I know, I know, the worst day of any hockey season. I’ve got to tell you though, watch the playoffs. The games have been tremendous, so it still should be an exciting next couple months.

I mean, if Boston knocks off Montreal, there might be another riot there.

First, I’ll be on KFAN at 2:20 p.m. and WCCO at 9:30 p.m. I know, I’m tired of myself too.

This is going to be a little short because I have tons to write so I put together a quality package for tomorrow.

But tonight at some point, I will throw up a much bigger blog, including partial Q&A’s with Jacques Lemaire and Doug Risebrough from 1-on-1’s I had with them this morning. I’ll also include tons of quotes from players, etc.

As for actual news today:

– Branko Radivojevic has a torn ACL, will undergo a right knee reconstruction and be out four to six months. He’s an unrestricted free agent, and he reminded me (which I feel guilty about now) that a week before the end of the regular season, I asked Radivojevic — and Brian Rolston and other possible free agents for that matter — if he worried about his future when he saw that an unrestricted free agent like Brendan Morrison tore his ACL. Radivojevic said absolutely not, then knocked on wood.

It didn’t work. He’s a free agent and now his future is in bigtime peril.

Risebrough seemed to indicate that Radivojevic will be cut loose, that retaining Kurtis Foster was a different situation because he’s a restricted free agent.

– Like I said, you’ll get a lot of stuff tonight, but I will tell you Jacques said this decision to or not to return is no different than any season. He’s up there in age (62) and wants to make sure he still has the fire and has certain questions answered by Doug Risebrough.

He did say he’s never had a harder time getting a team to play like a team in the regular season. He felt the team played exactly the way he finally wanted it to in the playoffs, and that’s why it’s a shame they’re out.

Risebrough was phenomenal on this subject, which you’ll see tonight and in tomorrow’s paper. 

– Derek Boogaard said he will not have back surgery.

– Rolston reiterated he wants to be back, as did Pavol Demitra, Todd Fedoruk, Aaron Voros and Radivojevic. Matt Foy doubts he’ll be back. I did not see Keith Carney, and I’m not sure if Kent got him, but he’ll almost certainly play elsewhere (and will be missed by his teammates).

– PM Bouchard wants a long-term deal. Marian Gaborik did say an extension would be good this summer because a Marian Hossa-like distraction could ruin the team.

– Petteri Nummelin admitted his NHL career has ended and he’ll play next season in Europe. Sean Hill says he wants another NHL job and can still play.

– Mark Parrish said this is the most frustrating season he’s had personally, wants to get away from hockey for a little bit and then will work his hardest in the offseason to come to camp in great shape and pray for a clean slate.

– Benoit Pouliot and Erik Reitz were sent back to Houston for the playoffs.

– As the days go on, you’ll hear of Wild players committing to their national teams to play in the world championships, especially because the tournament is in Halifax and Quebec City.

Mikko Koivu is the only one I know of that has already committed to Finland. He plans to visit his brother, Saku, and his kids this weekend and stay in Montreal until he meets up with the Finns.

I talked with somebody in the know from Team Canada today, and he indicated that Bouchard and Brent Burns will be asked. Bouchard hasn’t heard from Canada yet, but he said he would definitely play if asked.

I’ll throw some more up as I transcribe, but like I said, I’ll throw up so much stuff later tonight on the future of the team, I promise it’ll ruin your work day tomorrow.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 21st, 2008 at 11:08 am 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.