Before I begin with tonight’s game, first on Marian Gaborik.

He seems to be walking better on his lower body injury, although he came up to me after the game and said I was seeing things when I wrote he was limping yesterday. Gaborik knows his gait better than me, so we’ll give him that.

As for all the trade rumors out there, I wrote this last week and said this on TV, but it was confirmed to me beyond a shadow of a doubt today from a league executive that Doug Risebrough is offering Gaborik around the NHL.

As I wrote weeks ago, Montreal makes a lot of sense. The Habs want to win now. The Habs have lots of cap space in future years. The Habs have lots of young talent. And I think Risebrough and Bob Gainey know each other or something.

I definitely think there’s a lot to all these rumors you’re reading on hockeybuzz, and I do believe Chris Higgins is the guy. The Wild would love Ryan McDonagh too. He’s the former Cretin-Derham Hall star, Minnesota Mr. Hockey and current Wisconsin Badger. Remember at last year’s Draft when I was reporting to you all the Manny Fernandez to Boston stuff, McDonagh is the guy the Wild wanted badly if it was somehow able to move up.

Here’s the thing, it’s very unlikely the Canadiens make any deal with these two substantial players if Gaborik is unwilling to sign there long-term. And I am confident in the fact that Risebrough has not yet asked Gaborik’s agent if he wants to talk to any other teams about a contract extension. In fact, Risebrough and Gaborik’s agent have still not spoken in a few weeks – as of yesterday at least.

Also, cap room would be a problem this year. Gaborik is at 6.33. Higgins is at 1.7, so there would need to be money moving elsewhere.

I know for a fact that Wild Director of Pro Scouting Blair Mackasey attended tonight’s Canadiens game, but that probably means little. First of all, I don’t think Higgins played due to a groiner, and obviously McDonagh didn’t play. And Mackasey lives in Montreal, so this was not exactly abnormal.

Regardless, things could be heating up soon. Risebrough will be heading to Chicago on Thursday for the GM’s Meetings, and you can bet Gaborik’s name will be coming up with many of his colleagues.

As for the game, Antti Miettinen scored the lone shootout goal against his pal and old teammate, former Dallas Stars goalie Mike Smith. It was the first shootout goal Smith had ever given up. He was 3-0 and 10 for 10. Miettinen fooled him. Smith is used to Miettinen going five-hole in practice, so Miettinen pulled the Mikko Koivu move, only for a right-handed shot.

After the win, Scotty Bowman said to me in the elevator, “Boy, that Miettinen was a good pickup, eh?”

Wild might be thanking their lucky stars the Huselius’ and Naslunds said no to them this summer when Miettinen’s three-year deal is up. This guy can play.

Niklas Backstrom stopped all three shots he faced in the shootout, including one by superstar Vinny Lecavalier and one by shootout star Jussi Jokinen — Miettinen’s former linemate by the way.

Backstrom stopped all 32 shots he saw through overtime for his 10th career shutout. He’s got a 1.71 GAA and .942 save percentage. I’m no good at math, but I think he’s 4-0.

Eric Belanger was a horse tonight. He played nearly 10 minutes in the first period, then in the third period, he saved the game for the Wild. Paul Ranger had an open net to shoot at. Belanger dropped to the ice and blocked the defenseman’s shot. Then with 20 seconds left, Chris Gratton had an empty net to shoot at. Belanger again sacrificed his body and pushed the shot out of danger.

You won’t be reading this in tomorrow’s paper because I had to save a story for Monday’s paper since the team won’t practice, but Lemaire lost it on “the kids” after the game. He said it can’t continue this way or the Wild is in trouble. The quotes are strong, and it’s directed at Pouliot, Gillies and Sheppard.

OK, that’s it I think. I’ll talk to you from the Twin Cities.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 18th, 2008 at 10:52 pm and is filed under Game coverage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.