Call it insomnia, call it too much coffee, call it an addiction to NBC’s Poker After Dark, I am wide awake.

I’ll be fine in the morning. I got 21 minutes of sleep. Literally.

So I might as well freshen up the blog, eh? Two stories for your perusing pleasure — or irritation — in Friday’s editions.

1) A story on the first-ever permanent captaincy in Wild history, which can be found by clicking this blue type here. 

2) A story on the NHL’s longest sellout streak (365, including preseason and postseason) being in danger. That can be found by clicking this blue type here.

On the captaincy, instead of a boring 20 inches on the captaincy and what a captain does jam-packed with cliched quotes, etc., etc., I wanted to write it in a little bit of a fun way with a lead in and then five potential contenders.

But let’s be honest: It’s got to be Mikko to lead this team into the new era, right? There’s a reason Brian Rolston used to call Koivu, “Franchise.” So I think at the end of the day, you can bet the house, the car and the kids of Koivu donning the ‘C.’

But I will say this: I’m impressed with this locker room. Lots and lots of leaders in there, and not just the guys I mentioned. The character of the players brought in this summer (Havlat, Zanon, Sykora, Hnidy, Brodziak) is very evident. I had a really cool sit-down with Zanon Thursday, and that personality-driven Q & A will appear on Page 2 on Sunday (so check that out).

Onto the sellout streak, which is at 365 games, it’s in danger, both because of the economy and probably because of the team not making the playoffs last year and being one round and out the previous two. But it would probably be a heckuva lot worse if the changes weren’t made by owner Craig Leipold this summer.

Considering what’s going on with other pro hockey teams in the league right now, the Wild is actually doing very well.

This had to be trimmed out of the story due to space restraints, but COO Matt Majka said the Wild’s corporate sponsorship is “going to be largely flat this year, which is an accomplishment in this economy. They have stayed with us, and we’re really grateful and humbled by that.”

But suite sales are down.

“There’s some challenge there still, but it’s not fatal,” Majka said.

By the way, I mentioned in articles last weekend that Brent Burns and Martin Havlat have bought suites to donate to charity. Also, Mikko Koivu, Niklas Backstrom and Nick Schultz have gone in together on a suite and will donate to, I believe, the soon to be announced Minnesota Wild Foundation.

Just a couple odds and ends: Coach Todd Richards was not pleased with practice Thursday, a practice spent largely on defensive-zone coverage, retrievals and breakouts. But Richards blamed it on himself. He said the players were ready to hit the ice, and he held a meeting that was way too long. So he felt he drained the energy from the players and they dragged.

I’d say Richards is trying to protect the players there a bit.  

Lastly, Brent Burns, coming off a season-ending concussion and offseason shoulder surgery, is ready to return.

“I know just watching him in practice, he’s real excited about playing the first game,” Richards said, smiling. “So it’s basically, just open up the barn doors and let the horse run.”

If you didn’t get to see the lineups for tonight’s game between Minnesota and Columbus, please see the blog post below.

Also, just in case you didn’t know, former Gopher Kyle Okposo was taken off the ice on a stretcher Thursday night after an open-ice hit from Calgary’s Dion Phaneuf. Okposo was taken to a Calgary hospital and reportedly had motion in his fingers and toes. (update): He’s been diagnosed with a mild concussion and has been cleared to travel. Video can be seen here. Check out the Islanders player who charges off the bench — Pascal Morency. He might in trouble.

OK, that’s it. Talk to you again Friday afternoon after the Wild’s morning skate of players playing in the game and practice of players not playing in the game.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 18th, 2009 at 1:44 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.