As much as I enjoyed Russo’s “Hanging around. Hanging around. Hanging around.” line from today’s game story, Wild coach Jacques Lemaire described the team’s current situation a different way today that made me smile.

“We have our nose out of the water,” Lemaire said, finger pressed firmly on the tip of his own nose. “And we’ve got weights on our head. And our feet are going. And hands.”

He then mentioned today’s heavy-on-instruction practice, which included just 13 skaters. Lemaire said all the wires are not connected to the main curcuit. Not exactly a ringing endorsement, eh?

One positive sign from today was that Mikko Koivu had a light skate on his own this morning. The team though had no real update, only saying Koivu is “progressing.”

Asked about his top center, Lemaire told us reporters:”He’s in the clinic. And you can’t go there.”

Thanks, coach.

Lemaire did say that Koivu told him he was “feeling better.” But with a knee injury, who knows what that means.

As for other injury updates, Lemaire said Brent Burns (concussion) told him he’s “had better days” and that Derek Boogaard (upper body soreness) “as big as he is, I haven’t seen him.”

UPDATE: An e-mail from a team spokesman little while ago said Boogaard is unlikely to join the team in Canada this weekend.

That’s about it from today. Lemaire promised a good, strong practice Friday. I’ll be there, and will be back on here after that.

Good day!

Good Saturday afternoon to you all. Stensaas here with an update from today’s practice at Parade Ice Garden.

Obviously every media member there today was interested in one Mr. Marian Gaborik. And the verdict is in: He’s feeling well and has again declared himself ready to go for tomorrow’s game against Edmonton. Gaborik today skated on a line with Stephane Veilleux and Eric Belanger. Coach Jacques Lemaire, though, said he has yet to sit down formally with Gaborik - so he not only doesn’t know for sure what line combination he’ll use against the Oilers, but he isn’t 100% sure Gaborik will even play.

There has been so much hype - and this team needs any spark it can get right now - that I’ll say this: If Gaborik for some reason is NOT in against Edmonton, it’ll be the equivalent of a 16 seed defeating a 1 in the NCAA tournament. (Sorry, had to get some March Madness in here, even though my bracket is all but shot. Yours?).

Other lines from today:
Brunette-Koivu-Miettinen
Bouchard-Sheppard-Nolan
Boogaard-Olvecky-Clutterbuck
Gillies-Fritsche-Weller

Absent from practice, by the way, was defenseman Marek Zidlicky. He’s listed as day-to-day with a lower body injury, according to a team spokesman. We’ll hope for an update before the game tomorrow.

Finally, to steal a bit from a certain national sports magazine, here is your sign of the apocalypse: Seen signing an autograph today was none other than radio extraordinaire Kevin Falness. Wonder what the starting bid is on e-Bay??

Eleven players plus three assistant coaches and a former team captain were on display this afternoon at the Xcel Energy Center. No practice today - just about an hour’s worth of scrimmaging.

It was pretty fun to watch Mike Ramsey, Matt Shaw, Mario Tremblay and Brad Bombardir keep up with the “kids.” I learned that Tremblay’s best weapon is chucking his stick toward players’ skates on a breakaway. I learned that Shaw is a stickler for plus/minus stats. Ramsey can still fire one in there via wrist shot. And as for Bombardir? The seven-time Wild captain still has some fight left in him. After being told some current players said he should head to Houston and give the AHL a try, Bombardir joked it would have to be on a five-way contract.

No real news to report out of today. The red-hot Stephane Veilleux was among the skaters out there, as was Marian Gaborik. Gaborik left the ice for a time midway through the scrimmage, but it was just an equipment issue. He appeared to be moving well.

Craig Weller was stopped by Josh Harding on a point-blank shot early in the scrimmage, and Weller chirped “I love making you feel good, Hards!”

Harding also beat rookie Colton Gillies on a face-off at center ice at one point during the skate. But let’s be honest - Harding does have the goalie’s stick advantage. Broader is better.

After an 11am practice tomorrow, the Wild is off to New Jersey for a Friday match-up with the streaking Devils (10 wins in a row at home). Russo’s headed East to give you all the nuts and bolts. I’ll be back with you tomorrow and then again through the weekend.

Pleasant Monday to you all - and boy do I mean pleasant. Upper 60s in mid-March? Why not. Being the winter lover that I am it’s sad in a way to see all the wonderland melt away. But under all that snow and ice are a number of fine golf courses just waiting for weekend hackers like yours truly. So I am OK with all of this.

Papa Stensaas here for a quick update. I got to the rink a little early today and only Colton Gillies was on the ice. He yelled to me “You’re going to be bored today!” And I  soon found out why. Just seven of his teammates eventually showed up on skates, and only three coaches (none being Jacques Lemaire). Niklas Backstrom was not among the skaters. Neither was Marian Gaborik. I asked about speaking with Gaborik today, and was told he was not available. I saw Brent Burns, too. But he didn’t feel like talking, either.

Maybe everyone was just too darn eager to get outside … Even assistant coach Mario Tremblay, who called to us sitting in the seats wondering what time it was and ended practice after finding out it was 12:25.

Gillies spent most of the practice working with Mike Ramsey while everyone else worked mostly on quick tape-to-tape passing drills. Ramsey, by the way, said not to read into anything by him working with young Colton. Gillies even acknowledged it really was no big deal. “It’s all about development for me right now,” he said.

Sorry for the lame update, but that’s about what we’ve got for today. After a nice day off, Mr. Russo is back with you again tomorrow.

Finally, thank you for all the warm wishes last week after my daughter Paige was born. I’m working on getting her a pair of skates, but so far the closest thing I’ve found for her tiny feet are paperclips. With dull edges like that, she’ll have to be a goalie. Uh oh ….

Slothful Russo in Dallas, where it hasn’t stopped pouring since I busted through the bumpy clouds 4 1/2 hours ago.

Marian Gaborik skated with the Wild yesterday for the first time since December, but today technically was his first practice. Yesterday was just a morning skate. Today was practice, man. And even at 60 or 70 percent, Gaborik’s the Wild’s best player — or at least scorer. He had some pretty sweet goals today.

Derek Boogaard, who missed last night’s game with illness, practiced today. So did everybody else.

Colorado’s Cody McCormick got suspended two games for cross-checking Cal Clutterbuck in the head last night. I was sitting with Doug Risebrough when I got the email, showed it to him and he said, “Is that all? That’s my quote.”

Coach Jacques Lemaire said the referees last night weren’t going to call any penalties on it because Don VanMassenhoven didn’t see it. So Lemaire told VanMassenhoven, “You better tell your partner to call something because [McCormick’s] going to get suspended.” In other words, Lemaire was telling referee Ian Walsh there better be a penalty or it would be embarrassing for the men in stripes.

Lemaire, by the way, used me as the dummy to demonstrate what McCormick did. Luckily, Lemaire avoided my face with his stick by I’d say a good, I don’t know, HALF INCH!

Walsh assessed a double minor. Later, Clutterbuck got cross-checked in the face again, this time by John-Michael Liles. VanMassenhoven nailed Clutterbuck for diving, too, probably because the ref felt he was miraculously back way too soon after being on the ice so long from the previous incident.

Lemaire said, “Trust me, he was shook up. What’s he got to get 50 stitches or a broken jaw?”

McCormick, who by the way got his clock cleaned by John Scott in Scott’s first NHL bout, is eligible to return against the Wild on Tuesday during another rare visit in St. Paul for Minnesota.

By the way, Lemaire was asked a lot today about why he’s not playing Kurtis Foster. He was asked if he feels he can’t afford to play Foster right now because of his rust from being a year away.

Lemaire said that’s not accurate. He said, “It’s not that. It’s because Scott is here and the type of teams we’re playing, Scott will play more aggressive, Scott will fight. You saw last night. See? That’s the reason Scott’s playing. I think Foster would play as good as Scott, even better with the puck. Sure. We need [Scott’s aggressiveness]. We need it here [in Dallas]. We need it in St. Louis.

“We don’t want all the guys to chase Clutter and try to take his head off.”

On Gaborik’s visit with Dr. Philippon, assistant GM Tom Lynn said “Gaby’s doing well, can keep pushing back towards full.”

There’s no Brent Burns update because he’s still shut down completely. And until he starts working out again, it won’t be known if the concussion-like symptoms subsided.

OK, must write. Talk to you after the morning skates Saturday.

Wild didn’t practice today, instead arriving here in the Mile High City and going for an off-ice workout. Busy hotel, by the way — the Wild, the Mexican national futbol team and the U.S. Potato Board.

Marian Gaborik got off the bus, then got into a car with assistant trainer Travis Green and headed up to Vail to be examined by Marc Philippon, who just performed “Marian Gaborik surgery” on A-Rod.

Gaborik apparently asked coach Jacques Lemaire if he could skate with the team for the first time in Thursday’s morning skate. When my colleague told him that Gaborik said he didn’t know if he’d skate, Lemaire nearly blew a gasket, and said sarcastically, “I guess if he feels like skating tomorrow, if he wakes up and he feels like he can go and skate with us, he will. And if he wakes up and doesn’t feel that skating will be part of his day, he won’t.”

I did a big Bouchard piece tomorrow. He’s been playing much better, scoring clutch goals, but Lemaire continues to ride the 24-year-old “veteran” hard, saying he’s not satisfied. Interesting quotes from Lemaire in the story, whom I got after I talked to Bouchard. I wish it was vice versa.

Lemaire also talked a lot about James Sheppard, and how he needs to be better and he’s not “ready to produce.” He dropped him to the fourth line against San Jose and sat him in the third period because he felt Peter Olvecky was offering much more.

He also continued to praise 6-8 defenseman John Scott, whom he says keeps it simple, doesn’t try to do too much, makes great first passes out of the zone. With Brent Burns not here, it looks like Scott will continue to get the nod over Kurtis Foster.

OK, off to dinner.