Defenseman Nick Schultz has signed a six-year, $21 million extension, the longest contract and richest contract in Wild history ($3.2 million, $3.4 million, then $3.6 million the last four years).

Mark Parrish had the longest at five years. Kim Johnsson had the richest at $19.4 million. Obviously, Marian Gaborik’s $6.33 million salary is the richest per year.

This provides Schultz with security, and quite frankly, doesn’t cripple the team. In fact, some agents have emailed me today that this is a below-market deal. It is about the same deal Schultz’s brother-in-law, Cory Sarich, signed last summer with Calgary, only for another year.

Risebrough, in Montreal for tonight’s Bob Gainey number retirement, raved about the “trust” Schultz showed. His agent, J.P. Barry, wanted a no-trade clause for Schultz if he was going to sign for this term at such a reasonable price.

That’s against the Wild’s policy (at least now), other than a very limited no-trade clause it’s given Nik Backstrom. Finally Schultz overruled his agent, according to Risebrough, because in Risebrough’s words, “My performance will never allow them to consider trading me anyway.”

Definitely speaks to Schultz’s maturity for a 25-year-old.

Schultz was delighted, saying he wanted to make Minnesota home and was willing to sign this type of long-term deal because he believes in the future of the franchise and wants to continue playing in a hockey market like this.

I jokingly asked Jacques Lemaire if he will last Schultz’s six years: “Are you kidding?”

Risebrough wouldn’t comment on status to two other core UFA’s Brian Rolston and Pavol Demitra. But I know for a fact they haven’t talked to Rolston’s agent, and I’m pretty sure they haven’t talk to Demitra’s. He missed practice today with the flu (listed as probable for tomorrow), so I didn’t get a chance to re-confirm.

As forecast on this blog yesterday, tomorrow’s matinee against the Calgary Flames will be for first in the Northwest.

How quickly things change. If the Wild lose in regulation, it’ll be a seven-point swing in the standings in seven days. Last Sunday, the Wild was up six on the Flames. This morning, the Wild’s up by a measly point thanks to three wins in a row by Calgary (including a 1-0 win last night in Detroit) and an 0-1-1 week by the Wild. In fact, the Wild is only three points up on eighth-place Vancouver.

Even more frightening? Check out Calgary’s schedule the first 10 games in March:

@PHX, CBJ, NSH, STL, @WSH, @ATL, @CHI, @CBJ, COL, MIN

So, prior to that game against the Wild, the Flames play eight of nine games against non-playoff opponents, and the one playoff opponent is seventh-place Nashville!

I take back what I said on FSN the other night. The division is Calgary’s to win, not the Wild’s. Of course, when I made that comment, the Wild was up by six.

I’m going to throw this up because tomorrow’s paper won’t have much to advance the game. Here are some Flames quotes on how big a game this is (courtesy of my colleague at the Calgary Herald):

ADRIAN AUCOIN

• on the importance of first place: “Obviously, home ice is huge. Just the mental edge going into (the playoffs as a division champion) is huge, too. From looking at our division from the beginning

of the year until now, we know we have a great and realistic shot of being on top of our division. We all know how important home ice is in the playoffs.”

CRAIG CONROY

• from being in trouble to start the week to challenging for first to end the week: “It’s been like that all year. It’s been a roller-coaster. There’s been good times and then bad times. It’s not just us, it seems like it’s the whole league. I’ve never seen (such tight races) this late in the season. If you have a bad week, you’re in trouble.”

ROBYN REGEHR

• battle for first: “It’s a great opportunity for us. We talked about that (Friday) morning. We wanted to set it up that going into Minnesota, it would be a showdown for first place in the division. It’s exciting for us with everything we’ve been through as a team, to really bear down and I think play much better the last three games.”

• importance of finishing first

“Home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. That’s it. That’s what you’re setting up. If the series does go seven games, you know you’re able to play at home. And you’re also able to start the series at home. That’s what you battle for all season long.”

Also, if you didn’t see, here’s the story I was referring to yesterday. It’s a story on how Marian Gaborik could be the next Marian Hossa if the Wild doesn’t take care of business this summer.

It also questions whether the Wild feels it can build long-term around Pierre-Marc Bouchard. To be more specific, in today’s cap world, every player gets a piece of the pie. You can only have so many $5 or $6 million players, and there’s a chance Bouchard becomes one as a 25-year-old unrestricted free agent in July 2009.

Can the Wild afford to have Bouchard, no doubt one of the most phenomenal talents in this league, eat that huge piece of the pie if it’s not convinced he can be successful in a hard-checking postseason?

The Wild may be asking itself, would Pierre-Marc Bouchard give them a better chance of beating an Anaheim in the postseason, or would another $5 or $6 million player?

And trust me, the Wild has questions. This postseason could be a key one for Bouchard to prove himself. A glaring stat? Against Anaheim last year in the regular season, Bouchard had five goals and one assist in four games. In five playoff games against the same team, he had one goal and one assist.�

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 23rd, 2008 at 9:54 am and is filed under Practice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.