Greetings. Youngblood here, in St. Paul while Mr. Russo spends an extra day gathering news in Denver. He will be filing a blog update from the Rockies in a bit.

So, here’s what was going on at the X:

1. Practice started after everybody gussied up and sat for the team photograph. Brian Rolston, with a hair cut and his stubble shaved — apparently the traditional playoff beard starts tomorrow — looked 10 years younger. Oh, and Kurtis Foster looked completely different. Actually, that’s because Foster, still recovering from his broken leg, wasn’t there. But the Wild had media relations  coordinator Ryan Stanzel — who is nearly as tall as Foster himself — don some shoulder pads and Foster’s sweater and stand in for the photo; Foster’s face will be airbrushed in at a later date. Man, you should have seen Stanzel smiling.

One other photograph note: Incoming owner Craig Leipold was in the picture, but current owner Bob Naegle wasn’t. But that’s just because Naegle wasn’t in town; a chair was left empty and a picture of Naegle will be cropped in later.

2. Perhaps because of the photo shoot, the Wild looked a little out of synch to start the practice, but had worked into focus by the time it ended. A lot of time was spent scrimmaging.

3. Seems the Laperriere-Gaborik thing has calmed down, at least in the Wild locker room. Nobody was biting on that topic, at least today.

4. That didn’t stop a lot of questions about the Wild’s additional toughness, and how much it will be a factor in the playoffs. Ultimately, Jacques tired of that line and, referring to Colorado’s skill, asked this rhetorical question: ”How much are you going to need the size against Colorado? You don’t want to talk about something that won’t be a factor.”

That comment makes me wonder the chances of seeing all three Wild ”enforcers” dressed for a game. I think you’ll see two, maybe. But that would seem to provide an in for Mark Parrish, who responded to some playing time Sunday in Colorado with a goal. Lemaire, however, wasn’t tipping his hand in regards to whether all three tough guys — Boogaard, Simon and Fedoruk — will suite up or whether Parrish will be in the lineup.

5. One thing Lemaire did seem to indicate was that, given Colorado’s front-end speed and skill, that Petteri Nummelin — who hasn’t played much in the last month — might get some playing time. The most logical move should he play would be to give Nummi Sean Hill’s minutes.

6. Lemaire said the biggest difference on his team from last year’s version wasn’t the toughness, but the experience. Lemaire said his team didn’t take it to another level enough to win in the playoffs. ”I don’t think last year, even though the games were pretty much a goal difference, I don’t think that we had that experience,” Lemaire said. ”I don’t think we elevated our game as much as we should have. But it could also be the fact that Anaheim is so good. ‘Cause they won the cup.”

7. Nick Schultz, who missed Sunday’s game with the flu, made it to the team picture, then went home again.

That’s about it. Stand by for Russo’s Colorado report.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 7th, 2008 at 3:52 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.