Just returned from the Wild’s press conference to muse about the 10th Draft in franchise history.

The Wild owns the 12th pick in next Friday’s first round, then three fourths, a fifth, a sixth and a seventh Saturday. It has no second- or third-round pick currently, although Chuck Fletcher is trying to attain more picks. He’d like to make some moves in advance of the Draft with the hope of giving him more bullets in the chamber — either to use at the Draft or offer in trades.

I’ll write a lot more about the Draft in Sunday’s newspaper and starting middle of next week, but as I’ve been alluding to on here, there’s almost no way the Wild can move up in the Draft unless it gets a second and/or third and there’s a very good chance the Wild moves down.

When it gets to 12, if there’s three or four players still on the Wild’s list that the scouts all love, there’s a great chance Fletcher rolls the dice and moves down if it means still potentially getting one of those players and adding a player or second- or third-round pick. As I wrote a few days after Fletcher was hired, he feels draft picks are the lifeblood of franchises. He says “they’re currency,” and the more you have, the more flexibility you have to either take players with them or wheel and deal. Right now, he’s severely hamstrung.

As he said today, “Championships are won on the Draft floor.”

Like I said, I’ll write a lot more about the Draft next week. I had lunch last week with Tommy Thompson, and a great deal of the eventual story next week will be on the local Minnesotans — Jordan Schroeder, Nick Leddy and Zach Budish.

And I can promise you, whether you like it or not, the Wild will 100 percent go by their list. They will not be drafting a player based on where he’s from. If they get to 12, and No. 8 on their list is still available and Schroeder or Leddy is 9, they will definitely take 8. And that’s what every team in this league would do.

As for Marian Gaborik, Chuck Fletcher said he “intends to push the process forward next week so we try to get a sense from them” whether or not he’s willing to re-sign in Minnesota.

Fletcher won’t put a deadline on Gaborik, but he did say, he’s working the phones on trades, and a lot of what he does will depend on what he hears from Gaborik. There are things out there “that make sense for us,” he says.

If Gaborik isn’t re-signed by the Draft and a trade is available to make, Fletcher may just have to pull the trigger even if it means definitely closing the door on Gaborik.

“Gabby’s a great player, but at this point, we’re two weeks from free agency and we have to look at every avenue to improve our club,” Fletcher said.

As I’ve said over and over again on this blog, almost always when it gets to this point, the player tests the market – and understandably so. However, I have a sneaking suspicion Fletcher will make a bona fide contract offer to Gaborik next week.

Fletcher definitely loves Gaborik as a player and feels he’s worth the risk of a legit contract — probably a four or five-year deal in the $7 million range. Then, it’ll be up to Gaborik. And Fletcher would almost certainly prefer to re-sign Gaborik and give up no assets rather than trade for a marquee player and give up a boatload of assets.

So my phone rings this afternoon, I look at the caller id and it says, “Jacques Lemaire.”

I answered and Mssr. Lemaire proceeded to have a little fun with yours truly.

“Michael,” in that unmistakeable voice, “I got a job. I’m working again. I’ve got a scoop for you.”

Excitedly, I say, “Oh yeah,” while I quickly open my blog admin so I can literally publish what he says as he says it.

“Yeah, listen,” Lemaire said.

And all of a sudden, I hear unbelievably loudly, “Vrmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.”

I go, “What the hell was that?” He goes, “A bench saw. I’m building a basement closet,” before he HYSTERICALLY started laughing.

Evil. Just evil.

I thought I got the New Jersey Devils scoop and this guy’s “been put to work by my wife.”

Then Lemaire gave his trademark, “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” knowing that he got me.

I said, “Jacques, you better be careful. You already broke your elbow and shoulder this year.”

He said, “I’m watching my fingers. I won’t be able to shoot without them.”

I said, “How’s it possible to build a basement closet in Florida? I lived in Florida. You’re going to hit the ocean.”

He goes, “I’m in Montreal. If I was doing this in Florida, it’d be an entrance.” 

Have I mentioned Lemaire will be missed?

Lemaire was giving me a ring back from a few days ago when I called him about five minutes after Devils coach Brent Sutter quit.

Asked if he’s returning to the Devils as coach (he coached them from 93-98 and won a Cup there in 95), Lemaire said, “I can’t talk about that. There’s nothing done yet. There’s nothing that I can talk about right now.”

I told him I bet Brian Rolston wishes he comes there and Lemaire laughed and said, “Problem is he’s not the guy that decides.”

There’s no doubt though that Lemaire is interested in going back. He said he realized during the playoffs that instead of just taking any consulting job that came down the pike, maybe he does still want to coach in the right situation.

“That’s the thing I haven’t decided. After the season, I thought I was going consultant so I can be with the kids and the grandkids. But as I mentioned at that time, I’m not closing the door on coaching. I’ll look at the two options, and if I’m going to be busy, I’m going to be busy. So maybe I want to coach. We’ll see.”

The only other coaching job out there right now besides New Jersey and Minnesota is Calgary, and he’s not going to Calgary. 

If Lou Lamoriello calls Lemaire and the fit’s right, I bet he goes. Otherwise, he’ll take one of the consulting jobs.

He said he plans to come to stop by the Draft in Montreal “even if there’s nothing done, and then the Montreal press can speculate again. The day Jacques Martin was hired here, a radio station did a poll, who’d you rather have, Jacques Martin or Jacques Lemaire. Imagine that? Imagine that? Poor guy.”

Onward –

The Wild currently has the 12th overall pick (I bet they move down to try to gain more picks) in the June 26 Draft and assistant General Manager Tommy Thompson plans to bring five or six possible draft picks into Minnesota for tours of Xcel Energy Center and examinations by team orthopedist Joel Boyd. I’ll write more about this as the Draft approaches.

Three won’t have to come far though because they’re local – University of Minnesota’s Jordan Schroeder, Eden Prairie’s Nick Leddy and Edina’s Zach Budish.

“I’ve also invited myself into their homes for visits with their families,” Thompson said. “I’m not trying to make a moral judgment, but I want to see their personalities and their relationships with the parents.
“We don’t want any surprises.”

Also, I chatted with Chuck Fletcher for awhile today. He’s made significant progress in the coaching search, but he said he still has more work to do through the weekend and early next week. He said he’s not done interviewing candidates, and I think Red Wings assistant Paul MacLean will be one and it wouldn’t shock me if he called fired Dallas coach Dave Tippett, whose wife is from Minnesota and lives near Detroit Lakes. As I mentioned, Peter Laviolette is a top candidate.

But at the end of the day, I really believe it’s still going to be San Jose assistant Todd Richards. The more people I talk to about Richards, the better things I hear. He’s a very respected coach.

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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