Slothful Russo in Dallas, where it hasn’t stopped pouring since I busted through the bumpy clouds 4 1/2 hours ago.

Marian Gaborik skated with the Wild yesterday for the first time since December, but today technically was his first practice. Yesterday was just a morning skate. Today was practice, man. And even at 60 or 70 percent, Gaborik’s the Wild’s best player — or at least scorer. He had some pretty sweet goals today.

Derek Boogaard, who missed last night’s game with illness, practiced today. So did everybody else.

Colorado’s Cody McCormick got suspended two games for cross-checking Cal Clutterbuck in the head last night. I was sitting with Doug Risebrough when I got the email, showed it to him and he said, “Is that all? That’s my quote.”

Coach Jacques Lemaire said the referees last night weren’t going to call any penalties on it because Don VanMassenhoven didn’t see it. So Lemaire told VanMassenhoven, “You better tell your partner to call something because [McCormick’s] going to get suspended.” In other words, Lemaire was telling referee Ian Walsh there better be a penalty or it would be embarrassing for the men in stripes.

Lemaire, by the way, used me as the dummy to demonstrate what McCormick did. Luckily, Lemaire avoided my face with his stick by I’d say a good, I don’t know, HALF INCH!

Walsh assessed a double minor. Later, Clutterbuck got cross-checked in the face again, this time by John-Michael Liles. VanMassenhoven nailed Clutterbuck for diving, too, probably because the ref felt he was miraculously back way too soon after being on the ice so long from the previous incident.

Lemaire said, “Trust me, he was shook up. What’s he got to get 50 stitches or a broken jaw?”

McCormick, who by the way got his clock cleaned by John Scott in Scott’s first NHL bout, is eligible to return against the Wild on Tuesday during another rare visit in St. Paul for Minnesota.

By the way, Lemaire was asked a lot today about why he’s not playing Kurtis Foster. He was asked if he feels he can’t afford to play Foster right now because of his rust from being a year away.

Lemaire said that’s not accurate. He said, “It’s not that. It’s because Scott is here and the type of teams we’re playing, Scott will play more aggressive, Scott will fight. You saw last night. See? That’s the reason Scott’s playing. I think Foster would play as good as Scott, even better with the puck. Sure. We need [Scott’s aggressiveness]. We need it here [in Dallas]. We need it in St. Louis.

“We don’t want all the guys to chase Clutter and try to take his head off.”

On Gaborik’s visit with Dr. Philippon, assistant GM Tom Lynn said “Gaby’s doing well, can keep pushing back towards full.”

There’s no Brent Burns update because he’s still shut down completely. And until he starts working out again, it won’t be known if the concussion-like symptoms subsided.

OK, must write. Talk to you after the morning skates Saturday.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 13th, 2009 at 2:54 pm and is filed under Practice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.