Not a meaty blog today, but I figured I’d hop on and give a little update.

As you can read in today’s story, Brent Burns is starting to feel a lot better. He’s been pretty much symptom-free with his concussion for a month and is confident he’ll be ready for the season after offseason shoulder surgery.

FYI, I screwed up in the article. I know it’s Camp Ripley. I wrote Camp Ridley. No idea why, but I did, so apologies. As we say in the newspaper business, “We regret the error.” My fault.

As for Burns, the Wild could sure use a healthy Burns this season. If it’s going to revamp its system to a more up-tempo style, an active Burns will be integral. It was a tough year for him with elbow surgery, shoulder problems starting in November and the concussion. With the shoulder, he pretty much had no strength in that arm, so he couldn’t poke check or fend off guys.

But he is feeling better and has a ton of off-ice stuff going on.

Speaking of Camp Ripley, if you knew Burns, you’d know he had a ball. He’s enamored by the military, probably because of his grandfather. Here’s a passage from that massive Burns story I wrote for Sept. 16, 2007 (seems like yesterday I did these interviews and was the first to report about the Burnzie Zoo):

One of the most influential people in Burns’ life was his grandfather Patrick, who lived with the family for 23 years.

“It was a package deal,” Burns’ mom said, chuckling. “I got the husband and the father-in-law.”

Patrick, who died in 1998, was an artilleryman in World War II and used to baby-sit Kori and Brad when Brent had to be taken to his many hockey practices and games. But a wide-eyed Burns couldn’t wait to get home, where he’d plead for more stories from Grandpa.

“Granddad had his chair, a real soft, cushy chair, and he used to sit there and tell the boys war stories all the time,” Gaby said. “In Grade 8, Brent wrote a war story his grandfather told him. The teacher was so moved by it, she phoned and invited Granddad to school to honor him at a Remembrance Day service. The teacher read Brent’s story. It was Granddad’s last Remembrance Day.

“For a kid his age to move a teacher like that, I was really impressed, and I know it meant a lot to Granddad.”

To honor their grandfather, Brent and Brad got identical tattoos on their left arms. It features a cross with a Canadian military helmet on top and the zodiac sign for Pisces in the middle. In the background is a Bofor artillery gun over the hills of Sicily. Underneath reads, “Patrick Joseph Burns, 1911-1998.”

“You don’t think too many kids would have a relationship that strong with their grandfather that they’d want to honor him in a permanent way,” Gaby said.

Back live here at Chatteau de Russo, Burns actually plans to give back to the military next season, and those plans are in the works. More detail on that later.

I wound up at the same event with Derek Boogaard and his brother, Aaron, on Friday and Boogey’s looking good from offseason shoulder surgery. Here’s the most amazing thing. His brother Aaron was the one in the sling. Coincidentally, they both had the same injury (Aaron’s a little worse) and the Pittsburgh Penguins farmhand had surgery the other day. And apparently their dad has a bum shoulder as well.

Derek was also wearing shades at night due to LASIK the day before. I was supposed to have LASIK last summer, but I had to cancel due to a Wild story I had to write. I then wimped out and never called back. Maybe I should. Hmmm.

Here’s something funny, but out of respect, I told Boogaard, “FYI, I wrote in tomorrow’s paper you might be traded.”

Boogaard then called over his fiancee, Erin, and said, “Tell her what you just told me.”

I was like, “Uhhhh … I don’t want to.” I was more scared of telling Erin than Boogey.

I do think there’s a chance Boogaard is shopped at the Draft or this summer. He’s in the last year of his deal and can become an unrestricted free agent, so that usually makes you trade bait (well, under most regimes, just not the previous one)

Obvious teams that may be interested in Boogaard include Toronto (Brian Burke, folks, is a tough-guy fan as you know) and Philly. Maybe Edmonton, too, in the “If you can beat him, have him join us” department.

Lastly, Wednesday at 11 a.m., I’ll be in studio at KFAN chatting with Paul Allen.

OK, that’s it for now.

Busy Chuck Fletcher has been swamped with many things on his plate, so in the past week, he hasn’t had a chance to talk with the beat writers.

Fletcher held a conference call with the two newspapers and Associated Press this afternoon, and he discussed the coaching search, Gaborik and pro scouting meetings.

Highlights:

He spoke with Gaborik, although it was mostly just to introduce himself. Asked if he got an idea as to whether Gaborik is willing to consider staying rather than just automatically going to free agency July 1, Fletcher said, “I can tell you the conversation was not as much about the future as just introducing myself and having a general conversation. I’ll talk more in depth with [agent] Ron Salcer as I continue discussions with him.”

On whether he’s talked to Salcer about a contract, he said, “It’s starting to get to that point in time where I’ll probably respectfully decline to comment on the specifics of negotiations.”

That made it sound like there have been negotiations, but in a subsequent email I sent to Chuck, he said there have been no negotiations and that he meant that any future talks as far as a contract would be with Salcer rather than Gaborik.

– On the coaching search: He said he’s still closer to the beginning of the process rather than the end. “I’m trying to narrow it down to a smaller list of candidates. I’ve spoken with some candidates. There are still some candidates I intend to speak with in a little more detail. Next week, I’ll start to make some progress.”

He said it won’t be an exhaustive search of everybody because he has a good idea of his finalists. He said that’s because in Pittsburgh when he and Ray Shero fired Michel Therrien this past season, he and Shero reviewed and assessed different candidates and spoke to a lot of different people about candidates.

“I don’t think it’ll take lot of time once I can devote all my time and attention to the matter. Next week I’ll jump into it more aggressively.”

He said his timetable is still by the Draft, and he’s confident it’ll happen. And quite frankly, Fletcher leaves for the June 26-27 Draft on June 22, so my guess is a coach will be named by June 19 the latest.

The candidates still appear to be Todd Richards, Craig MacTavish, Peter Laviolette, I hear both Detroit assistants Paul MacLean and Brad McCrimmon and Kevin Constantine. There could be others. But these are the names I’m hearing mostly from myriad leaguewide sources.

– Fletcher made it extremely clear he’ll be looking to swing a trade at the Draft. He comes from a long list of teams that have made big trades at the Draft — Roberto Luongo and Olli Jokinen for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha the biggest. He said he and his staff are compiling free agent and trade priority lists, and that’ll continue to be refined.

But because free agency is such a crapshoot, he’d like to try to fill some holes “in advance” of free agency, which means the Draft.

I keep hearing Josh Harding is the big piece they’ll be floating. I also confirmed again the Wild offered Benoit Pouliot around to everybody last summer, so you can bet that won’t change. I also hear Derek Boogaard — one year from unrestricted free agency — will be at least shopped.

– Lastly, he thanked Mario Tremblay and said he asked Mario if he wanted to be considered for an assistant coaching position and Mario thought it was best to move on, which is what Mario told me. He said once a new coach is in place, the first order of business would be to sit down with Mike Ramsey, Matt Shaw and Bob Mason to see if there’s a fit.

You’re not going to believe this. That “B’ joke I made yesterday? Not funny now.

Marc-Andre Bergeron is scheduled to have back surgery next week to address a disc issue that had been bothering him off and on for some time. His rehab time is expected to be six to eight weeks.

So, Eric Belanger now really shouldn’t leave the house. I’m just saying. Bad couple weeks for Backstrom, Burns, Bergeron, Boogaard, Brunette and Bouchard. Just dawned on me. Goalie Barry Brust has a broken foot in the minors. That’s why Anton Khudobin’s playing.

Burns had right shoulder surgery this morning. He’ll stay in the hospital overnight for precautionary reasons (anesthesia and concussion can’t be a good mix), but he is doing well, the team says. Shoulder will be immobilized for a month. It’ll take four months to heal, but he’s expected back before training camp. Acting GM Tom Lynn said Burns’ concussion symptoms have improved greatly.

By the way, I talked to former North Stars Director of Scouting Craig Button today, and he is very interested in the Wild’s GM job. Button, 46, is well-respected in the game and currently does analysis for NHL Network and writes for NHL.com.

He moved with the North Stars to Dallas, and worked there until 2000. He won a Cup with them in 1999. He then succeeded Al Coates as Calgary’s GM, and he worked there from 2000-03. Button is known to be an incredibly organized manager, one who delegates and works marvelously with not just hockey ops, but business ops. His strengths are in player development and personnel. 

Although, when Button discovers what happens to all people with a last name starting with ‘B,’ on the Wild, he’ll probably change his mind and steer clear.

In other news, the Aeros had another win win last night, beating Peoria on Maxim Noreau’s OT winner to take a 3-2 first-round series lead. Here’s the link to Andrew Ferraro’s story in the Houston Chronicle. Game 6 is Saturday in Peoria.

NHL playoffs continue to be awesome, although it’s a shame the Rangers won yesterday in spite of Sean Avery’s idiocy. It would have been fun to see John Tortorella finally scratch this guy from the lineup. He’s just a circus act. Thank goodness for the Rangers that they have such an exceptional penalty kill — the best in the NHL this past regular season.

Lastly, …

NHL SCOUTING LIST INCLUDES 25 ELITE LEAGUE ALUMNI

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Just got back from like a six-hour walk — sandwiched by lunch with my editor. What an awesome day out, eh? Not a cloud in the sky.

One of the things I was thinking about is what training camp will look like next season. Strength and conditioning coach Kirk Olson might be the busiest person inside the Wild this summer — other than whomever the new GM will be.

Look at this rehab list as of now:

Niklas Backstrom — out four to six months following hip surgery Friday

Brent Burns — post-concussion syndrome and shoulder surgery Thursday that will require four months to heal.

Andrew Brunette — reconstructive knee surgery, out four to six months

Derek Boogaard — shoulder surgery Tuesday, out two months

Pierre-Marc Bouchard — concussion

(the way the B’s are dropping, Marc-Andre Bergeron better be careful walking across the street)

Nick Schultz — concussion

Tyler Cuma — still recovering from knee surgery

Oops, forgot Dan Fritsche - broken collarbone

Oh, and I forgot a fairly major one: Mikko Koivu — sprained knee

Essentially, the new GM will be inheriting a mess.

Also, the Wild signed Shoreview native Brian Kaufman to an AHL contract Wednesday to play next season for the Houston Aeros.

Kaufman, 25, played four seasons at Miami University, where he served as team captain this past season for the NCAA runners-up. The 6-foot-4, 205-pounder had 85 points in 125 games during his college career.

“Brian is a smart player with a big body who can play a variety of roles,” said Aeros GM Tom Lynn.

Kaufman played hockey and football at Hill Murray and still holds the Minnesota State record for passing completions (36 vs. Waseca in 2001), passing attempts (83, vs. Minnetonka in 2001) and passing yards (555 vs. Minnetonka in 2001) in single games.

Lastly, I just have to spend a few minutes gushing about last night’s Carolina-New Jersey game. It was one of the most amazing finishes I’ve ever seen. Carolina’s up 3-0. New Jersey rallies to make it 3-3. And, in a rarity, Carolina scores a buzzer-beating game-winner with 0.2 seconds left on a Jussi Jokinen redirection (there are fewer better GM’s than Jim Rutherford, and it’s just so fitting that Jokinen scores the winner after Rutherford snatched him up).

It was just amazing hockey. The rush from the final five minutes kept me up for hours. I was literally standing up watching it.

It was just back and forth, and the play-by-play from John Forslund and color from Tripp Tracy was scintillating stuff. You’ve got to listen to the two of them when Tuomo Ruutu pulled a Jarkko Ruutu and ran over Colin White in a monster check. The broadcast lived up to the action.

I also am posting the following still shot from YouTube of the game-winner.

Click the picture and notice the guy in a black CCM shirt sky-high in the air while strangely few others are cheering? That’s concidentally my buddy Reed Schafer, best known as the former star hockey player of the Nova Scotia Junior A Antigonish Bulldogs, Culver Military Academy Eagles and Indiana University Hoosiers club hockey team. He’s also the son of former Alaska Fairbanks and Notre Dame coach Ric Schafer.

And I think he’s blocking the view of small children with the rare chance of getting to see one of the most exciting playoff finishes ever. Well done there, Reed.

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Goalie Niklas Backstrom will indeed have left hip surgery Friday in Vail. Brian Stensaas was on a conference call with acting GM Tom Lynn. He reports he has two cysts on the bony part of his hip.

Lynn says they won’t know how long he’ll be out until they operate. Worst case scenario, Stensaas says, could be four to six months!

But Lynn said the doctor cautions they can’t give a timetable yet. More from Stensaas in Wednesday’s paper.

Also, I hear Brent Burns is having shoulder surgery probably on Thursday.

Just got back from Tom Reid’s Hockey City Pub, where Doug Risebrough said farewell during a 30-minute press conference. He then talked on the side with the writers.

It was a classy goodbye where Risebrough thanked everyone from Jac Sperling and Bob Naegele for giving him this opportunity, to his staff inside the Wild, to the players, to the media to most importantly, the fans.

Brian Stensaas transcribed the presser (which I appreciate greatly), and it’s on the bottom of this post. I’ll throw a couple quotes up from his sit-down with the writers.

The coolest thing I saw? I’m standing outside the bar and a black SUV rolls up and I hear, “Mike!” It was Derek Boogaard, all drugged up and in discomfort literally after waking up from shoulder surgery. Boogaard’s fiancee drove him down there because he wanted to thank Doug for everything. He asked me if I could find him, and the two shared a few moments in the parking lot.

“You have no idea how much I owe him and Jacques for playing in the NHL,” Boogaard said. “I have so much respect for those two guys.”

Risebrough said he’s spoken and met with a number of players, even running into Marian Gaborik at the arena. He said after the initial natural discomfort Gaborik felt about talking to a GM that just got fired, the two shared some quality time together.

Risebrough also went to Brent Burns’ home to meet with the defenseman after the story came out about his concussion. He still maintains that this was not an easy diagnosis. You can read more about that in the paper Wednesday.

On whether he’s learned anything from Burns playing? “I went to see burnzie about that. I said, ‘brent, you should help participate in getting us to understand how we can do this better.’ One of them might be wives involved. Even when brent thought he was fine, his fiancée saw a difference in how he was feeling – sleeping longer, not eating as much. She was at the table expressing this to me. … the thing with the concussions is really a concern for the players is it’s hard to play the game with fear. You can’t enjoy the game if you’re worried. Going to see a guy like Brent saw, that guy gave him total confidence that this is just a one-time thing, don’t get all worked up about it.

“It was a good conversation with him, and I got to see the snakes, too – all 50 of them. It was quite interesting. He’s got quite the farm out there. I was glad they’re all kind of contained, too, because I can honestly say I’m not great with snakes. And then the birds, and then the guitars. That’s what I like about him. He plays somewhat the way he is.”

Risebrough also had some awesome stories to tell about Jacques, and guys like Mikko Koivu during his presser.

He admitted that there were lots of problems he’s had with agent Ron Salcer from Day One of Salcer taking Gaborik over from agent Allan Walsh. He said he and Salcer never spoke. “I get along with everybody. I think so. I’ve had a couple calls from agents. This was just an unusual one.”

But he doesn’t believe the relationship was a factor in his getting fired.

Risebrough said every decision he made with the Wild was done for the right reasons, and he knows he didn’t make all right decisions. I asked him — and this is what I was told from well-placed sources — about Leipold’s discontent with his conservative nature and the fact that he didn’t create some financial flexibility at this year’s trade deadline to make it easier to get Backstrom and Gaborik under the same salary cap for a long time.

After a long, “ahhhhhh,” Risebrough decided to decline comment because conversations with Leipold behind the scenes were “privy conversations.”

Unlike many GM’s, Risebrough is proud that he never made moves in Minnesota — especially in the last year of his deal — to save his own job.

He said he was shocked to learn of his dismissal, and Craig “will have to live with it,” but he said he didn’t blame Craig at all. He also said he’s happy Leipold fired him the say after the Lemaire press conference because even though he talked so much about the future and that was all for naught, he so thoroughly enjoyed the press conference and the fond farewell to Jacques.

“I always feel there’s a fit and if there’s not a fit, then it’s time to move on. So I wasn’t worried about that. I might be unusual that way. … There wasn’t [a fit] with Craig. But that’s OK. I spent a year, and he tried to find out, whether there was a fit. The difference is the fit’s in his control.”

As I reported last week, on Thursday, after the news was released of his dismissal, Risebrough got on his motorcycle and drove. He went to see Tommy Thompson, who was up in Fargo scouting the world under-18s.
“I wanted to go and talk to Tom Thompson because we’ve been together so long. And he was in Fargo. I said I want to see you Tommy, and we met halfway. And I looked up, and it was a blue sky, and I said, ‘what a great day for a bike ride.’ And it was a great day for a bike ride.”

Risebrough will leave Wednesday for three weeks in Palm Springs, then will go on a two-week solo canoe trip like he often does after the season. He hopes to manage again, and he said he will take any step to get there — meaning, maybe he consults, maybe he scouts, whatever. But he certainly wants to work again.

Asked if he’s cross over to the media, he joked, “I’m a bad writer.”

Asked about TV, he said, “I enjoy being able to communicate a perspective,” so he’d consider it. But in his mind, he said, staying in hockey means working for a team.

Lastly, from a personal point of view, I enjoyed covering Risebrough. Just a great guy to talk to with outstanding stories. He was always so assessable, which I appreciated, and even though we had a couple moments, there was a mutual respect. We didn’t always agree with each other professionally, but personally, it was a solid time.

It’s funny. I first met Risebrough at a wedding in Toronto in the summertime during the lockout. I actually sat at his table with guys like Doug MacLean, John Davidson, Dino Ciccarelli, John Shannon and a couple other league and team execs. I said to him, “Boy, you’d be a great guy to cover.” Not two weeks later, I landed in Paris, checked my voicemail and it was Star Tribune sports editor Glen Crevier asking if I’d be interested in interviewing for the Wild job.

Couple other tidbits:

– Boogaard is very sore, but had successful surgery and will begin rehab ASAP.

– From Pittsburgh sources, Craig Leipold has not asked for permission to speak with assistant GM Chuck Fletcher yet, but GM Ray Shero is expecting a call and would not only give permission, he’d advocate strongly on Fletcher’s behalf. “Quite frankly, it’s crazy that Chuck’s not a GM in this league already,” the source said. Actually, he’s been an interim GM a couple times. 

Here is the Risebrough transcript:

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(UPDATED, AND I’LL THROW ON ANOTHER BLOG LATE TONIGHT) 

According to two outside NHL sources, Wild GM Doug Risebrough has been fired by owner Craig Leipold. It is unconfirmed inside the organization.

Leipold was said to have agonized over the decision but decided, in the final analysis, that a change in direction was called for.

Here’s the memo from the team:

Minnesota Wild Owner, Craig Leipold, announced today that the organization will not renew the contract of President and General Manager, Doug Risebrough, beyond the 2008-2009 season.

“The entire Minnesota Wild organization is forever indebted to Doug for his substantial efforts in establishing this franchise’s solid foundation and winning tradition,” said Leipold. “The positive impact of Doug’s service will be felt for many years to come. We wish Doug the very best.”

The search for a new General Manager will begin immediately. The first order of business for the incoming General Manager will be to select the Team’s next Head Coach.

Until a replacement is found, Assistant General Manager Tom Lynn, will be acting-General Manager.

I will be on early this evening to blog more, but right now, I’m working the story.

I’ve talked to several people today, including a number of people interested in the job. I’ll throw stuff on later, and obviously in tomorrow’s coverage.

Here’s Jacques Lemaire, whom I reached in Montreal. He’s coming back to Minnesota tomorrow.
Lemaire

“I got a call from [assistant coach Mario Tremblay] and he told me this and I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’ It was shocking, it was shocking. I never expected it. I never thought he’d be fired after I left,” former Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said. “We tried to get this team better. What Craig thought was something different.
“Us, I thought we did some decent things there. We don’t know anymore what to think there. It just shows you the owner has a different perspective than a lot of people could go.”

Lemaire was unable to get in contact with Risebrough.

Lemaire, by the way, does not want the job.

From the Leipold conference call:

– He made his decision a month ago.

– He told Risebrough Tuesday, and he took it professionally.

– The new GM will only be GM, and not GM and President

– On whether Lemaire would have been fired if he didn’t quit, Leipold said he hasn’t thought about that because he always assumed Lemaire was leaving.

– He has a little of former GM’s and bright stars he’s interested in. Candidates have solicited him already today via call and email.

There will be lots of speculation that Leipold will want to hire his former GM in Nashville David Poile, who’s on a year-to-year contract. I know from a source the two spoke yesterday. However, the Tennessean reported last July that in the sales papers, Leipold is prohibited from ever hiring Poile for a job with another NHL franchise.

In other news:

Like Marian Gaborik before, it appears goalie Niklas Backstrom’s groin pain was stemming from a hip problem.
Hesitant to speak because he had yet to talk with Wild acting GM Tom Lynn, Backstrom said Thursday he may need surgery.
“I saw a doctor today, and the team doctors, and we have to decide now in a couple days if I need surgery,” Backstrom said. “I need to get other opinions, and also from back home in Finland. It’s tough for me because everything’s in English, so I need someone to translate to me so I know exactly what’s going on.”
Backstrom said he hoped to talk to Gaborik so he can see his hip specialist, Vail’s Marc Philippon. He said the recovery from an operation “is speculated, but in my mind, I’ll be ready by the start of the season.”

Left  wing Andrew Brunette had successful reconstructive surgery on his right knee Thursday and he will begin rehab immediately.
Left wing Derek Boogaard will have surgery on his right shoulder Tuesday and will be ready in time for the start of next season.