As I’ve mentioned in recent weeks, I’ve heard lots of names but didn’t want to just throw them against the wall if I wasn’t confident they were true candidates.

One name emerged Tuesday that is clearly a serious candidate. On Saturday, sources tell me that owner Craig Leipold interviewed Ducks assistant GM David McNab. Here is the link to the story.

McNab is an interesting candidate. He’s another second generation hockey guy and is extremely respected. He’s been with Anaheim since Day One and is largely responsible for the Ducks’ always impressive collegiate crop, which has been an area where critics say the Wild must improve.

McNab’s signed Chris Kunitz, Andy McDonald, Dustin Penner, Ryan Shannon, Ryan Carter, Curtis Glencross and MacGregor Sharp out of college.

I also did confirm through sources today that last week, as I suspected because it made sense, Leipold & Gang interviewed Nashville executives Paul Fenton and Mike Santos in Milwaukee. Remember, the Admirals are the Predators’ AHL affiliate.

Pat Quinn has also interviewed, as has Pierre McGuire. Chuck Fletcher is next up today or Thursday, and Tom Lynn will likely be the last. There’s still a chance others emerge. I’m hearing a decision will be made in 10 days to two weeks, and remember, even when Leipold decides on a GM, a contract must be negotiated.

There also could be another round of interviews potentially. The Wild is doing none of the interviews at the arena, meaning there’s always a chance they bring some of the candidates back to tour the offices and arena.

Speaking of the Admirals, they lost to the Wild’s AHL affiliate, Houston, 3-1 in Game 3 Tuesday night. Game 4 is Thursday and the Aeros hold a 2-1 series’ advantage. Here’s the link to the story written by, whattyaknow, Ms. Conduct.

Impressive Heather.

Lastly, here’s Chris Havens’ story on the status of “The Pond,” which would be in part the Wild’s practice facility across from the X.

 Fletcher                       McGuire                       Quinn                         Lynn

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Happy Cinco de Mayo! I love that Seinfeld episode where Elaine shops at Putumayo and then goes to Cinco de Mayo and screams at Gladys Mayo, “Sales commission, bye-bye-O.”

Or something like that.

Here is the link for the article I wrote in Tuesday’s edition on the Wild’s short list.

The Wild’s search for a GM is heating up as the Wild — owner Craig Leipold, former CEO and current MSE board member Jac Sperling and COO Matt Majka — has trimmed the applicant list of nearly 30 down to a handful.

The frontrunners, sources say, are Pittsburgh Penguins assistant GM Chuck Fletcher and TSN and NBC analyst Pierre McGuire. McGuire didn’t work for TSN Monday and isn’t working tonight, and he’ll be in Raleigh on Wednesday, so it’s not difficult to figure out that the million miler traveler will interview today. Fletcher is expected to interview later this week, and if he is offered the job, one would think he’ll be allowed to leave immediately. I doubt the Penguins allowed him to get this deep into the process only to forbid him from taking the job if the Penguins are still playing. 

Also in the running are longtime NHL coach and GM Pat Quinn, Nashville assistant GM Paul Fenton (and maybe still Director of Hockey Ops Mike Santos) and Wild acting GM Tom Lynn.

I also heard Monday evening that Tampa Bay Lightning assistant GM Claude Loiselle has had conversations with Leipold, but it was unclear whether he’d get an in-person interview.

This seems like a two-horse race, although the one thing I’ve learned in these type of things is anything can change on a dime. Some people interview poorly, some people blow you away in interviews, last-minute candidates emerge.

But I’ve talked to dozens of people around the league the past month, and I’m pretty sure on the names still alive — so to speak.

I know both Fletcher and McGuire very well just from covering the league since the mid-90s.

– I covered Fletcher for seven of his nine years in Florida, and he’s as sharp as they come. I remember Bobby Clarke, the Panthers’ first GM (which not many people recall), hired him in the Airport Marriott in Toronto. And I remember Fletcher telling me once that his first duty once he got to the expansion Panthers was to figure out where to buy a washer and dryer for the practice facility at Gold Coast Ice Arena in Pompano Beach, Fla.

It was a funny story, but here’s this 25-year-old kid that could barely do his own laundry wondering, “OK, do I just go to Brandsmart or something.”

He’s come quite a long way. He’s considered the next big thing, and a lot of it is for all the reasons I’ve mentioned lately. You don’t find 41-year-old’s with 16 years of experience in management, and quite frankly, 41 years of experience when you consider he’s lived inside hockey rinks since he was born. He’s about high-tempo hockey, and after seeing the job Dan Bylsma has done on the Pittsburgh bench this season, I think he’d probably want a young coach (and remember, he originally hired former Gopher Todd Richards in Wilkes-Barre).

– I’ve known McGuire from Day One of covering this league and he’s as plugged in as they get. He knows the sports inside-out. While he hasn’t worked for a team for some time, few people have had the unfettered access to players, coaches and managers like McGuire. And I’m not just talking at the pro level. I’m talking at the amateur level. He’s done all the national tournaments for TSN. In fact, ironically, he once showed me a picture of his son — then probably five or six — racing Colton Gillies at the world championships.

He’s about high-octane offense, games played with an edge and has great relationships with team personnel and agents throughout the league. He’s a salesman, too. He’d probably be able to lure top players to this market.

I’ve talked to players over the past couple weeks, and there’s a genuine excitement about the two names seemingly leading the pack.

As I wrote today, owner Craig Leipold is grabbing what he feels are the most intriguing candidates from different categories. You have the traditional, been-in-this-sport-forever candidate in Pat Quinn. You have the hot commodity and young energy and smarts in Chuck Fletcher. You have the passion and experience of somebody who’s watched more hockey than most in Pierre McGuire. And you have the internal candidate with deep knowledge of the Wild in Tom Lynn.

I think Lynn will have a tough time just because Leipold seems intent on “new eyes,” but Lynn wasn’t always in lockstep with Doug Risebrough as people may think and maybe the only impediment of Lynn identifying problems before and changing them was the fact he wasn’t the man in charge.

Regardless, I think Lynn will be a GM in this league at some point.

Fenton I think will have it tough as well. I don’t know him. I know he’s highly respected, but I think in the end, Leipold will be a cognizant that there could be a perception – fair or not — that he took somebody from his old team, Nashville. 

Even though he might ruin my Hawaiian trip, Leipold’s going about this the right way

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Defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron underwent successful back surgery this morning. It’ll take six to eight weeks for Bergeron to recover.

The Houston Aeros beat the Peoria Rivermen 5-2 tonight in Game 7 to advance to the second round of the AHL playoffs against Milwaukee (or Craig Leipold’s current farm team vs. Craig Leipold’s old farm team). Maxim Noreau broke a 2-2 tie in the third. Here is the link.

If you want to make a road trip — like I may do — the Aeros play Games 1 and 2 in Milwaukee on Thursday and Saturday.

The Aeros’ GM is Tom Lynn. The Admirals’ GM is Paul Fenton.

The winner of the series becomes the Wild’s next GM.

Lynn vs. Fenton

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.

 �

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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