Want to see Martin Havlat? Go to YouTube and watch some of his goals. Start with this 

A Russo’s Rants record — my sixth blog of the day and only the blog Gods know how many times I added or tweaked a line inside the other five blogs.

Here are the articles:

Martin Havlat/Greg Zanon/Potential near Saku Koivu signing article is right here

Column I wrote on Marian Gaborik’s departure is here

Gaborik timeline with the Wild, as put together by editor Mark Wollemann, is here

I promised you: BE PATIENT!

Did many of you listen? Nope, not judging by the completely out of control angst and anger and hysteria inside the below blogs today. I was honestly getting worried that some of you were about to send yourselves to the hospital or worse.

These things take time, and let’s be honest here, the Wild had a productive day.

This is the reality: When you consider the Sedin Twins didn’t hit free agency and Marian Gaborik was out of play for Minnesota, there were only three elite free agents left for 30 teams to pursue — Marian Hossa, Mike Cammalleri and Martin Havlat. 

Hossa signed for 12 years in Chicago and seemed to target the Hawks, so the Wild didn’t have a shot like seemingly 28 other teams. Cammalleri chose to go to Montreal. I just spent five days in Montreal; hard to blame the guy.

And the Wild — yes, the Minnesota Wild — landed the third — Havlat – and at a pretty quality price at $5 million per (4, 5, 5, 5, 5 and 6 actually) because it allows the team to do other things. I think I laid out in Wednesday’s Insider fairly well that Havlat was the most logical for the Wild to go after and that sources said he wanted to come here.

And like I laid out for you in the same column, I promise you, the Wild is not done. The team expects a decision from Saku Koivu in the morning, sources say, and if Koivu does go elsewhere, the Wild will decide how to proceed and spend that money elsewhere. But I’d be surprised at this point if Koivu doesn’t sign.

The Wild is still in on Ruslan Fedotenko, sources say, and it still must acquire a defenseman. Could Rob Scuderi or Francois Beachemin still be the guy? Depends largely on whether Koivu signs, and if so, what’s the price? If he does sign, I’d think those guys would be too expensive unless the Wild dumps some salary in a trade. And with Burns, Johnsson, Zidlicky, Schultz and Zanon signed, Wild may be seeking more of a 5 or 6 than another $3 or $4 million defenseman.

Could that be a Jordan Leopold, an Andrew Alberts? Not sure, but if you scour the free-agent lists, there are still some quality 5’s and 6’s out there. Maybe a Skrastins. 

Greg Zanon could amount to being a real solid signing, but just because it was released first, it seemed some fans lost their skulls like the Wild went home for the day or something. I don’t know Zanon well personally, but I’ve watched this guy play a lot and he’s a shot-blocking maniac. In fact, sometimes he gets a little too giddy at launching his body in front of pucks.

I talked to Havlat tonight on the phone, which I appreciated, because he was tired and wasn’t calling any other reporters back. As you could tell by his tweets in the blog below, he left Chicago a bitter guy. I talked to him about it extensively, but as far as what I’m able to write, he’d prefer to look forward. He’s very excited about signing here and is confident his injury woes are behind him.

As for his quotes, you can check out the article here.

Again, how good will this signing be? Largely depends on his health because in the past, he’s been every bit an injury risk as Gaborik. But if he’s healthy, Havlat’s a dynamic, dominant player at times. His contract has a no-move clause the first five years; last year is a no-move and limited no-trade.

OK, it was a fun day. I know earlier on there wasn’t a lot of news being flowed to you by me, which probably was frustrating to you, but that’s how it is on free agency day — well, when you’re not being sent emails directly from the NHL like the TV networks.

Agents and teams are busy during the day, and then later on when things quiet down, reporters like me can get to the news.

That’s why you knew about Havlat on here well before anywhere else, as well as Koivu. Self-serving, yes, but it was a frustrating day for me too, especially when you see the type of unethical stuff I’m starting to routinely see out there by “journalists” in this Internet age.

OK, it’s been a really long day. It’ll be another news-filled day Thursday, so talk to you then.

UPDATE: Star Tribune sources say the Wild is working on Saku Koivu as we speak. Still could be done tonight. Also, Havlat just gave me a ring. Quotes up later.

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As reported by the Star Tribune earlier this evening, the Wild has signed Martin Havlat to a six-year, $30 million deal.

“We are excited to add the speed and scoring of Martin Havlat to our lineup,” said Fletcher. “He is a terrific two-way player.”
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Havlat, 28 (4/19/81), led the Chicago Blackhawks with a career-high 77 points (29-48=77) while skating in a career-high 81 games in the 2008-09 season. He ranked ninth in the NHL in plus-minus (plus-29). Havlat added 15 points (5-10=15) in 16 Stanley Cup playoff games as the Blackhawks advanced to the Western Conference finals. The 6-foot-2, 217-pound native of Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic, has recorded 396 points (169-227=396), a plus-87 rating, 53 power play goals and 31 game-winning goals in 470 NHL games in eight seasons with Ottawa and Chicago. Havlat participated in the NHL All-Star Game in the 2006-07 season, when he led Chicago in goals (25), assists (32) and points (57) despite appearing in just 56 games. He was a member of the NHL’s All-Rookie team in 2000-01 and played for the Czech Republic at the 2002 Olympics.
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 Havlat was Ottawa’s first-round pick (No. 26 overall) in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft.

In some tweets just now, Havlat said, “Excited to be in Minny where I was welcomed and appreciated by management. The real story about what happened in Chicago to come out.”

“Thanks to all Hawks fans for your love and support over the last 3 years. Will never forget your generousity and the great playoff run!”

“Hossa is a good friend and I am happy for him.”

“There’s something to be said for loyalty and honor.”

Yikes! Just a hunch, but Russo thinks Havlat’s not pleased with the Blackhawks letting him go and signing Hossa.

UPDATED WITH CONTRACT TERMS 

According to multiple NHL sources, the Wild is close to signing dynamic free-agent winger Martin Havlat. I’ve confirmed through sources it will be a six-year, $30 million deal. The $30 million will be the richest in franchise history, the term will be tied with Nick Schultz for the longest.

Havlat, 28, scored a career-high 77 points last season with Chicago in 81 games. It’s unclear as to whether this gets done tonight or in the wee hours of the morning, but I have been told by impeccable sources that Havlat has cut his list to one team — and that’s Minnesota.

According to sources, the Wild also continues to be in negotiations with free-agent center Saku Koivu, although it’s unclear how close that is. Because of the time in Finland, it could go into tomorrow.

The Wild and Havlat’s agent have been working on this contract for hours.

4:30 p.m. update: Sportsnet is reporting Mike Cammalleri has signed a five-year, $6 million deal with the Canadiens. If true, Marian Gaborik and Martin Havlat are the two best forwards left on the board, followed by the next wrung of Alexei Kovalev, Alex Tanguay, Brian Gionta, Saku Koivu and Nik Antropov.

Is I’ve alluded to the past week, I’ve long suspected Martin Havlat would be the guy the Wild would target. Now of the upper-echelon guys, he’s the only one left other than Gaborik.

Plenty of Dmen still available, including Francois Beauchemin, Rob Scuderi and Mike Komisarek.

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Ladies and gents, patience, patience. This is how it works. Very few agents sign their guy to the first team that calls (minus Mattias Ohlund, apparently). Agents build a list, accept offers, go to their clients, go over the offers, go over the pros and cons of each team, where the player fits and then goes back to the teams and usually works one against each other.

They create bidding wars. This takes time, especially when the pool is so thin and the same teams are going after the same players.

There’s a reason why Marian Hossa is the only one of the elite forwards to sign so far.

Just because the Wild hasn’t signed anybody yet doesn’t mean they won’t the rest of the day or in subsequent days (Wild signed Johnsson, Parrish and Carney at about 8 p.m. on July 1, 2006). Last year’s news was early because I got wind very early that the Wild traded for Marek Zidlicky.

But as for free agents, usually in the afternoons of July 1, it’s hard to get a ton of info because both sides — the agent and the team — are busy chatting with each other. So that’s why it’s so quiet. That’s why I tried to do as much reporting as possible before July 1. In today’s paper, I informed you of the players I either know or think the Wild’s pursuing. I know on Havlat, Fedotenko, Saku Koivu and Scuderi.

We’ll see if they get any of those guys done.

Also, just an fyi, I’m not convinced Koivu will decide on his team today. Mikko made it sound to me like Saku will take his offers and go over them very carefully with his family.

Also, on Gaborik, I hear the Rangers are very interested but don’t want to pull the trigger with Heatley still up in the air. That’s surprising, however, because why give up a bunch of assets when you can simply sign Gaborik?

Pittsburgh Tribune Review’s Rob Rossi hears Minnesota, Dallas and the Rangers are on Rob Scuderi’s list. I heard yesterday Wild was “high” on the list.

TSN’s Darren Dreger is reporting Marian Hossa is close to signing in Chicago. If true, Hawks may need to hire some mathematicians from MIT to get Kane and Toews done next summer. Unless he’s signing another one-year deal.

TSN’s reporting Hossa to Chicago is done. If Marian Hossa gets a $5.2 million cap hit, good luck Gaborik.

Edmonton’s lost Dwayne Roloson. They’ve almost definitely got to sign Nikolai Khabibulin or go back to the Wild and trade for Josh Harding. Oilers still very interested in Harding, a source says, but still looking at free-agent route with Scott Clemmensen.

Free agency starts at 11. A half-hour before, TSN reported that Daniel and Henrik Sedin agreed to duplicate five-year, $6.1 million deals with the Canucks.

This makes a thin free-agent pool thinner.

Vancouver still has the salary-cap room to go after Marian Gaborik perhaps, although the Canucks are aiming to sign Roberto Luongo to an $8 million-a-year extension that would go on the books starting in 2010-11. With the cap coming down, it would seem Gaborik would have to look elsewhere.

The teams that could be looking at him today are Montreal, the Rangers and Los Angeles.

Martin Havlat and Ruslan Fedotenko — two players the Wild’s expected to pursue — to the free-agent market, their agent says.

Team Canada to make Olympic camp roster announcement on July 2.

Seven years for Mattias Ohlund in Tampa Bay. Oh my. Guess teams are giving term.

Alert: TSN reporting Sedins re-sign in Vancouver. As I wrote below, I felt that would happen, which means now Marian Gaborik will likely be sought after by L.A., New York or Montreal.

First, you can keep track with Wild news all day Wednesday (and in the future) and throughout free agency here on www.startribune.com/russo and my Twitter at twitter.com/russostrib

I’ll also be on KFAN on Wednesday morning at 9:35 a.m.

The door swings open to free agency at 11 a.m.

The last time the Koivu Bros. were teammates on Xcel Energy Center’s ice, it was during the 2004 World Cup. Could that happen again starting next season?

Let’s put it this way: It’ll likely be up to the Koivus, or another way of saying it is, if they want to make it happen, it probably can. By the way, here’s a feature I wrote on them last October.

The Wild’s expected to make an offer, but it’s not just a sure-thing Saku Koivu signs a deal to play with Mikko.

I talked to Mikko very early this morning my time. I got him on his boat in Turku. He did voice some concerns that he and Saku have been discussing in recent days. Saku doesn’t want to step on Mikko’s toes because this is his team now, they’ve talked about what it would be like to handle the other being criticized publicly if that were to happen and they talked about the distractions it could create if every city they went to turned into a series of Koivu Bros. stories.

He admitted it’s not a big problem and that they know that stuff would die down, but those are a few of the “cons” on their pros and cons list. On the “pros” side, the fact that it would be special for Saku, 8 1/2 years older, and Mikko to play together and that their parents would absolutely love it. He said it’s a “dream” of theirs. You can read about this in the paper.

So we will see. The Wild needs a No. 2 center, whether it’s through acquisition, or perhaps Pierre-Marc Bouchard moving over to the left one slot. Nik Antropov, I guess, is somebody to pursue, but I’m not a big fan. After that, not much in UFA market. Fletcher would have gone after Vik Kozlov, but he’s signed in Russia.

The Wild has a number of holes to fill, and if you go out and sign Marian Hossa or the Sedin Twins, that severely handicaps doing much else. That’s why I think Mike Cammalleri (he can play center, too) or Martin Havlat may be the most logical players to pursue, although Cammalleri could be Toronto bound and receive a really inflated contract. 

I hear Havlat, if he gets to 11 a.m. unsigned (and contrary to reports, he was not signed tonight), would have great interest in Minnesota. He’s had lots of injury problems in the past, but as he proved last year, when he’s healthy, he’s a tremendously talented and dominant hockey player. He’s also put up solid playoff numbers.

Because of his history, you might be able to get him in the $5 million range, which means it leaves room to sign maybe Saku Koivu, a Ruslan Fedotenko perhaps (still talking to Pittsburgh) and a couple dmen — Rob Scuderi being one guy I hear would be interested in coming to Minnesota. And considering Fletcher’s history with Scuderi, you can bet there’d be interest from the Wild’s point of view.

Fletcher loves Fedotenko, by the way, who just wins Cups in this league. Havlat and Fedotenko have the same agent, too, in Allan Walsh, so maybe you can kill two birds with one stone.  

As for other dmen, if Scuderi’s a no-go, I’d go after Francois Beauchemin. I know there’s a clamoring for Jordan Leopold because of his history here at the U, but I think Fletcher will be looking for more physical dmen than offensive dmen because the Wild is rich in offensive, mobile dmen and as we all know short on the other type.

Some guys that could fit that are Jaroslav Spacek, Karlis Skrastins, Denis Gauthier, Hal Gill and Mikko’s favorite, Mattias Ohlund. Want a Minnesotan? How ’bout Andrew Alberts?

I think Mike Komisarek is too expensive, and man, he did not impress in the playoffs. I see Scuderi’s door being blown over by the Wild. 

It’s going to be a very interesting free-agent market because there’s only about 10 teams that can legimately take on a huge contract.

Even with today’s Scott Gomez pickup, Montreal has tons of cap room. Vancouver, Toronto, the Rangers, Dallas, the Islanders, L.A., and the Wild have the most flexibility in the league. Also, if the Sedins don’t re-sign in Vancouver, they might really be in for a reality check as far as this package deal goes. Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto were the only teams maybe, and now Montreal is likely out because I think they’ll go after a single star now (i.e. Gaborik or Hossa). That’s why I really feel sanity’s going to prevail and Sedins re-sign in Van.

Speaking of that, Marian Gaborik’s heading to free agency obviously. Chuck Fletcher and Ron Salcer had a lengthy conversation today I’m told and it went nowhere. As I mentioned the other day, Gaborik turned down that $78.5 million deal because of several concerns he had about the direction of the team. Even though most those concerns are alleviated with the departures of Lemaire and Risebrough, it was going to be impossible to sign him this close to free agency and it appears as if Salcer made that clear to Fletcher during their initial conversation a few weeks ago.

I think Montreal, LA, Vancouver and the Rangers (unless it acquires Heatley tonight as is rumored in some circles) plan to pursue Gaborik. If the Rangers trade for Heatley and Vancouver re-signs the Sedins, suddenly Gaborik starts to get squeezed a bit. But I’m starting to think Montreal is going to be hot after him, with the Rangers if they don’t get Heatley tonight (Edmonton’s got the inside track, but as of 9:10, it’s been hung up because Heatley hasn’t waived no-trade yet, I’m told).

Fletcher has tried to trade Gaborik’s rights so far to no avail. The Vancouver Province story of the house did not help because why would anybody trade for his rights if there’s an impression he’s already found a home. And at this late juncture, why would you give a roll of tape when you know that Ron Salcer’s not exactly the easiest guy to negotiate with and free agency’s in 14 hours?

This is going to be an interesting market because like they always do, the top guys should get their term and their money. The middle of the range guys could get squeezed because like I’ve said, there’s a lot of money in the system and only so many teams that can sign guys to big contracts. And if all of a sudden the Kessels of the world and one of the San Jose forwards (Clowe or Marleau) are traded, that means fewer spots elsewhere for other players.

And Fletcher today again made mention that it’s not just free agency where he could fill holes. It could be via the trade route.

Asked about Craig Leipold’s comments the other day about wanting to get some top players here, Fletcher said, “He wants to win. He wants to have a team that is a competing team right from the get-go next year. I think what he’s expressed to me is consistent with what he’s expressed to you guys. He wants to win. But in terms of whether we do things through free agency or trades or however we get there, I don’t know if that’s as important as the fact we get there.”

OK, talk to you throughout Wednesday.

Word of the day: Scruples. Yes, scruples. Scruples. I love that word, except when some people don’t have any.

Scruples. Scruples. Scruples.

I hope I just made somebody out there in the media world feel guilty (if you think I’m talking about you, I probably am).

So onward, about 11 minutes ago (it’s 2:11 p.m. my time as I start this blog), GM Chuck Fletcher began a meeting with his staff to go over Draft strategy and undoubtedly trades. During a morning meeting, assistant GM Tommy Thompson finished all pre-draft player interviews and finalized the Wild’s Draft list with the scouts.

What do I hear through the grapevine. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the St. Louis Blues are definitely interested in Josh Harding, but Fletcher wants something substantial for him and if it doesn’t come now, he’s willing to wait until later this summer or next season. However, the tricky thing here is there’s only a certain smattering of teams that are looking for a goalie next season and beyond, and if they don’t get Harding now, they’ll sign a free agent goalie after July 1.

So Harding is definitely in play. But Fletcher would love a top-six forward rather than, say, a second-round pick because at least with the NHLer, you know what you’re getting. A draft pick, as we all know, can amount to something or amount to nothing.

TSN’s Darren Dreger “tweeted” (I’ve learned the lingo) that the Wild is one of a handful of teams still in the Ryane Clowe sweepstakes with San Jose. I haven’t confirmed, but I trust Dreger’s sources and it makes a helluva lot of sense. Clowe is an awesome young player, you can bet former Sharks assistant Todd Richards loves him and he plays the exact type of high-octane, hard-nosed style the Wild wants to play.

It’ll take good assets to get him though, and who knows if the Wild’s got em. And then you’ve got to sign him, which won’t be cheap, which is the reason the Sharks may deal him if they can’t sign him for themselves.

According to impeccable sources, Fletcher interviewed Tampa Bay’s Claude Loiselle this morning for the vacant assistant GM’s post. Loiselle’s contract expires June 30 and has permission to seek other employment. Loiselle is a well-respected guy who used to play, has negotiated contracts and knows the league well, especially because he used to work for the NHL.

However, as I reported a few weeks ago, the second tomorrow’s Draft ends, Ottawa Director of Hockey Ops Brent Flahr has a window to talk to other teams. He’s the likely guy as he and Fletcher are very close from their days working together in Florida and Anaheim.

Nothing new on the assistant coaching situation, although word on the street is Richards and at least Mike Ramsey had a very good initial meeting.

Speaking of assistant GM’s, Tom Lynn is here and actually will be on the media risers with yours truly tonight as a member of the stinkin’ media, haha. I joked with him yesterday that the first time he stands behind the barricade trying to wave down a GM, I’m taking a picture and holding it for ransom.

Lynn’s doing a blog for the Hockey News, and here’s his first posting on the anatomy of Draft deal. Remember, Wild has done many or set up many trades at the Draft.

I talked to agent Don Baizley in the lobby this morning. He and Montreal plan to talk early next week about Saku Koivu, and that’s all Koivu’s thinking about, he said. But if he goes to free agency, you know who’s a coming after him. That’s me saying that, not Baize.

There’s other stuff, but I’ve got to report it out some more. One of them is a bit of a Wild newsmaker, but I’m not comfortable writing it just yet. But … maybe later.