007 at 8:39 am
El Gato: Better to beat a dead horse than bet on one!
I resemble that remark in my older days Wallshot! You must have seen me at Canterbury in my pre-married life! Bet on many dead horses.
Chris, I always wondered about the wonder twins. Their powers were kind of weenie (the boy turning into a liquid form and the girl morphing into an animal). The WonderGroin twins has to be the new name for Gabby/Pavol. Awesome suggestion!
Let me br the first to snuff out the current Gaby/Demo bashing.
I will predict that Gaby will be in the lineup for the next game.
Let’s please reserve the judging of Gaby’s availabilty for the current season until AFTER he’s missed a significant number of games…
No one can snuff out MY Gabby bashing. I find too much joy in it.
Re: Wild RoadTripper, “Mike Russo: You assume Wes Walz hasn’t practiced since last Wednesday. Maybe not with the team, but on his own, trying to improve something which possibly reared its’ head in the Pittsburgh game? Improbable as it seems, it has to be ruled as a possibility. Not much, granted, but the possibility exists.”
This just in…
Ex-KGB spots Walz in Siberia training with Paulie to regain the eye of the tiger. Speculation is that Walz, after seeing Crosby last week, wants to toughen up through fundamental training out in the wilderness in an effort to come back and knock out the evil Captain Ivan Drago — I mean Sidney Crosby.
Here’s one-
Does the fact of Walz being solid (not great) player on the team ever since inception give him a license to leave the team in a lurch like this?
El Gato I always found the wondertwins very sexist. I mean come on, the girl should be a bucket of water and the boy should be the cool animal.
Wafer - where did you get your copy of NHL 08? I was at Target last week and they didn’t even have it. The commercial says it came out in Septemeber.
Have any of you seen the NHL 08 commercial? It is quite hillarious.
The Walz situation is going from strange to absolutely bizarre!
Go Lobos- good one- problem is due to the genius NHL schedule makers the Wild won’t play the Penguins again until 2012…
smuggla — It’s a five-year training program.
Chris - Best Buy has it. I trekked to IGH for it.
Gaborik bashing is only fun and games at my end of things. I still love the guy and there’s no question we always need someone to put the lotion in the basket. Some guys specialize, some guys generalize. Gabby and SRV specialize, Rolston generalizes. You need all kinds.
Smuggla, 5 years is a little optimistic isn’t it? That’s only about 56789316 Gaborik groin injuries away!
Walz will be taking RMDs by then…
thought the schedule is changing?
is that commercial the one with ovechkin? somebody’s watching me? or is that for the 2k series?
I’m getting guitar hero III sometime before saturday.
Wafer - LOL… “Put the lotion in the basket”
I love that show - is it still on?
Wallshot - Silence of the Lambs. They also used it on NHL2Nite for scoring a goal on the four letter sports programming network that I no longer watch.
Do we re-sign Rolston or Demitra? Well…Rolston plays most games. And is it time to at least consider what we might get for Gaborik? Perhaps an above average player who is able to take the ice for 70 games?
Oh. I was thinking of another reference. :/ Nevermind…
Did anyone hear Lou Nanne on KFAN with Barrerio last night? Did he say that ESPN was going to have NHL 2 Night style show starting in 3 weeks? or did I misunderstand?
If Nummi is going to see PP time on wing, Johnsson should get more chances to get on the score sheet. I like it for both players.
wafer - thanks
greenstar- its the ovechkin commercial
Dan Doughboy- why are you even asking questions about what the team’s going to look like next year?
Roenick Guy…I thought I heard that too…
Inspector Gaborik
Go go gadget groin….OWWWWWWWWWWWWW
smuggla…I told you not to get a jersey with the number 10 on it…unless it was a set of scrubs…:P
exactly kj, my Wild jersey has no name and number on it. My first inclination was to get a Gaby #10, the problem with that is everyone and their brother at the x has that… I’m thinkin #8 is the way to go…
I love my new #8 jersey, unfortunately they have to be special ordered cause the lodge doesnt carry them yet.
If you already have a blank Wild jersey, how much does it cost to get the name and number put on it?
guys, remember what Herbie said about the name on the front versus the name on the back.
I’ll be a Wild fan long after any of the current players are out of the league.
Smuggla-I’m not sure, but I don’t know that it’s horribly expensive, especially not compared to the cost of buying a new sweater these days.
Wallshot-I never get tired of bashing Gabby either. It’s just too fun. I would also like to see Koivu get the C this season. Him or Mark Parrish.
Last year I think Carney was the leader of the D, but this season I’m not so sure.
OT: I think we should give a shout out to Modano on becoming the All-Time American scoring leader last night - on a shorty, no less.
I know he’s had a checkered relationship with us Minnesotans in the past, but he’s been an elite-level player in the NHL for a looong time, and overall I’d say he represents the game and the league quite nicely.
Good on ya, Mike.
For the old style jerseys, before the STH discount, I think it’s around $75.
Er, yes. Congrats to Modano, even though I really, really am not a fan of his. He has really declined in the past few years. Any bets as to when he hangs them up?
I can say this about the D, Skoula is not their leader…
NiNY, I think it was Seinfeld who observed that we’re cheering for laundry.
That said, I’d love a #8 jersey
I think NiNY brings up a great point about Modano. I don’t get all patriotic and sentimental just because a guy is one of the rare American-born players, but Modano has played for almost 20 years, that’s a long time.
I’m trying to remember wasn’t there a rumor (false?) that Modano supported or endorsed the move to Dallas? I think there was a misconception that Modano was somehow “in on it” - I find it hard to believe, I think as a player, you get told where to play and you really don’t have much say…
Kirsten, I think horribly expensive is right, I think I stopped by a Wild kiosk years ago and asked the guy how much it’d be and when he told me, I think I had to say, “ok, I’ll get back to you on that one…”
NiNY, sometimes you even outlast the name on the front, like my North Stars jersey (qualifying that the North Stars are completely different from the Dallas Stars) or my Minnesota Moose sweatshirt. Our employer just put out tickets for the Swarm games, I thought the season got cancelled? Also kudos to Mr. Modano, not only for the American born scoring record but for finding his way into the Golf Channel’s and former KSTP anchor Inga Hammond’s penalty box back in his younger days.
$75 is just obscene
Yeah, I was looking into getting the nameplate on a sweater for my mom changed as a Christmas gift, but I doubt I want to pay for it even with the STH discount.
I should have added ‘allegedly’ to the Inga part, but it was pretty much common knowledge, wasn’t it?
Smuggla, white hockey tape is pretty inexpensive, go that route (unless it’s a white jersey, then go with green masking tape). 
El Gato: You made me laugh because I have both an old North Stars sweater AND a Moose sweatshirt.
And I COMPLETELY agree that the Minnesota (North) Stars are a separate entity from the Dallas Stars, if not in name.
Hmmmm where’s our daily “Where’s Walz” update?
smuggla,
I think MoDo actaully wanted to sign with the Wild a couple years agao when he was a free agent. I alos think he still has a house here in the Twin Cities.
LOL El Gato!!! Just don’t forget to wrap the hands in foil!!!
I agree with Old Tyme- This whole Wes Walz thing has been dragged out way too long. As loyal fans we demand to know what’s going on!
It’s weird- doe anyone know- maybe Dr Russo, what has Walz’s mood been like the past few weeks that he was with the team???
Has Wes been eating any weird foods lately?
The Minnesota North Stars died the day the moving vans headed south. They are indeed a separate entity.
El Gato - I don’t think Mike was the only one that spent time in that penalty box. Kudos to him for getting there, but I don’t think access was all that restricted….
I want to get into that penalty box
I have a feeling there would be a parade to that penalty box.
got the nanne book on the north stars last night and if you haven’t looked at it, sure worth the money. he has a couple pages on why the team moved to dallas. some stuff i didn’t know. nanne claims that the team would have moved to the target center but they couldn’t agree with harv and marv on the advertising on the dashers. there were a lot of other things involved too.
modano was cought saying he didn’t think the area could support an NHL team to some mag when the wild were announced. that drew the ire around here. I will say i can’t blame him, the met was vacant for most of the years he was here. 5 to 7 thousands fans if that? I think what signalled the demise of the franchise was when the gunds started up the san jose sharks and got all the north stars talent. Basically, the north stars became the expansion franchise. I don’t think that reality hit the fans.
good info, ty GreenStar
the gunds asked bloomington for $7mil i think for renovations and the city/county said no. they had a deal to buy the current MOA land to develop for shopping and entertainment and the deal got pulled out from under them at the last minute to some other developer who ended up selling the the germazians (sp). the gunds were PO’ed. nanne writes that san jose was willng to build them a new arena and they were going to move the team. nanne told the gunds the league would fight them and they might not win and persuaded them to present a deal where they sell the stars, they stay in minny, the gunds get the sharks and 30 of the stars 50 players.
Thanks GreenStar, I may have to put the book on my Christmas list. Yeah, if the Norm Green dancing girls couldn’t bring in the fans, what would?For the great information, referee El Gato gives you a 5 minute major in Marney Gellner’s penalty box! Also, enjoy GH III, every time I walk by the display and watch the kids playing at Best Buy my wife says ‘Don’t even think about it!’.
BNAG, point well taken on access to that box.
I was up until 12:30 reading it last night.
if i knew the reward, i would have gotten the book when it came out! 5 minute major? you would be surprised what one can do in 5 minutes.
i have GH2 and completed freebird on medium. my buddy has 3 and wants to mulitplayer. I want the new songs. wish they sold a cheaper version without the guitar.
I think “visitors” spent more quality time that box that Boogie does in the other one…
how about a game misconduct too?
maybe she doesnt want you to think about it because she is going to give it to you for christmas.
Russo, time for a Walz update guy. This can’t just be about retirement, it’s dragging on far too long, it has to be something more than that. I don’t think anyone is telling us all that they really know here, not the team, not the players, and not the beat writers.
Maybe Wes Walz has been busy trying to get himself into Marney’s penalty box and needs to put hockey on the back burner so he can focus on that. When the team found this out, they were so disappointed in his lack of discipline that they came up with the current story as a cover-up…
Hey Russo…have you gone missing with Walz? What’s the scoop?
Russo probably has his phone on speed dial to Lynn’s or DR’s office trying to get the answer.
Man are you guys with your 5 and 10 minute penalties from Havana or something?
Us mortals usually only need 2 minute minors.
GreenStar - you are correct, the book is great. I made it about halfway through the box and decided to hang it up at 2:30, otherwise I’d have finished it in one night.
Favorite story thus far is Louie talking about players crawling around on the bench looking for Sonmnor’s glass eye when it fell out.
Russo is camped outside the Walz compound watching for any sign of Wes and looking for the scoop….
My theory on Wes:
Jacques has a secret lab in the bowels of the X, he knows Wes’s body is not able to perform as well as in the past, but since he loves how he plays the game, he lures him down to the lab and pulls his brain out of his head. Mario is sent to find a brilliant replacemnet brain for Walz but brings back one from Abby Normal (played by Tyler Hirsch), so Walz now has Abby Normal’s (Tyler’s) brain and Tyler is wandering the streets on St. Paul without one (might be a good thing). Benny Poulblahblah was supposed to get Walzie’s brain but he got lost on his way to the lab and boarded a bus for Houston. Now Wes’s brain, Wes with Abby Normal’s brain, Mario (Eye-gor), and Jacques (Young Frankenstein) are all hiding out at Frau Bluecher’s place (played by the blonde behind the Wild bench) until they can lure another body to Jacques secret lab.
BNAG - he can’t see anything though because of his eyeball surgery.
That actually reminds me of my old job where this guy got lasik. When he came back, we took about 10-15 old monitor cables and wrapped them into a looooong coil under his desk so his monitor looked really trippy and funky.
El Gato: man, oh man, did I need that laugh today.
Much appreciated!
Wafer you are a prankster in the true spirt of it all…
Wafer - the monitor trick is a good idea. I used to work in a food supplier and one day someone got the bright idea to take Choc. Chunk cookies and thaw them and replace the cho. chunks with, you guessed it, Exlax. It made for a busy afternoon around the little boys room.
FYI, Wild All Access says Gabby skated today, still no Demo or word from Walz.
http://boards.wild.com/index.php?automodule=blog&blogid=2&showentry=94
tortise and the hare, NiNY.
you can get creative with a major over a minor. that’s the whole point of a major, to think about what you have done or doing, right?
NINY - major or a minor either way it works, just as long as you don’t get sent home early with a match penalty.
anytime you are sent to the showers early is a bad thing.
The thing about a major penalty is, you get to score as many times as you can in that five minutes…
Anytime she gets called for “holding the stick” that’s a good thing…
Just as long as there is no call for too many men on the ice. That is never a good thing.
You guys are killing me today.
“holding the stick” awsome.
The wild don’t play for 5 days and the schtick hits the ice.
hilarious. Some terrific lines in here, gang.
I bought the Nanne book as a gift but I read a lot of it first. It was surprisingly good.
But, the North Stars leaving was a lot more complicated as was Modano’s remarks as mentioned by Green*.
Once, I got in an a bit of an argument with a Dallas reporter for what he wrote about why the North Star fan base got so small and so I looked up the team records.
My opinion, fan apathy was not as a result of the Gund’s splitting the team up. Actually, I do not think they took as many players as they might have when they went west.
But, if you will look at the win / loss records of the entire time they were the North Stars you will find they only won about 1/3 of their games. One year they won only 18 games in total!
I think the seeds of discontent were sowed from the beginning. Wren Blair was just not a good choice for the club to build with.
Nanne certainly can be given credit for some strong draft picks, I think he did a great job as GM.
But, given almost 25 years to build you would think they could have become solid perennial contender. It was not until under Gainey that the team showed promise on a consistant basis and most of that was after they were south.
Look it up, the team was a big draw from the beginning and for many years they exceeded some of the Original Six.
Anyway, fan apathy took a long time to build. It was pretty bad and got worse after No Good Norm started shooting off his mouth and was cited for his own personal problems.
Modano may have accurate in that he was only commenting on what he saw … the fault was he had no historical perspective for the suffering fans and only made our misery worse.
So, that is why the Wild win over Dallas in the first game was so sweet!
But, I also remember that the Metropolitan Sports Commission shot themselves in the foot (or higher) by being stubborn and arrogant when a small community investment would have kept the team here. They must have been Timberwolf fans.
Having said that, I think the Wild have proven themselves to be a much more stable organization.
They have shown to be farsighted. Maybe they are building too slowly for some fans but I think everything they do shows long-range planning and they are building a perennial winner that will contend for a long time.
Good attitude from bottom to top. That includes giving Walz the time he needs at this time, whatever his crisis is.
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