That Heatley part got your attention, eh?

First things first, but there’ll be a Game 7 for the right to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup on Friday in Detroit. Great game last night, and what an ending. Detroit’s net is empty for about 1:20, and Detroit wins three draws. Is there anybody in the league who protects the puck better than Pavel Datsyuk, by the way?

Apparently the Wings don’t care that the Wild’s currently conducting a coaching search. Otherwise, they would have gotten it done last night, right?

It appears all but certain that Chuck Fletcher at least wants to interview Wings assistant Paul MacLean, and maybe even Brad McCrimmon, so by the series continuing, it delays the interview(s) to this weekend at the earliest.

Fletcher attended last night’s game and is scheduled back in his St. Paul office today. In fact, he’s been hopping around the last couple days working on the coaching search. Peter Laviolette’s been MIA since originally being quoted in the Strib, so that often means you can bet your last dollar they’ve met within the last couple days.

And that is what I’ve been told by myriad sources. As I’ve written on here in the past, of all the former NHL coaches, Laviolette makes the most sense. Well respected, won a Cup, coaches a very aggressive system in which it’s all about attacking with the puck. 

One name I’ve heard in the last couple days is former Bruins coach Mike Sullivan, who’s been given permission by Lightning boss Brian Lawton to seek a head coaching job. Not sure completely if he’s talked to Fletcher, however, although he was on the original Fletcher “list.”

Technically, Sullivan’s still a Lightning assistant. He’s known as a details guy and was loved by John Tortorella when he coached there.

But from everything I hear, this is between Todd Richards, Peter Laviolette and eventually Paul MacLean. I don’t know exactly where Craig MacTavish sits right now.

As for Heatley, there seems to be a perception out there that if the Wild loses Marian Gaborik, it can just go out and acquire $7.5 million players.

It’s a lot more complex than that, especially since it’s unknown where the salary cap will dip to in the next two or three years and because the team spent $6 million a year on Niklas Backstrom. That $4.08 million salary cap hit for Pierre-Marc Bouchard the next four years tightens things up as well.

Yes, the Wild could take Heatley’s $7.5 million cap hit the next five years, but it would affect any flexibility or ability to plug other holes, like center and defenseman though the end of his contract. And remember, Mikko Koivu’s a UFA after two seasons and Brent Burns after three seasons. It’s imperative in today’s day and age to think that far ahead.

With that said, however, I am sure Chuck Fletcher will investigate what Ottawa GM Bryan Murray would want in a package if — and I repeat, if — he moves Heatley, who’s top-three in goals per game the last several years along with Kovalchuk and Ovechkin.

He’s a true superstar, and if you want to make a splash as a first-year GM, well, Heatley would be more like a tidal wave.  

And remember, Fletcher and Murray are very close. Fletcher was his assistant GM for seven of Fletcher’s nine years in Florida, and then Murray brought Fletcher to Anaheim after Rick Dudley was hired in Florida. (Incidentally, I hear Dudley will soon be leaving Chicago as assistant GM for another top job in the league).

I’ve talked to a number of people the last day on this Heatley situation, and it’s certainly not guaranteed that Murray’s just going to move Heatley because he is asking off the second team in his career (Atlanta being the first). Plus, Heatley’s got to approve any trade, so it’s not guaranteed he’d come to Minny even if Fletcher worked out a deal.

Also, it’s not guaranteed the Wild has the pieces to get Heatley. Murray would want a ton for Heatley, and lets be honest, the Wild’s not moving Koivu or Burns. So right there, that could take them out of it. Any deal would probably have to include Tyler Cuma and a first, plus a top position player.

Murray has long been interested in Kim Johnsson, but Johnsson’s in the last year of his deal at a $4.85 million cap hit, so that probably won’t work. Neither would goalie Josh Harding anymore either since Murray dealt Antoine Vermette to Columbus for Pascal Leclaire at the trade deadline.

Either way, you can bet Fletcher will make the call and see if he can dive into the trade talks. But again, this would be a complex deal because you have to find the right fits for a trade and then decide if it’s worth potentially creating other holes and/or putting yourself in a position where you can’t fill holes that are already there. 

As for Gaborik, I’m told Fletcher and agent Ron Salcer won’t talk again until after a coach is hired. Fletcher feels it important that Gaborik knows who’s coaching the team and what direction they’ll be going in. And regardless, Salcer’s currently vacationing with his family in Israel, so he won’t be back until later next week anyway. 

OK, that’s it from here. I’ll be on KFAN from 11-11:30 today.

The worst kept secret in hockey — or worst kept speculation in hockey — literally since last winter appears to be coming into fruition. According to CTV in Calgary, Brent Sutter will step down as the coach of the Devils today.

Sutter’s tenure there ended in devastating fashion. In Game 7 back in April, the Carolina Hurricanes went from being 1:20 away from their season ending to ending the season of the Devils with 32 seconds left.

I’d expect that Jacques Lemaire will at least get a phone call to see if he’s interested in returning to Jersey.

Lemaire, who has yet to sign on as a consultant in Tampa for some reason, made it crystal clear after he left Minnesota that he does want to coach again. But he also made it crystal clear that if he ever were to coach again, it has to be for a general manager he has a relationship with. And he said it has to be on the East coast.

Well, there aren’t a lot of options with so many limitations. 

Lemaire coached the Devils from 1993-98, winning a Cup there in the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season. He and GM Lou Lamoriello still have great mutual respect for each other, proof by the hour they spent in the stands chatting each other up when the Wild was there in March.

Only time will tell, but this has been my gut feeling from the moment Lemaire said he wanted to coach again after the season finale in Columbus. Just to make clear, this is pure conjecture though.

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.

I spoke with Wild assistant coach Mario Tremblay this afternoon, or actually former Wild assistant coach Mario Tremblay. As expected, Tremblay said he’s moving on and will be leaving Minnesota.

Tremblay said he was informed by Wild GM Chuck Fletcher he didn’t make the short list of candidates to be head coach. He was disappointed but completely understood Fletcher’s decision. He said he’ll move on and look for another job. Rumors in Montreal are that he’ll join Jacques Martin’s staff as an assistant. Tremblay said he hopes that is the case, but he said he’s spoken to nobody with the Canadiens.

He said he had a wonderful nine years in Minnesota and wanted me to make sure to thank the fans. On a personal note, just a great dude to deal with for my purposes. He was a walking cartoon character.

He said he hopes Mike Ramsey’s not in the same boat. Ramsey is also in the last year of his contract, and he said he very much hopes the new coach retains Ramsey and that he deserves to stay. If Ramsey is not retained, I know for a fact Tampa Bay wants him as an assistant. But with young kids and roots here, I’m not sure Ramsey’s going to chase jobs or be willing to uproot his family from Minnetonka.

Bob Mason and Matt Shaw have one year left on their deals, Tremblay said, and like I’ve been writing on here, I think they have a tremendous chance of staying.

Mason has done an extraordinary job as the Wild’s goalie coach, and most smart new head coaches don’t mess with a goalie’s goalie coach without talking to that goalie, in this case Nik Backstrom. You should have heard the other end of the call in the summer of 2004 when I called Roberto Luongo during his honeymoon in Hawaii to get reaction about Clint Malarchuk being fired. Luongo’s response, “What the $^#%% did you just say?”

Oh, that Jacques Martin.

And trust me, from somebody that sees the behind the scenes of the Wild, Shaw made this coaching staff tick. He does all the legwork and video work and lots of the gameplanning. He’s a bright, young guy.

Also, I spoke with Edmonton Journal hockey writer Jim Matheson today. Craig MacTavish hadn’t spoken publicly since he was let go, but Jim got MacT on the horn today. He wouldn’t comment on my report saying that he has been interviewed by the Wild, but he said he wants to coach again and won’t sit out forever.

Of the candidates I’ve reported, MacTavish knows the Wild better than any of them just because he’s coached against them six to eight times a year since 2000. Of course, since I began covering the team, the Wild had his number, too. MacTavish is considered a pretty defensive coach — not Jacques Lemaire defensive — but defensive. But he likes aggressive, up-tempo play, too.

I’m sure MacTavish had an impressive interview. If you know him, he’s a very engaging, personable, well-spoken guy, so I’m sure he charmed them.

OK, that is it for now.

Yes, I’m back. Yippee do!

I figured I better blog because the smart aleck son of a friend of mine sent me a text message saying, “Think you’ll blog again this year?”

Like father, like son

Back from Hawaii, and Ireland, and I’m ready to go back to each. Two awesome places.

The Brown Fox — Chuck Fletcher — is back in the office after landing this afternoon from Pittsburgh, where he attended Game 3 of the Finals and attended his first official GM’s Meeting — well, as a non-Interim, non-assistant GM — in history. Had to be cool.

What’s Fletcher been up to? Well, while I was in Ireland, he attended the Draft combine in Toronto last weekend, where he interviewed players and dined with the staff, including Tommy Thompson. On Thursday and Friday, he’ll conduct his first pro scouting meetings with Tom Lynn, Blair Mackasey, Jamie Hislop and Todd Woodcroft, among others.

They’ll be talking free agency, trades and likely whether the Wild should tender any offers to their own unrestricted free agents (i.e. Skoula, Veilleux, Bergeron or Foster). We know they’ll go after Gaborik, although it’ll be difficult at this late juncture.

(updated)

Fletcher has also been working on the coaching search. Same candidates as I’ve mentioned before. Todd Richards is still the frontrunner. I know for a fact Chuck went out to California to interview Richards, and that’s the place he wouldn’t tell me he was calling me back from (remember?).

But I still think he’d want to interview Detroit assistant coach Paul MacLean, who’s a bit busy right now.

If Richards gets the job, possible assistants include Claude Noel, Curt Fraser, Tony Granato and Mike Ramsey. Like I’ve said, I think Matt Shaw and Bob Mason have tremendous shots at being retained.

Lots of news going around the league. Jacques Martin is now the coach in Montreal, leaving Florida at a marvelous time with less than a month before the Draft and free agency.

All sorts of rumors out of Montreal that Mario Tremblay could eventually join Martin on that bench.

Florida will now conduct a full-on GM search, but owner Alan Cohen appears close to selling the team because I’m told that GM candidates are being referred to Alternate Gov. Bill Torrey and Tony Tavares, the former Anaheim Mighty Ducks head who just so happens to be leading the ownership group close to buying the Cats.

Some possible candidates in Fla.? Former Panthers coach Doug MacLean, former Panthers GM Rick Dudley, former Panthers captain Scott Mellanby, Hall of Famer and former Panthers analyst Denis Potvin, former Bruins assistant GM Jeff Gorton, TSN and NBC analyst Pierre McGuire and former Lightning GM Jay Feaster. Maybe former Wild GM Doug Risebrough would be interested, although he’s still on a two-week solo canoe trip, so he may not even know the job’s available

Lastly, aren’t you glad you’re a Wild fan? Imagine being in Colorado. Sorry, but at least Wild owner Craig Leipold conducts a far and wide GM search to get the best possible candidate and then announces him with a little fanfare.

The Avs do what they always do — hire internally.

Greg Sherman — the assistant GM — was hired today to replace Francois Giguere accompanied by the most underwhelming press release announcement ever. From Pierre Lacroix: “Greg Sherman deserves the opportunity to prove he can be an effective general manager in our business.”

I bet Avs fans everywhere are excited after that line.

It was also classy of Lacroix to finally fire Tony Granato after offering his job around the league for a month, including to former Avs star goalie Patrick Roy. Kudos to Denver Post writer Adrian Dater, who’s been all over that story for some time.

Speaking of Dater, he talked to Marc Crawford, who’d be interested in returning there as coach. Dater reports that Joe Sacco’s got an inside shot. Wonder if Jacques Lemaire would be interested, eh?

OK, I’m back on the clock folks. Blogs will be updated more regularly.