Back to the House that Russo built
Posted on March 25th, 2009 – 10:32 AMBy Michael Russo
Well, me and Mike Bossy and Denis Potvin and Billy Smith and Bryan Trottier and Clark Gillies and Bobby Nystrom and Duane Sutter and … But I’m in there somewhere.
Just came from the Wild’s optional morning skate at the greatest arena in all of pro sports, Nassau Coliseum. Man, what a great building. Cozy, right on top of the ice, liquified cotton candy sticking to the metal stands.
Just a great barn. So, I’m biased. Shoot me.
Funny, but my standard line when people ask me about the Nassau Coliseum — which is a puck shot away from where my mother went to college, Hofstra, by the way, and 10-15 minutes away from where I grew up in Plainview, Old Bethpage, Jericho and Roslyn, essentially – is that it always smells like the circus.
No matter when the circus was here, even if it was six months before, it always smells like the circus.
Guess what? The circus was just here, so it really, really, REALLY smells like the circus today. In fact, the Islanders couldn’t have their morning skate here today because the ice wasn’t set in time. The Wild — about 10 of them and the coaches — were the first to actually step foot on the new ice.
Asked how the ice was, Peter Olvecky said, “Weird.”
They said it was pretty chippy and felt like it was going to crumble under them, so that should be fun tonight.
Cool sight this morning was Colton Gillies skating under the Clark Gillies’ number retirement banner. Clark is a distant cousin of Colton — and the two have actually never met. But Gillies’ first-ever goal — and winning goal — was Dec. 19 against the Islanders at home.
The down-and-out Islanders currently have 17 skaters on their roster, so if they don’t call anybody up today, they’ll be skating shorthanded. Tons and tons of injuries this season for the John Tavares-hoping Isles. The latest, Kurtis McLean, ruptured his Achilles playing soccer warmups with his teammates. Somebody else I know got hurt that way. Hmmmm. Can’t remember who?
Speaking of Marian Gaborik — oh, I do — man, he was good last night. The funniest thing is he’s known for speed and a deadly wrist shot, yet all four of his goals have come from the goalmouth this season.
Kurtis Foster is back out for John Scott. Craig Weller’s out, too.
Niklas Backstrom’s in net. In front of Mario Tremblay, I asked Backstrom if he was playing. He didn’t know yet, so he said, laughing, “Do me a favor. Ask the coach.” Tremblay said, “I’m not the coach, but damn right, you’re playing.” Actually “damn” was another word.
Cal Clutterbuck is two hits from breaking the “NHL record” for hits in a season. He’s got 310. Dustin Brown had 311 last year. Hits have only been kept really since the lockout and a few years before, so I don’t see the game being stopped tonight to honor Clutterbuck.
OK, my aunt and uncle are waiting for me. Later tonight, I will be back coming to you from the Nassau Coliseum rafters, which is even with the greatest retired banners in pro sports.
By the way, remember, Russo Radio on KSTP is on Friday night at 6 this week, not tonight.
62 Responses to "Back to the House that Russo built"
>>>>The circus was just here, so it really, really, REALLY smells like the circus today.<<<<
Odds are that tonight’s stellar combatants won’t do much to quell the stench.
And Smug will be on the radio. Is this an effort to make us appreciate the boys on TV?
Why did we sign Weller? I honestly liked him, especially after being a stand up victim of assault with a deadly weapon from “Shel-rod” Souray.
I am willing take the excess baggage that comes with Gaborik if he played like he did last night.
Any chance we could get C-Buck to do for our face-off percentage what he’s done for our hits?
Maybe CL ought to have dinner with Gaby and ask him if a new regime would change his mind.
You gotta wonder if Gaby (healthy & happy) isn’t a lot more important to the team’s success than Smug.
Yes, there are other factors so save your breath. I’m just spitballin’ on a slow news day.
From the last thread on MSU and Thelan:
MSU and former N. Mich. coach Rick Comley has put a lot of players in the NHL. Plus, Thelan needed the minutes as a freshmen to ascend the draft board which he did.
So what does the B stand for, Michael? Bailey? Bartholomew? Barnum? Bailey?
Cool. I hope Tim Jackman gets a lot of ice tonight. He lives next to my grandma and he is a nice, hardworking dude from North Dakota (we won’t hold that against him) who spends his off season in MN.
I said Bailey twice. Ha. Woops.
Gaborik is only playing hard because he wants CASH this summer. Cash is King!!!!!
Don Russo: Hope the relatives are taking you to Di Fara’s for lunch. Dom DeMarco makes a mean mean pie….
You gotta wonder if Gaby (healthy & happy) isn’t a lot more important to the team’s success than Smug.
I don’t have to wonder about that 
- given the choice, I think even IceMan would take Gaby over Doug Smugsborough. In seriousness, I think moving quickly on the new coach, assuming JL retires, will at least help the Wild makes its last, desperate offer to Gaby. However, I think #10 is already too close to UFA to look back. In fact, I think he was too close to UFA to look back at the all star game a year ago - this is where Smug failed big time IMO.
Interesting that Gaby played really hard (and well) last night when it was nationally telecast and against a big market team. If only he played that hard all the time. I guess money talks.
Just saw the highlights of the Canucks game last night. Looks like Daniel Sedin had just finished off a fresh brain.
Man, we need Burns back in a bad way.
Someday, I hope a book is written explaining what exactly has gone on behind the scenes with the whole Smug & TooL, Gaby & Salcer soap opera.
Wonder if Gillies meets Gillies finally? I believe the elder lives in the area still.
Stoned, I have a strange hunch that book would read like Pride and Prejudice.
Michael - lunch out with Aunt & Uncle? Did you bring us any leftovers? You sound so darn happy to be hanging out in your stomping grounds.
As for book titles, I pick: The Winter of Our Discontent
A movie: Mystery, Minnesota as Sir Alec Guinness reprises Obi Wan by playing the role of Smug.
richardb, the problem with giving Shep big minutes is they have not been eliminated, and he has not yet earned the big minutes.
I can decipher what you are saying Stoned. Where I am disagreeing with you is in the degree.
IMO, DR has not been incompetent here, though neither has he been outstanding. We have bumps in the road but then so do most clubs because that job is not a science.
Using Thelan as an example, maybe on raw talent he was fine. But, maybe his attitude was not. Or maybe he was not coachable. Or, maybe he hit his peak early which was short of the AHL. Maybe there are other issues we don’t even know.
Minnesotan’s demand good character people on their teams. (Example: even people who hate hockey and had never heard of Simon had negative opinions about DR acquiring him, the same when Parish was not retained.)
So, that is a constraint DR might have in building a team, while NYR’s on the other hand were willing to hire that dickhead Avery, not once but twice.
Some of the people here think the U ought to be like the farm team for the Wild, that would be another constraint.
DR may be the guy making the final decisions on choices but I doubt in a vacuum. Input is from a consensus of their scouts and what they report. He probably never even sees players he drafts in their game conditions.
In us saying DR ignored filling needs for a center, we lose sight of the fact that he could not get those he claimed he wanted, and those he might have gotten he felt would take more cap space than he had for their contribution.
Also, about drafting Minnesota players. I think there would be a good deal more pressure on rookies who are drafted here. It is an added obstacle that makes it hard for rookies to be as successful playing in front of their own fans, but also it is harder for the club to make difficult decisions when the home grown player is only borderline.
I agree with your excess baggage comment about Gaby Sunshine. It is a welcome sight to see him involved in the D part of the game.
Think big, you can have both SGS. ;}
Lots of posturing on both sides Stoned. I still think that Gaby wants a sexier city. Anybody here think they might pry themselves away from here and go to LA if they could get close to their favorite starlet?
Maybe Gaby would stay but if DR broke the bank, but then where would we be when it was time to re-up Koivu, Burns, etal.
theo - from previous post,thanks for the update and best wishes for an uneventful rehab and recovery.
ps - the last was the end of the last thread.
Would rather see Foster stay in, Scott get in, and have both Johnsson and Bergie come out. Both of them are about as useful in the defensive zone, as a slab of concrete for a flotation device.
richard b says:
March 25th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Just saw the highlights of the Canucks game last night. Looks like Daniel Sedin had just finished off a fresh brain.
POTD
Detroit is not a sexy city but Hossa is willing to take less to play there. The team has a winning culture and a GM who wants to maintain that.
Sexy city means nothing if you are losing all the time.
We “ain’t” been losing all the time Sunshine.
Hossa is a different situation. Maybe Gaby wants the cup bad enough too, maybe he would join Hossa. I have no clue, I just think he does not fit into the Minnesota culture like some of the other guys.
Ice: did I say the “we” is the Twin Cities or the Wild? I am not sure if it was you or another poster but he/she implied that the TC is not a “sexy city” and thus, Gaborik would go to one.
LA could be deemed a sexy city but they have sucked in the last several years.
Continuing from the last thread, Goody, you said the following in defense of Thompson re Thelen:
“I don’t believe he said Michigan and Michigan State were far inferior, he said the CCHA was far inferior at the time.”
What he said was:
“He was a bad pick because he was a Minnesotan who was not good enough to play college hockey for one of the big Minnesotan recruiting teams (Minnesota, North Dakota, etc.).”
But you need to remember that Thelen did not play much MN HS hockey. He went off to the USNTDP program in Ann Arbor. So, he was playing with players, a vast majority of whom are not from MN for I believe 2 years. Plus he was in Michigan where they rightly believe that Mich and MSU have strong programs. So, the fact that Thelen chose not to play in the WCHA does not prove he was an inferior player. But, Thompson probably has no clue about Thelen’s background.
Frankly if I were a HS hockey player and I had a choice between Mich and MSU or SCSU or Mankato I think the decision would be easy.
But the Kings are a young team on the rise and I suspect that even tho LA is not a hockey town that Gaby would like being a celeb there and I do think a star like him would be. I have long imagined that’s where he would go.
Russo,
Hope you get this and can answer. I should have tried and asked this on your live blog thing but didn’t think of it then.
But, do you know if the Wild go after and fail, or just don’t go after the undrafted college and even the CHL kids. The only player I can think of them getting this way would be a Joel Ward and John Scott. I guess I just see a guy like Paul Crowder being a great guy to fill a role as centerman in the AHL with some NHL potential, and then there is Bozak and there was a Brock Trotter or Connelly (CC) etc. It seems they need to be pushing hard for these guys in an attempt to develop farm depth and these guys would be more than adequate replacements for all those mid to late round picks they have traded away.
Gabys playing behaviour on the ice right now speaks volumes. I would say that he has a chance to stay in Minnesota and he may be feeling better about Minnesota as well.
Lemaire is not cliking right now, The teams up and down play says it all about how Lemaire is losing these guys. I am not saying Lemaire cant rebound.
Russo knows but is not saying because he cant. Something is happening with Lemaire and his team that has not happened in the past years… Deres no Doubt !
I am beginning to wonder whether or not the Wild should shake things up and put DR on the bench and let Lemaire watch from above for a game or two to wake the boys up. Just tell the team the coach would like to watch above for a game or two. Do something DR !
Sunshine, if I was a young and highly talented hockey player of Slovak birth and with piles of dough, the Excel full of passionate fans might not be such a high priority compared to associating in the culture of famous young ladies that might be available to me in LA. That is what I referred to as a sexy City.
(ps - None of those categories fit me however which is good because I prefer MN.)
And, that is what I think the challenge to resigning Gaby is more than anything else. It is the one thing we cannot match except by outspending other suitors him by a wide margin.
UpInTheAK, I too have wondered about your point about going after undrafted players.
In particular, a friend of mine has a son who played in Finland a year ago and centered a line with an “overage, undrafted, Finn” with a name Leine (or similar).
(The son is an ex-Sioux player whose brother was an AHL Admiral and Aero so the opinion is more than casual. Leine is a left wing and his shot was described as a bullet, something like Gaby. This year Leine signed to play in the highest Swedish league so they are not playing together.)
Anyway, considering the Wild’s need for scorers it would seem like it would be worth a look.
POULIOT has been recalled he’ll play tonight.
Hmm, Gong Show, where did you hear that from?
Looking forward to my first visit to the Isles’ home barn tonight. And if it smells like stale popcorn then that’s probably better than the cow manure that the Wild stunk like last night (for the most part.)
I guess if they’re not showing any desperation at this point then that means the season is over, eh?
Anyway….had dinner at Nick and Steph’s before the game last night, and Mark Messier was in the house, looking like he was the talent entertaining a group of corporate sponsors or something. Still cool to see the man, though.
Ms. C: any chance Benny was actually in NY last night? I could have sworn I saw him at some point in the garden, but then I was like “no way” and brushed it off.
My buddy and I watched russo displace Kenny Albert for his big Versus interview, and briefly exchanged pleasantries afterward. Let me tell ya, in NY, Russo > Sinatra.
[…] Russo’s Rants – […]
I wanted to go to NY to see these two games out there, but life got in the way. but anyway, my friend in Queens, who tried to talk me out of the Isles game anyway, sent me news links for months about how rotten the area around Nassau Coliseum is; all the killings and gang fights and… well, let’s just say I’m not buying the Nassau love. you can have it, Russo. 
Last night was not televised here NiNY, but JL said he was satisfied the Wild played a good game.
So, if you say cow manure, could it be that JL means let them keep the puck and shoot low percentage shots if we can get a few good scoring opportunities?
Because the Wild did have opportunities but missed and then a couple ill-advised penalties.
The over/under tonight on how many times the filet-o-fish commercial will be more entertaining than the game? Just checked the vegas line….6.
The game was on tv. Just that some folks don’t have Versus.
Fritsche’s math teacher, that is the same as how many times that commercial is actually on. I’ll take the over.
The over/under tonight on how many times the filet-o-fish commercial will be more entertaining than the game? Just checked the vegas line….6.
Over!
The over/under tonight on how many times the filet-o-fish commercial will be more entertaining than the game? Just checked the vegas line….6.
Since Friday is the day after tomorrow and this game is on early enough for small kids to watch some of, I will take the over
I guess we’ll see, Nick. The Aeros play in Milwaukee tonight. But there has been no official call-up.
Not reported anywhere yet that he has been called up.
If Pouliot was called up, wouldn’t he be practicing with the team in preparation? Last season, they didn’t officially call up Reitz and he practiced with the team.
Best stimulus package would be if the Wild miss the playoffs. Then I could spend the money on seomthing that wont wither after 4 games
Yes, this likely is bs
NiNY: thanks for your thought on the game and pre/post game items as well, esp. the VS interview stuff.
Fritsche’s math teacher: I will take the over. Anyword on the BJS drinking game in vegas?
The biggest problem I saw last night is that our offense cannot keep the puck in the offensive zone. So, hard to get much pressure on the other team but also the result is lots of pressure on our D. We could not seem to consistently catch or throw passses without them getting picked off–pucks into skates, pucks behind guys, pucks clanking off sticks.
Ooh, a drinking game? What are rules & regulations? Im thinking having a few cold ones will be the only thing to make the game tolerable this evening…
Fritsche’s math teacher: ooh the local FSN guys tend to use Big John Scott often. Ask the other Russoville residents. Can anyone help out? Thanks.
Eureka! Got a new drinking game for tonights tilt:
Every time that Terhaar/Greenlay mention Okposo being from MN = 3d
Every time Backs gets bumped/pushed/tripped because our wussy defensemen dont clear the area in front = 2d
T/G pointing out Gillies is related to Gillies = 3d
Anyone pointing out the fact that the “playoff beard” originated from the Islanders = 4d
Sheppard/Johnsson/Skoula turning the puck over = 1d
Clutterbuck hit = 1d
Wild GOAL= 5d
Islanders GOAL = 4d
T/G refer to Brunette being a “tough guy for playing through an injury” = 2d
Zids/MAB/Bouchard fight = entire 6 pack
think that should cover it. did i miss anything?
You did miss the Big John Scott reference by D&D. What is that worth? Gee, in many games if you relied on Skoula turning the puck over for a drink you could go dry.
Iceman. My thoughts on Smug are succinct and I paraphrase the motto we used to live by: Results talk, BS walks. If you can’t produce, then get out of the way and let somebody else who can, do it.
He got out of the gate well, but the current status of the team, our feeder system, lack of draft picks, salary capped out, Gaby debacle, etc. suggest that he is a checkers player trying to compete in a chess league. He is however, one of league’s good ol’ boys.
I will say that Naegele was one whip smart businessman. Couldn’t have sold the Wild at a more perfect peak in every respect.
I kind of agree with Stoned on this. DR got out well and we looked like we were moving forward. At the moment we don’t. If DR stays next year he is going to have to pull off some pretty good oves to get this team back on track. That doesn’t mean I think all moves have been bad. I think the Demitra play was worth trying. Some of his signings like Nolan, Bruno, Antti have kind of replaced what we lost but we didn’t upgrade. I criticize him for slowness on Rolston, failing to resolve Gaby situation and failure to do anything to improve the team at deadline.
That would be “moves” not “oves”
This is going to be a strech, but there isn’t a website that’s broadcasting this game for free tonight is there? Damn FSN Wisconsin!!!!!
Isles calling tandem:
“New sheet of ice, The circus and Britney spears (were) in over the weekend…
…Those arent necessarily mutually exclusive by the way”
Listened to the second pd on the radio. One thing DR did mention was “how much he appreciated Harding’s attitude”.
Skoula is playing some pretty fair hockey.
