Just got back from the media luncheon, turned on the TV and saw the terrible news about NBC Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert.

Very sad.

On much more trivial subjects, some updates from today:

– The Wild will make another offer to Brian Rolston this afternoon. It sounds like Doug Risebrough thinks it’s close. He said they’re getting close to the end and made clear he’d like to have Rolston signed at the latest by the Draft so he knows if he perhaps needs to react with a significant trade if Rolston is not back. But it sounds like the two sides are very close.

– Risebrough essentially said both Rolston and Pavol Demitra cannot be back together because he wants the flexibility to do other things when free agency begins.

– Training camp will begin Sept. 20 in Grand Forks, N.D., but the Wild doesn’t have specifics on how long it’ll be there. It’s not going to be as long as originally expected because training camp and the NHL season’s start date is pushed back a week this upcoming season. Basically, the Wild is being pushed out of St. Paul because Xcel needs to be reconstructed — especially the suites — after the Republican National Convention.

– Risebrough said his intent is to offer Pierre-Marc Bouchard a multi-year deal after July 1 and the only way Bouchard will get a one-year deal is if he opts to go to arbitration. However, I am being told at the very least Risebrough is gauging Bouchard’s trade value in case it gets to that point.

– Risebrough reiterated he’s not going to deal with Marian Gaborik’s situation until later this summer because he’s not allowed to sign him to an extension until after July 1 anyway.

– Risebrough did his best to lower expectations when it comes to free agency. I’ll write more about this as free agency approaches, but essentially the Wild has a target list and each player has a value in the team’s eyes. If the Wild swings and misses at the players it truly wants, don’t expect the team to just go out and spend the same cash on lesser players. There’s not a lot of quality this free agency period even though there is more quantity than last year, so Risebrough will not just spend money to spend if the Wild misses out on the players it really wants.

Like I said, I’ll write about that more as free agency approaches.

– As for the Draft, the Wild really wants to get a blue-chip blue-liner in a deep defensemen draft, but with few goalie prospects in the system and three top goalies in this draft, the Wild did say it would have no problem taking a goalie over a bigger-risk defenseman. But it’s more likely it would take a defenseman if there are top ones on the  board.

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