Plethora of stuff from Wild-caps skate; Niklas Backstrom vs. Nicklas Backstrom fun
Posted on November 24th, 2008 – 1:27 PMBy Michael Russo
How can it be this sunny yet this cold? It’s very deceiving. Please, any meteorologists out there, tell me.
Just got back from “the rink,” as they say in hockey. Lots and lots of TV cameras down there.
I freaked out for half a second when I looked at Niklas Backstrom (the Wild goalie, not the terrific Capitals sophomore forward Nicklas Backstrom) and he was surrounded by reporters and cameramen.
I went over to him when the scrum disappeared and said, “I didn’t miss the fact that you signed a five-year deal, did I?” He rolled his eyes and said, “Yeah, right. At first I thought it was the start of the playoffs.”
I told him that’s why many goalies have a no-talk-on-game-day rule (other than the Roberto Luongos and Marty Brodeurs of the league). I hope I didn’t give Backstrom any ideas.
You know what would be a nightmare tonight? If a shootout came down to Niklas Backstrom vs. Nicklas Backstrom. That might be a little confusing in print tomorrow.
Also on the radio. On the confusion that could bring Bob Kurtz, Niklas Backstrom (not Nicklas Backstrom) said, “I hope he’s not going to make a mistake between a Finn and a Swede. That’s the worst thing he could do.”
Mikko Koivu couldn’t say it any better if he tried (actually Mikko’s said that exact same thing many, many, many times).
Alex Ovechkin, who’s an amazing ambassador for this sport (like superstar Jarome Iginla, he just answers questions after questions with a big smile on his face), was asked what he knows about the Wild.
Ovechkin said, “I know they have a pretty good goalie. I said to Nicklas Backstrom, ‘Is he your brother?’
“No,” he said back, “He’s a Finn and I’m a Swede.”
Those Scandinavians dislike each other. It’s great. 
I don’t remember too much about last year’s game between Washington and the Wild, mostly because I barely watched the game as I wrote the life and times of Chris Simon. Only the Wild can make such a minor trade such a major story.
I do remember the Wild completely shut down Alex Ovechkin & Gang only to get dominated by the third line of Brooks Laich, Eric Fehr and Tomas Fleischmann.
Tonight, the Wild catches a break – an innocuous comment unless you’re a Denver sportswriter trying to use me to create controversy out of nothing (right Adrian?).
Bruce Boudreau, a former Fighting Saint, said this morning that Alexander Semin, Mike Green and Sergei Fedorov ain’t playing.
What else, what else? The AHL announced today that Boudreau, a minor-league legend, will be inducted into the AHL Hall of Fame.
Boudreau talked a lot today about the virtues of playing in the AHL, how it’s outstanding for the development of many.
I often wonder how much sending James Sheppard to the AHL for even a few weeks would mean to his career. I mean no disrespect at all. I just think sometimes there’s something to be said for going down there, being a star for a few weeks and getting some confidence back.
Remember, Sheppard has never been in the minors, making the leap from the Q right to the NHL. The Wild technically could send him down right now without waivers, but since the team has no depth up front and especially at center, alas, it cannot.
Pierre-Marc Bouchard talked this morning about playing in the AHL is really helping his brother, Capitals prospect Francois Bouchard. The AHL rookie has six goals and eight assists for the Hershey Bears. And he’s staying away from the chocolate.
Anything else? Doug Risebrough attended the Houston Aeros-Hamilton Bulldogs game last night. Houston lost 4-zip.
Washington has allowed a goal on the opponent’s first shot six times this year. That was a random stat.
I’m trying to make up for my awful morning skate blog on Saturday. OK, I better write for the actual newspaper that you all purchase or get delivered every morning.
By the way, if you’ve sent me an email lately, I am WAY WAY WAY behind. Sorry. Be patient.
Forgot to put lineup: Gillies is definitely out. Weller came off with the rest, so they’ll skate 19 skaters again and make decision from there. Kim Johnsson didn’t skate this morning, but he was healthy at least after yesterday’s practice.
99 Responses to "Plethora of stuff from Wild-caps skate; Niklas Backstrom vs. Nicklas Backstrom fun"
[…] Russo’s Rants – […]
“Jefe, what is a ple-thor-uh?”
It’s a smorgasbord
Ooh, the Don missing one of the best quotes from “Three Amigos”….
Is that like a good, old-fashioned hootenany?
russo buddy? Whats the lineup guess tonight? Send bouchard,skoula to minors and sheppard to college.
Aw, Buddha, no post about me? I’m hurt. Even the award isn’t funny.
Sending Shep to Houston would help his offensive game and add offense to the Aeros line-up. I wish we could send him down for a few weeks too. Time to stop pampering the 1st rounders?
Ah, lunch. Gotta love it. Want to lose it? Here is the link I posted at the end of the last string…
I’m not done yet KiPA… I just needed to get the stuff up… getting grief from all sides now.
Ms. C… now the Don wants to send you Shep. Are you getting excited yet?
It cannot be a hootenanny unless the Preds, Thrash or South Stars come to town.
How many times have the Wild scored on their first shot in a game in history?
Do you suppose Koivu and Backstrom (not to mention Miettinen) will feel slighted since Russo used a Swedish word to define plethora? 
Fitz, just added the lineup to the best of my knowledge above…And yes, I didn’t pick up on the 3 Amigos reference, and it’s one of my favorites…
Sending Shepp down is a poor idea. This kid is in such a funk right now, what makes folks think he would go to Houston and “dominate”? You may even say he goes down to Houston, is mediocre around the wannabees, then what? Nope. Sit him next to the popcorn maker for a game here or there, let him get a different perspective of the game, but keep him with the big club.
My brain hurts KiPA… best I can do right now.
Sorry… too specific.
Upper body injury.
I am vindicated.
El Guapo: Well, you told me I have a plethora. And I just would like to know if you know what a plethora is. I would not like to think that a person would tell someone he has a plethora, and then find out that that person has *no idea* what it means to have a plethora.
Jefe: Forgive me, El Guapo. I know that I, Jefe, do not have your superior intellect and education. But could it be that once again, you are angry at something else, and are looking to take it out on me?
I thought Shep had a very strong game Saturday. How about Gillies in for Boogie? Not sure we need to worry too much about Brashear…
Shep to Houston! Get ‘er done, DR!
Nick, I’d keep an eye on Brooks Laich and Tomas Fleischmann. Good secondary scoring from them, Flash has some skill / speed & Brooks will muck in the corners and hang in front of the keeper, whatever is needed. Bradley also. Not so much skill but he works his a@@ off every shift.
Yeah, Laich had 2 goals and 2 assists against the Wild back in Feb in Washington.
I’m sure he’ll light up PMB, Poultine and SRV…
so, I got caught on this line from the Don above:
Tonight, the Wild catches a break – an innocuous comment unless you’re a Denver sportswriter trying to use me to create controversy out of nothing (right Adrian?).
And then I stumbled over to versus.com and found the source:
http://www.versus.com/nw/article/view/74955/?tf=NHLArticleWrapper.tpl
Pretty lame, Dater. And you’re a pretty lame writer to begin with.
That’s what happens when vacuous people don’t have anything better to write about. I mean, surely there was something of substance going on in and around the NHL right now? No? The Avs didn’t bring back Claude Lemieux yet? Sakic’s kid didn’t score any goals in his pee-wee game?
Steve R: thanks for the scouting report! We’ll keep an eyeball on your energy guys.
On our side, I’d say to watch Clutterbuck in the energy guy department, and Koivu’s generally worth the price of admission (and it doesn’t really seem like he’s getting that much press nationally.)
Yes, Lindsay Soto is covering the game for VS. I haven’t been this excited since lunch.
Steve R: Also, if you’re looking for Boogaard, make sure you’re in front of your TV for the opening face off. It seems like he gets the majority of his (few) shifts in the first period.
Our lines are all jumbled with the injuries. Probably see Flash 2nd line LW, Brooks 3rd center and Brads 3rd or 4th RW
A bit late in posting this, but just got back from Asia and the Wild win vs. the Pens made the top NHL story in the Bangkok Post.
I don’t think Dater would have anything to write about if Russo didn’t give him the material.
PMB says the AHL is is helping his brother Francois, 6 goals, 8 assists. Too bad PMB couldn’t try a stint in the AHL, maybe it would help him, too. He should ask little brother what the trick is to getting some points.
Luongo, who exited Saturday’s 3-1 win over Pittsburgh early in the first period with a suspected groin injury, will miss four to five weeks of action, his agent, Gilles Lupien, told cyberpresse.ca.
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/story/2008/11/24/luongo-canucks-injury.html
Dater, douche - both start with a ‘D’. Coincidence?
Buddha - I’ve’nt got any sound on my computer but I was disgusted enough after 5-10 seconds I closed that link.
Maybe TL oughta fly the Aeros up for a quick scrimmage against the Wild. Give all our boys a quick ’stint’ against the AHL for a little ego boost.
Dater is such a Slover. Frankly, and I have re-read the Don’s earlier post a few times, I don’t think there even was an “implication” that this “could be an easy [game]” for the Wild. The horrible Blues were not an easy game for the Wild, why would the Caps be two nights later? Is it not simply a fact, all by itself, that to be able to play a team without 3 of its top players is better than playing that team with those players?
Dude, don’t eliminate any categories (except maybe games played; that one’s a little on the silly side.)
Ms. Soto sure beats Dumber and Quasimodo grunting at each other between periods.
The elephant in the locker room stampedes through Russoville. Yeti to the minors?!?!? Say it ain’t so. After I finally notice he’s in the lineup against the STL (#51 by the way), Russo calls him out with the threat that he may go to Houston.
Send Shep and bring up Kristofer “Flock of Seagulls” Kolanos. All he does is put the biscuit in the basket. 1 goal in 2 games. At that pace that’s ummmm 41 for the season.
Thanks NiNY. Just totally confirms that Dater is a Slover.
Why would Versus even feature his drivel?
NiNY…I thought Dater’s mention of Rosie was going to lead to RIAC or RICS…
haha…kj! Hadn’t even thought of that…I have to say that, if it had, I would have had a smidge more respect for him, just because…
I am just feeding the troops KiPA. Not sure I want to eliminate anything. Though SHG and SHA seem more like a luck category than ones that can be planned for.
Goody- Be glad you don’t have volume. It’s bad.
I’m pretty sure I’ll vomit a little in my mouth when I see the answer, but RICS?
So - since the NHL thought it would be a good idea to have every team face eachother at least once a year so fans could see superstars they don’t typically get to see - and then they book said games on a network not every fan has, and do not offer a secondary viewing option…
Does anyone know if there is an online broadcast of the game (for free of course)?
I hate PIMs and the shorties but because I don’t have any of those.
I’m in one league where there’s shorthanded points. I removed that and put in shots on goal for the Russoville league. But I don’t mind SH stuff for a roto league. Head to head though is stupid. One could win the category each week.
Hi. I’m not very smart. Just FYI.
Dater might have taken what Russo wrote to mean an easy game but if he knew the Wild’s offensive woes, he would’ve not thought that.
You have to think that Dater, who covers the Avs, wants to provide the Caps more fire in their belly because if the Wild lose, the Avs will only be 5 points down instead of 7 behind the Wild.
See his thinking here.
No. Really. You don;t understand. I’m about to say something really stupid. Just wait. It will happen.
Wow… i was stuck as sunshine there for like 5 minutes, finally had to retype all my info…
grrrr….
Benny- I’m guessing you are not the one posting that stuff (right?). The blog is messed up alot.
Gunslinger: Try hockeywebcasts.com
They usually have the Versus games and its free and it works on a MAC. No need to for sopcast or other things. Straight click.
Knock on wood but I haven’t faces any of the IT glitches yet.
Funny how it always comes back to RIAC 
Darn it. I was hoping folks would skip over the Rosie mentioned.
Actually, I wondered if Dater read the blog comments and that was why he brought up RIAC.
I skipped it sunshine… wasn’t going to give Dater the credit…
sunshine…Maybe we should do an RIAC post on his blog since he opened the ‘Rosie’ door…
BNAG…RICS = Rosie in crotchless spandex. Once again brought to you by the mind known as Deep Breath.
Credit where credit is due you know…
Week seven wrap-up has been posted in the Russoville league.
I think Dater wants Koivu or Lemaire to go on the radio and put a bounty on someone’s head.
Then it would be ON!!!!
Silly Dater.
And after all of this time, I still can’t figure out why we — not me, mind you — humor Deep Breath’s kinks.
Thanks kj. Yup. there it was, just enough vomit to make me remember lunch.
Just sayin’…
Y’all pretend to be disgusted and all, yet no problem going back to that well over and over again.
I’m on to y’all, ok?
what’s up with Dater’s haircut?
Just to be clear:
RIAC: Rosie O’Donnell in A$$less Chaps
RIAS: Roseanne in A$$less Spandex
Enjoy your dinner….
toivo…
Good komedy is funny. Even if it is disgusting.
See you all at the game. All 18,568 of you…
Dan…now that is funny.
In case you may have missed it the first time:
RIAC: Rosie O’Donnell in A$$less Chaps
RIAS: Roseanne in A$$less Spandex
Enjoy your dinner….
I thinks that’s a different Dan, kj. Different link, anyway. If it’s the same Dan, I just even more repsect for him, if that was possible.
I just got up from a nap. I dreamt the Wild beat the Caps 5 to 2. Burns, Benny, and Mikko were goal scorers but I don’t remember the other two. GO WILD.
Dare I say… dream on, Theo!
toivo: how goes it? Where you been?
Gee, when I took my nap earlier all I dreamed about was ice cream. Wish I would have dreamt about hockey, if I’d dreamt about hockey I wouldn’t have woken up hungry.
Off topic but at least it’s not about RIAC… I want to be Oprah rich, I could then hire someone to clean for me and I would never have to dust our collection of Star Wars and Harry Potter Lego’s ever again. Legos are a PITA to dust.
Dater apparently has been hangin’ around D**’s blog and picking up journalism tips.
Band - Get a can of air for a computer and blow the dust off. Works wonders and the cloth doesn’t get hooked. Granted it moves the dust elsewhere, but at least it is likely somewhere easier to dust…
Ms.C, I stay at Lake Conroe KOA from about January 8th to May 8th. I plan on attending a few AERO games and hope to see you there.
Yep BNAG, I tried that once. We have so many pieces however that one can doesn’t get it done and that stuff can get expensive. If the Mr had been home we would have brought his little portable air compressor in and set that up, but he’s not and I have no idea where he put it after the last time he used it. So that meant I went through many many many swiffer thingies. I still think it would be best to be Oprah rich and then I could hire someone to figure it out for me. Besides, if I was Oprah rich I could afford a suite and go to all the games.
NiNY, anything is better than dumb and dumber in the booth.
I still to this day maintain we have the absolute worst TV broadcasting in the league. I challenge anyone to find an example of a play-by-play and color tandem that has:
1. Less broadcasting experience
2. Less actual hockey experience
3. Less fan recognition from broadcasting or former players
4. More mistakes made during calls
5. More botched names
6. Can’t fill airtime with any meaningful dialogue.
They are the worst. Period. I prefer my TV on mute when watching.
MuN: let me think about that for a minu….wait, no…yeah, I got nothing. You’re right. They’re brutally bad.
Band, if you were Oprah rich, you could have a suite at home and road games… just a thought. Keep working on the Oprah rich scheme. Maybe learn how to fix the blog. There are plenty of folks on here that would make a donation to that cause….
They’re so bad, I’d rather listen to another game’s audio, while I watch the Wild.
True, very true. I could have my own plane to fly me back and forth also BNAG.
Well, that’s random, Theo! But hopefully they’ll stop sucking like a black hole by the time you get here.
For the record, Rosie in chaps is just plain wrong.
Steve, if your gonna hang around get it right A$$less chaps. Got shortened some time ago to RIAC to lessen the impact of the graphic mental picture. RIAC is easier to flow past than the extended version.
I just can’t get my mind wrapped around that immage
MuN, I fired off a e-mail to Susan Wenz at ch45 about one of their craptastic broadcasts and it turns out that the Wild actually produce the broadcasts, and ch45 just relays the broadcasts over their system. Where as FSN produces and broadcasts their own program. But either way, the Wild are sucking it up when it comes to the broadcasts. After watching HniC, our HD stuff isn’t even up to par with their SD stuff, and I don’t even need to comment on our monkeys in front of the camera. But I was told to fire off e-mails to the Wild about it.
If Gillies continues to be a scratch with the number of forward injuries the team currently has, when the team gets healthy, and if more forwards come in if/when Gaborik is dealt, doesn’t that make the likelihood of his making the lineup even more remote? Seems like the tactic of keeping our kids up has been more miss than hit of late. Can somebody help me see the reason in wrecking one of our top prospects?
Watching the game and learning from JL and other veterans in practice is far better for Gillies than playing in the QMJHL for another year.
I’ll stand by the development track record of the wild for 1st rounders.
When will pouliot get the h3ll off the 4th line? sheppard is so …..
Russ says:
“it turns out that the Wild actually produce the broadcasts, and ch45 just relays the broadcasts over their system.”
Funny you should mention that. As I was watching Saturday’s game intro. I was thinking to myself that it looked like a High School Hockey Tourney intro. After a little longer I thought it looks like some high school AV dept. senior project.
Dater, what a troll. I think he’s pining for a job where people pay attention to him.
Switching gears, that Dater guy is a POS…he’s a censoring clown on his blog but evidently he doesn’t mind shall we say “exaggerating” when it suits his purposes for a story.
Ummm, Steve? Do you actually want to wrap your mind aroung that?
*Shudders*
Unless the Wild find some miracle goal scorer in the next hour and a half, they have little chance to win this game.
However, one good thing could come from this game if the Wild should lose. I’m hoping when Boogaard and Brashear fight, Brasher gives him should a bad beating he’s out for the rest of the year. It would benefit the Wild greatly for Boogaard to get another back injury or whatever the excuse was last year that kept the ever worthless Boogaard out of the lineup for 3 months.
wow, I must be half a sleep…
“Brasher gives him should a bad beating he’s out for the rest of the year.”
should be…
Brashear gives him such a bad beating he’s out the rest of the year.
Gotta love it. Wishing injuries to people. Huggie’s too nice to hurt people anyways… he just wants to hug.
he’s the worst player in the game and one of the worst of all time undoubtedly. Boogaard doesn’t belong in hockey and even though wishing injuries is a bit brash, it would be for the benefit of the Wild and the game if Boogaard wasn’t around.
toivo: how goes it? Where you been?
Ahhhh…
It goes OK. Pre-occupied.
I’m like Gaborik. I don’t want to play until I’m 100% and I’m not saying anything until I play.
Anyway, I should be around more often now. How y’all been?
Here’s hoping my wife got my email to tivo the game tonight… I better text her to be sure.
test.
I’m not Jordan. Why does this happen?
“How can it be this sunny yet this cold? It’s very deceiving. Please, any meteorologists out there, tell me.”
My St. Cloud State meteorology degree says a clear day means air is sinking. When air is sinking…clouds can’t form. And since the air over Minnesota likely came from Canada, that’s why its sunny and cold. That’s also why I moved to Arizona…it’s 75 right now!
Question for you Russo…why’s Burns starting on wing tonight?
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