Risebrough conference call on Gaborik
Posted on August 19th, 2008 – 4:47 PMBy Michael Russo
OK, I was wrong. The conference call was just for the print media, not electronic. I wasn’t wrong that no new news would come out of it though.
GM Doug Risebrough just gave a little more detail to his meeting with Gaborik in Slovakia. Like I’ve written, Gaborik has been concerned about the fact the Wild hasn’t made more significant trade-deadline moves or free-agent moves in the past few years, and Risebrough went into a lot of explanation as to why that is.
He gave him detail about some of the deals he’s tried to make, but he also said Gaborik would be “let down” had he traded a guy like Mikko Koivu, whom he’s had tons and tons of calls about.
Gaborik also wanted to know whom he’ll be playing with, and Risebrough told him it’s obvious it’ll be Koivu and that James Sheppard will move into Koivu’s old role. And yes, that is unbelievably obvious when you look at the lack of depth up the middle currently on the Wild.
Of course, Jacques Lemaire is the coach, and there’s a good chance Gaborik will skate with everybody from Koivu to Mario Tremblay potentially.
Risebrough says he has not had any trade conversations regarding Gaborik and has not gotten any calls from other GM’s (which I find hard to believe on the latter). He says he’s only concentrating on signing Gaborik before the Oct. 11 opener.
He wouldn’t answer hypotheticals when asked if he feels he’d have to trade Gaborik before the season if the winger makes it clear he won’t sign an extension.
Risebrough said he doesn’t plan to respond to any trade rumors during this process. “A lot of people on your side are fiction writers, and I’m not dealing with all the fiction writers. So the best thing is not to deal with any of [the rumors].”
Risebrough said Tom Lynn will make the team’s first proposal soon. As I’ve written countless times, the Wild plans to offer between four and seven years at around $8.5 million per.
Exactly one month until training camp 
39 Responses to "Risebrough conference call on Gaborik"
If ‘no news is good news’, as they say, this should be construed as good news. At least the sniping and subterfuge associated with some of these types of negotiations have not begun…yet.
My question would be how open CAN Risebrough actually be with the media and fan base and still keep a lid on the rumor mill? (I. E., can the Eklunds of the hockey world be somehow contained?)
We’ll see…
I think DR will only provide info such as — initial contract offer has been extended and waiting for counter offer. Received counteroffer-Wild extended another counter offer. Speaking to agent. Signed extension or no agreement, but still negotiation. Stalemate– at this point we know a trade is coming down.
Thanks, Russo for the info.
If Gaborik wants, he can render DR even more ineffective than he has been.
Ok, I get it that DR cannot control how UFAs decide to go elsewhere and how everyone wanted to raid the young talent at trade deadline time.
But, at some point, you are held accountable for what you have accomplished, not for what you tried to do.
Under no circumstances should Gaborik be allowed to walk as a UFA with nothing in return.
Sadly, Gaborik holds all the cards and I am afraid it is a royal flush.
Com’on Gabby, sign a more then reasonable offer and lets get this going. One would be crazy to believe that JL will be around for much longer (he almost didn’t come back after last year) and then maybe we can attract some more offensive players and continue on the success we have already built in our system, etc. Some people want Gabby gone but I think you need to look at all the facts, the guys a great player, one of the top scorers in the NHL. Yes, he was shut out in playoffs last year, I still would take him anyday. You guys can’t tell me when you see him take off with the puck and get moving that he isn’t fun to watch. No dekes, quick wrister. He should never be in a shoot out, but this is a guy we need to keep in Minnesota for years to come. I for one hope it all works out.
Michael-
Once again, you rock. Thanks.
Thanks for the update Russo!
I don’t like this release and I’m not buying any of what Risebrough is trying to sell.
A.) No way Lemaire gives up his favorite 2-way player soley to play with Gaborik! No freaking way. The most defensive minded coach in the NHL is going to commit Koivu to playing offense? We’re supposed to buy that? Russo is right that Gabby(if he stays) will play with nearly everyone on the roster.
B.) No way Risebrough has gone without any calls on a Gaborik trade proposal. 29 other GMs smell blood in the water. Don’t pretend like the situation is perfectly fine.
DR could be technically correct in saying that he, himself, hasn’t received a call. That doesn’t mean that Lynn or other Wild mgmt folks haven’t been fielding these calls.
Actually, I think Koivu is a good fit with Gabby from a JL perspective because he’s a great 2-way player, not in spite of it.
If that’s the case then why didn’t Koivu center Gaborik and Demitra last year? We needed a 1st line center more then anything else but Demitra was forced to play out of position. Why? Because Jacques would rather have Koivu shutting down the oppents first line then scoring on his top line. You think every Wild fan hasn’t already been screaming for Koivu to be our #1 center? Wild.com had a poll at the start of last season to ask who should be our #1 center and it was Koivu winning by a landslide. He barely got a sniff the whole year because Jacques is so worried about defense.
trade skoula, then trade gabby to get him back
Maybe because we didn’t have Benny up last season to push Koivu into the first line center position?
And didn’t Demo play center with almost all of his other clubs? Hard to say he played out of position.
[…] Originally published by Russo’s Rants […]
Lucky, that is an astute observation. JL probably will not have Koivu centering Gaborik. To him it would unbalance things too much.
Benny to push Koivu up??? Please.
Demitra was out of HIS favorite position…non-backchecker. He hated C under JL. That is why the C position in the JL system is so irrelevant offensively. JL keeps the C man out of the offensive flow.
Thats a reason why more offensive D men were acquired. To help move the puck more quickly on the transition. More better first passes.
Demo was the #1 center in his other clubs but on the Wild, he was suited for the winger position. However, last year, he was needed to center #1 line.
Koivu was the #1 center but he was needed to center the checking line because he was the best at it.
I am a little nervous about DR dictating that Koivu will center Gaborik. Will there be friction between JL and DR with DR getting more active in the coaching decisions?
oh great-gabby gets to play with shep and koivu-hes gone for sure. F#$% DR fricken idiot. Whats next-a 20 year deal for Skoula. Good luck gabby with your eastern team.
Assuming #10 is not reading this , I also have a hard time believing that JL is going to give Gabby a lot of ice time with Mikko.
Let’s also be honest here, I mean there is really only two men who can start the year centering Gaborik - Koivu and Sheppard. Pouliot will work himself up there but JL is not going to put him with Gaborik on opening day. Belanger will likely be on the checking line and spot duty on the second line.
Yeah and I thought Risebrough and Lemaire were supposed to be on the same page this year? Not getting off to a good start but I honestly would just love to see the look on Lemaire’s face when he hears that Doug said Koivu would be playing as Gabby’s center. I bet he gives that the classic Lemaire smirk.
I bet he gives that the classic Lemaire smirk.
Dere’s no douuughhht.
Sadly, Gaborik holds all the cards and I am afraid it is a royal flush
PMB held all the cards and where did he end up?
I don’t recall koivu being our shut down center and playing with the checkers. last month of the season it was belanger on that line with SRV and branko. i recall him playing a lot with parrish before getting whacked.
JL put walz with #10 so walz could make up for #10’s lack of effort in the defensive zone. Koivu would help fill same roll although I think #10 was getting it at the end of the season and coming back more.
And right on cue, the trolls start bitching about JL and DR.
Koivu is the perfect center for Gaborik. Creative, defensively responsible, able and willing to stand up for himself and his teammates.
So why didn’t he play with Gabs last year? He was centering the shutdown line, and who would have anchored that line but for Koivu? Belanger, who isn’t a shutdown center; an unproven center in Sheppard; or Steve Kelly.
I think we can safely say that with a year under his belt, Sheppard has shown he can spell Koivu in that role, allowing Koivu to move to the top line with Gaborik.
Does that mean they’ll be joined at the hip? Of course not. It goes without saying that they’ll play on other lines with different centers and wings, but I think it’s safe to say that they will spend a great deal of time together.
Barring a stunning improvement from Pouliot (and a heck of a lot of uncharacteristic trust from JL), I’d expect Koivu to play top line too. Who else is going to play there? Shep? Belanger?
And really, who are we kidding. JL keeps line together for 2-3 shifts and then it is on the the JL shuffle. Trying to come up with line combo’s is pretty much a waste of time. If JL doesn’t like how that line played, he inerts another player until it clicks.
Haven’t we heard enough of who’s going to skate with Gaborik? Trying to pacify him every year drives me nuts.Isn’t that decision up to the coach? How about being a team player and not pout if your linemate isn’t who you want?
VoR…who’s bitchin? The one-and-done trolls?
Green*…All I am trying to say is that Gaborik will decide what happens to Gaborik. He could very well re-sign here. He could just as easily be traded. I think PMB really wanted to be here and do not think he would have signed without DRs ‘assurance’ of not trading him in the first 2 years of the deal.
My opinion is that Gaborik want a change of scenery.
And, if I were JL, I would skate Koivu and Olden with Gaborik.
Whoever Gaborik skates with regularly, it can’t be any worse than Fedoruk.
Its not always about pacifying Gaborik. I mean there is a lot of that but when he is your best player, you gotta do what you can to keep him - within reason, of course. Its also being able to max his potential.
One interesting question, with Koivu centering Gaborik, would he revert to being less defensive responsible than he was in the last 3 months of the season? It was a breakthrough for him and even JL noted that Walz inadvertently stifled Gaborik’s defensive growth because Walz took care a lot of it.
Wild.com has their version of the conference all with DR up. Contrary to what’s reported, DR is going to be less forthcoming about the contract talks.
http://wild.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NHLPage&id=23540
I get the feeling that DR wants to give Gaborik an 8-9 year deal. Gaborik might feel like 4-6 years so he can do a Hossa at some point in his career.
One interesting question, with Koivu centering Gaborik, would he revert to being less defensive responsible than he was in the last 3 months of the season?
I would hope that Koivu wouldn’t let him backslide. If he’s the leader of the future on this team, he’ll hold his linemates accountable.
“Whoever Gaborik skates with regularly, it can’t be any worse than Fedoruk.”
Amen.
Whoever Gaborik skates with regularly, it can’t be any worse than Fedoruk.
Disagree:
Steve Kelly.
I rest my case.
Did Kelly even skate with Gaborik in his 3 minutes? I am not even sure Pouliot skated with Gaborik in his regular season games.
Word to your mother, VoR. Kelly is terrible.
Sunshine, I can’t imagine JL would have even considered putting him with Gabby. No way. Even in the A, by the end of the season, he had no place to go but the press box. Bleh. His name is a dirty word on par with David Carr in my house.
But for some reason, I’m under the impression that Pouly had a shift or two with Gabby. Could be wrong about that though.
But for some reason, I’m under the impression that Pouly had a shift or two with Gabby.
I also recall that. Anyone here headed to the BBQ with CL tonight?
If there is anything interesting said at the BBQ, will you mind sharing it with us?
im going to tell mr owner to get rid of DR,lemaire,skoula and gaborik and lets get some damn good people in here. Wasting good money on tickets to see a shit team every year. If it wasnt for the boogeyman i wouldnt even go.
Yes, send me a hot dog, 6GS.
Why do you bother, Fitz? Just sell your tickets and watch them on TV for free if it bugs you that much?
Food (of the press release variety)….
snacktime….
