Wild snubbed by Alex Tanguay.

Even though Jacques Lemaire and Doug Risebrough are gone from the Minnesota Wild it would appear that Wild still can’t win the battles to get prized free agents. Alex Tanguay took an offer from Tampa Bay to play for the Lighting over the “State of Hockey.” I guess Tanguay would rather play in front of half full arena for a horrible team than play for a team that has sellouts and a fan base that is rabid about hockey. Good luck with that Alex.

The Wild waited patiently for free-agent winger Alex Tanguay to make a decision on his future, and it appears that decision has been made.

Canada's RDS reported Friday night that Tanguay has agreed to terms with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Sources said Friday morning that the Wild hadn't budged on a one-year, $2.5 million offer -- the max it could legitimately offer the playmaker and still be comfortably under the $56.8 million salary cap ceiling -- but the Wild continued to talk to both Tanguay and his agent. [Star Tribune]

How about this line of thinking? Sounds almost like his predecessor, see we tried but in the end we were unable to land any prized free agents. No disrespect to Chuck Fletcher but it tells me that Wild have run out of option and Wild fans are going to be stuck watching James Sheppard, Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Benoit Pouliot for the most part three unimpressive first round draft choices. Of the three mentioned first round busts/duds, only one that has any worth is PMB and he is a perimeter player that is afraid to go to the dirty areas to score goals.

I mean seriously; if the Wild are to get Phil Kessel he is going to cost them at least 3.75 million to a top end price of 5 million dollars a couple of draft choices and or a top of the line player, this is true with the other teams. Personally, if I had been Fletcher maybe I might have been tempted to take the proposed trade and sent Brent Burns to the Senators for Dany Heatley.

If Tanguay declines the Wild's offer, the team isn't worried because there should be a number of top players on waivers or on the trading block in September.

Chicago, Vancouver, Detroit, Ottawa, Washington and Boston are over the cap. Montreal, Philadelphia, Edmonton and Carolina are within $1 million of the cap. When one considers San Jose is at $53.5 million for only 17 players, the Sharks are theoretically at or over the cap.

Teams can be 10 percent over the cap up until the last day of training camp.

The Wild has shown interest in San Jose's Jonathan Cheechoo, Chicago's Patrick Sharp and unsigned Boston forward Phil Kessel. [Star Tribune]

More from the new Wild GM.

Wild Blogger Brad Ratgen from HockeyBuzz had the text of a recent press conference with the Owner Craig Leipold and Chuck Fletcher that was held in St. Paul, I picked out a couple of things that Wild fans might be happy about.

Q&A Session with Owner Craig Leipold and New GM Chuck Fletcher
May 25, 2009,----- Regarding the big name free agents, “we have everything to offer them here. I think the system in the past might have held them back. I believe Chuck feels that way. The people that came through felt that way. And so I think this may be the missing piece and they will look at us in a different light and will want to come play here.”

Leipold pointed out that Fletcher is GM and (Leipold) is president of the Wild.

Regarding players wanting to play in Minnesota, “you would think everyone would be knocking on our door to play here. Hopefully now the word gets out that this is a place to play up tempo and score goals.”
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Regarding Minnesota players and/or American players, “we are going to get the best person available. Being from Minnesota and playing in Minnesota won’t be looked upon any longer as a negative.”
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“I love physical hockey (up tempo, fore checking, on pucks, separating the defender from the puck). It doesn’t have to be fighting. I certainly believe fighting as a necessary element of a good club. Toughness to me is mental, it’s physical, it’s winning battles, it’s having your best players go to the net knowing they’re going to get cross checked. That’s toughness. Those are the type of players we want. You need a physical element and a mentally tough element. Pace of play, forcing play. Those are all elements of physical, up-tempo hockey.”

“Any team can play this style. You need skill and intelligence. We want an identity of being an up-tempo, hard working, difficult team that’s tough to play against.”

Risebrough gong show is over.

As WCHA Dominates mentioned earlier, Leipold had decided a month a go that Risebrough was gone, this is right decision and it couldn't have been made a minute too soon. I will be tossing back a few beers this weekend to celebrate this event. This feels like Christmas in April

These are some of the questions/answers that MICHAEL RUSSO has come up with. As you can see Russo has touch on a lot of the issues the team of 18,000 were also frustrated with. One of them is the inaction of Risebrough and his willingness not to trade a couple of players to make the team better. Josh Harding could have gotten the Wild a top player at the dead line.

It would have been interesting to see what Harding would have gotten from the Redwings in a trade at the dead line. From reading all of the rumors it would appear James Sheppard is a cancer, a prima donna and needs to go. I would also like to see some players from the area that could help the Wild.

When did owner Craig Leipold decide?

A month ago, but he didn't want to disrupt a potential playoff run.

Does Leipold have a candidate in mind?

He has compiled a list, and was solicited by candidates Thursday.

How does this affect the hiring of a coach?

The new GM will determine the new coach and style of coach he wants, and this will be Priority No. 1.

In the past, James Sheppard and Josh Harding have been untouchable in trades. Has that changed?

Leipold said it was important to get "new eyes" in here, which usually means new opinions.

Season over for the Wild. Note to Ownership Fire GM.

I was watching this game this afternoon on NBC and frankly the team put me to sleep, talk about boring, it almost looks as if the Wild accepted the fact that they aren't going to make the playoffs and just bagged the game. Gabby can say that Osgood was shakey but I didn't see a lot from him except for his goal. I almost wonder if Gaborik is hockey's version of Randy Moss I play when I want to.

I think the real truth is that the GM didn't give the coach a team that could have did much even if they would have had Gaborik for the whole season. Also when you have offensive defenseman like Marek Zidlicky they are prone to make big time mistakes that cost goals and if they Wild could have held on they would've at least gotten a point.

This team is pathetic and needs leadership at the top, there is nothing in the way of talent developing in Houston, General Manager Doug Risebrough is a joke and the one that should take all of the blame. I wish I could be the one to tell Risebrough he is fired. Gone, clean out your office because your toast. Take the train.

Teams that can’t put together a single real winning streak in a season shouldn’t have been in this position anyway. But that’s an indictment of the system.

Tonight’s loss was deserved, but it was heartbreaking nonetheless. The Wild was outshot 44-23, 34-11 at one point. Only Niklas Backstrom, a shaky Chris Osgood, and a couple posts, too (first period must have been sponsored by the Minnesota & Michigan Iron Range’s cuz Koivu, Hossa and Hudler hit iron), allowed the Wild to even be a minute from overtime.

And then, in one flawed, fatal last-minute shift, three players — Cal Clutterbuck, Eric Belanger and Marek Zidlicky, according to coach Jacques Lemaire — made mistakes.

Belanger fell. Clutterbuck joined Marian Gaborik on a forecheck when he shouldn’t have. But as often is the case, it was Mr. Zidlicky who caused the 2-on-1 by again carelessly stepping up in the neutral zone like he’s done so many times this season (most recent on Zach Parise in New Jersey, resulting in Brian Gionta’s nail in the coffin).

Zidlicky got lured into stepping up on Pavel Datsyuk. One pass later, 2-on-1 between Tomas Holmstrom and Marian Hossa.

Game over. Season over.

Lemaire roasted the players, but I point you to the game story for those quotes. The locker room was pretty glum after the game, obviously, because this week vacation plans will begin and native country’s will begin to phone about world championship availability. (read the whole article here)

The State of the Wild.

Check out the latest zinger from Wild Blogger Michael Russo on the state of the Minnesota Wild. Russo really hit the bullseye with this article. The next step I would like to see is the Minneapolis media call for Wild owner Craig Leipold to sack Wild General Manager Doug Risebrough. It's time for Risebrough to go because he has been a miserable failure when it comes to running the Wild. This team is all his doing and he is the that the blame should be laid on. Russo is right as well as he should start looking at the Blues and Kings because that is who the Wild are going to be chasing next season.

The Wild Owner should have taken notice when Risebrough didn't want to trade James Sheppard for Olli Jokinen. Are you kidding me, Risebrough didn't want to trade young talent like James Sheppard, guys like James Sheppard are a dime a dozen in the NHL. There are hundreds of guys like him in the AHL and ECHL.

If the front office convinces owner Craig Leipold that this was a throw-away season solely because Gaborik was hurt, it's an injustice to everybody who paid a dime for tickets or merchandise.

If Leipold wants a reality check, just turn on the Center Ice package and watch St. Louis and Columbus and Chicago and Edmonton and even Phoenix and Los Angeles.

Think the Wild really has better young talent, a brighter future? Those teams are burgeoning with young, explosive talent, which is reason for real optimism there and pessimism here.

The Wild has James Sheppard, who's somehow untouchable like he's going to wake up tomorrow and become Jarome Iginla. Mikko Koivu and Brent Burns are good, cornerstone players.

But in the history of this organization, the Wild has developed one star, Gaborik -- and this week is likely his Minnesota swan song.

The Wild has sold out every game in franchise history, but it's not guaranteed to continue. Assistant GM Tommy Thompson knows this. He wasn't trying to critique the current state of affairs. But in an interview with me for the upcoming Hockey News Draft magazine, Thompson said the Wild must draft a "dynamic player ... with a little pizzazz" this June.

Gabby is mailing it in.

The saga of Minnesota's selfish super star continues but there is some light at the end of the tunnel. I will be glad when this season is over and Wild fans can wave goodbye to GM Doug Risebrough, prima donna Marian Gaborik and head coach Jacques Lemaire because this season has been a train wreck and it is only going to get worse. It's time for a major shakeup of the Minnesota Wild Hockey team. Here is the latest from the Michael Russo.

Doug Risebrough made it pretty clear on the conference call that he’d prefer Gaborik continue playing and not have surgery, saying, “I’m disappointed that he won’t be here with us for this point in the season. But, you know, this is the choice that Marian has made. So I have no other comment.”

Gaborik made very clear that he’s 26 years old and he is unwilling to jeopardize the rest of his career by ruining his hip. He said it very tough not playing, but this is something he has to get fixed. He said if he was 38, it’d be a different story.

He said his plan is to definitely return this season, but he’s got to be smart. He said he believes the hip problems have been the cause of his career-long groin problems, and that this will solve it for good. As an example, he said he’s had no right groin problems after his right hip surgery.

Incidentally, Gaborik is not happy with all the talk that he’s not willing to play through 100 percent and that he’s “milking” the injury. I’ll have more on this on the blog later and in tomorrow’s article

Wild Fans frustrated with their horrible team.

Wild Hockey Blog extraordinaire Mike Russo has a really good article in the Red Star and Sickle on who the Wild fans have become upset with the way things are going with the team. I am also glad that the media in Minneapolis is finally taking the management to task and starting to ask the questions that need to be asked about the Wild management. The current status of the team is squarely on the shoulders of the Wild coaches and GM.

General Manager Doug Risebrough is either in denial or not paying attention if he really "wrote it off" as playing at home the day after Christmas -- as he said Monday. The irritation of Wild fans I witnessed mirrors what I've heard during this month-long plummet to the bottom of the Western Conference.

You know owner Craig Leipold is hearing it, since he sits in the middle of it all.

The on-ice product has been crummy. Games have been bland, scoring low. The loudest the X got this month was when the Wild killed off a two-minute five-on-three against Carolina.

The lack of talent compared with its opponents is dramatic, and it's not just because of injuries to Marian Gaborik, Owen Nolan and Marc-Andre Bergeron, as Risebrough says.

Thumb through the rosters and system depth charts of most NHL teams, and the Wild doesn't compare. Other than Ottawa 67s defenseman Tyler Cuma, no budding prospects are on the horizon. Because of Cuma's knee injury, the Wild doesn't have a single world junior championships participant.

Wild owner Craig Leipold could make the first step in the direction by firing the head coach Jacques Lemaire and the GM Doug Risebrough immediately. This team is stagnant and the team needs a shaking up. Jacques Lemaire systems don't work anymore this isn't the 1995 New Jersey Devils and no one wants to watch that style of play anyways. Also NHL coaches can not constantly be playing head games with professional hockey players, these guys start talking to other players and eventually no one wants to play for your team.

On the front office front; it is obvious that General Manager Doug Risebrough doesn't have a clue what he is doing. The Wild have nothing they can bring up from Houston and there isn't anything on the current roster worth trading except a banged up Gaborik.

Look at some of the last few first round draft choices, Colton Gilies, Benoit Pouliot, James Sheppard none of these players are worth a hoot and yet they are taking up roster spots for the Wild. You mean to tell me this is the best you can do for first round draft choices. Their pathetic!

Risebrough talks about untouchable James Sheppard, 20, (minus-16) as if he's going to miraculously turn into Patrick Kane or Jonathan Toews. Benoit Pouliot, 22, (no goals since Nov. 15) floats most nights. Colton Gillies, 19, is a few years away, but he's not a top-liner.

While listening to beyond the pond the other day I learned that the Wild turned down getting Olli Jokinen because Doug Risebrough didn't want to give up James Sheppard or Pierre-Marc Bouchard. Are you kidding me? How would Olli Jokinen look in Wild Jersey right now? That has to be one of stupidest moves made during the off season.

**Check out the comments on the article the fans are fed up and calling for the coaches head.

Wild fans are fed up with their crappy team.

During last night’s game I got more and more frustrated as I watched the Wild get taken apart by the Chicago Blackhawks. Let’s be honest the Blackhawks are good but the Wild should be able to play with the Blackhawks and not get run out of their own building. While the Wild would probably still lose the game it should have been more close where they lose 2-1.

I don’t blame the fans for booing because the Wild because they suck; the Wild fans are paying a lot of money to watch a substandard mediocre team that won’t make the playoffs. You can mark it down folks the Wild don’t have the team to make it to the playoffs. If I had been at that game last night I would have been booing as well. The Wild better get used to the booing because I don’t see it changing. If the Wild keep losing there won't continue to be 18,568 screaming fans in the Xcel Energy center.

In a blog post linked below Doug Risebrough basically has told Michael Russo he has got nothing in the works to right the ship. Dig in folks grab a beer because it’s going to be long season miserable for the Minnesota Wild.

I put the blame for this on Wild's general manager Doug Risebrough for not putting a competitive team on the ice. I keep hearing how Risebrough didn’t want to trade the future of the Minnesota Wild away so they resigned Pierre-Marc Bouchard to a long term deal. How is that working out for you Doug? Bouchard has done nothing this season and has 2 assist in the last five games.

Even the most untrained hockey eye it is no mystery that the Wild have no offensive weapons outside of Miettinen-Koivu-Brunette line. The Wild have a roster full of 3rd and 4th line players. Most of these guys would probably have trouble scoring goals at the AHL level. Benoit Pouliot and James Sheppard have been complete and utter busts. If I was Doug Risebrough I would put these guys on waivers and then ship them Houston if they cleared waivers, or just cut them because they are dead weight. I just hope the Owners of the Minnesota Wild get smart and send both the GM and the Coach packing because it just isn’t working anymore. It is time to start over.

Uh-oh.

Entering one of their toughest stretches of the season, the Wild were a step slow much of the evening and twice were ushered off the ice by boos from the 18,568 home fans during a 4-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday night at the Xcel Energy Center.

A red-faced Mikko Koivu, one of the few bright spots on a Minnesota team that was outshot 15-4 in the first period and 12-6 in the second, sided with the angry fans after the game by lambasting the effort of a few of his teammates.

"In front of this crowd," he said, tossing in a couple epithets, "that (ticks) me off," he said.

Of course, the opponent had plenty to do with the Wild's futility, swaggering into the X on an eight-game winning streak and sauntering out with its ninth in a row, a record for an NHL franchise that is 82 years old.

"It's a special achievement for the whole group," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "They should be proud."

Said Wild coach Jacques Lemaire: "It's the best team right now. Everyone knows that. If you don't know it, you don't follow hockey and I don't think you should play."

Koivu agreed, to a degree.

"Give them credit," he said. "But they're not that good. They outworked us, that's obvious. We didn't play hard. You have to be ready for every game, and we weren't ready for tonight's game (click here to read the rest of the story)

Mike Russo also has a blog article that is pretty critical of the Wild.

Because of the GOP Convention the Wild to hold training camp in Grand Forks, ND

Brad Elliott Schlossman from the Grand Forks Herald is reporting that the Minnesota Wild will be holding training camp at the REA. I believe this is a good thing and hopefully we will be able to attend some of the training camp activities.

Olli Jokinen to the Wild?

Here is a rumor that is gaining some traction on the Internet. All I can say if Mark Parish it has been nice knowing you. The Wild GM can not continue to flounder around and he has to make some decent moves to keep the Wild in the hunt. I can only dream of the possibilities or Gabby and Oli on the same line.

Jokinen talks may be heating up
By Brian Biggane
(read the whole article right here)
With the league holding its General Managers meetings in Detroit today, there are reports that several teams are lining up to talk to Jacques Martin about Panthers captain Olli Jokinen.

Eklund reports on hockeybuzz.com that Calgary, Minnesota and Vancouver could be among the frontrunners in offering what he terms “MAJOR packages to get Olli to move north.”

We wrote back in early April about the Calgary and Vancouver rumors. Of course, Mike Keenan and Jokinen still have a fondness for one another and the Flames are likely to lose their top center if Daymond Langkow becomes an unrestricted free agent July 1. Jokinen would certainly be considered an upgrade on Langkow and finally give Jarome Iginla a top center to play alongside.

Vancouver is only a few weeks into the regime of new GM Mike Gillis, but major moves are anticipated. And remember, Scott Mellanby just became a consultant to Gillis. Mellanby and Jokinen played together and the two have a mutual admiration.

Minnesota is a newcomer to the mix but after a couple of playoff disappointments there’s a sense the Wild want to make changes. Brian Rolston is headed for UFA status and GM Doug Risebrough may want to make a statement to convince him to stick around.

So what might be coming the other way? Calgary has an excellent blueline and might be willing to offer a high-end guy who could play alongside Jay Bouwmeester, thus perhaps enticing Bouw to sign that long-term deal Martin has been dangling for months. Vancouver may have soured on the Sedin twins; there were rumors Martin tried to get both for Jokinen at the trade deadline. Minnesota? Start with Mark Parrish, throw in a first-round draft pick and you’re in the ballpark.

Jacques Lemaire to coach the Wild next season.

(Jim Mone, Associated Press)

I am not so sure this is great news for Wild Fans? Jacques Lemaire the only coach to ever coach the Minnesota Wild will return to coach the Minnesota Wild next season. After watching the Wild struggle through the playoffs I thought maybe it was a good time for the Wild to make a move and hire a new coach.

Jacques Lemaire has decided to come back for an eighth season as the coach of the Minnesota Wild. The Wild have become stale and boring to watch and have had trouble beating the elite teams in the NHL.

Lemaire, 62, announced his decision to return behind the Wild bench in a news release Saturday.

"When you are younger, it's a lot easier to make a decision. At the end of the year, I said I wanted to ask questions of [general manager] Doug Risebrough. I wanted to make sure my boss is happy with the work I am doing and with the way I manage the team. This is what we talked about in our meetings. I am reassured of my work and I want to coach again," said Lemaire.

"My satisfaction behind the bench is getting the team to play the best it can, individually and as a group. Success will come with that."

Lemaire, the only coach in the franchise's history, has been in charge of the Wild since 2000.

Under Lemaire, Minnesota posted a 44-28-10 record during the 2007-08 regular season en route to winning the Northwest Division and finishing third overall in the Western Conference.

But that success did not carry over into the playoffs, as the Wild were eliminated in the first round by the Colorado Avalanche.

More from game four: Wild and Av's

This clip pretty much sums up the last game between the Wild and Av's a lot of trash talk and after the whistle bull. I like how Av's punk Cody McCloud talks big when he is either hiding in the box or standing behind the refs. Of course he will never do anything but take runs at people and turtle when he is challenged.

That being said; the Wild need to play more disciplined hockey and have a little less after the whistle stuff. The Wild can not continue to take foolish penalties and put the Av's on the power play. Also, the Avalanche have proved that they won't fight and will do enough to goad the Wild into a penalty.

What's up with the Denver Post writers?

I think the Denver Post should be ashamed of themselves, this is blatant gutter sports journalism. What the hell is wrong with this newspaper? First we get this moron's Mark Kiszla's Ugly Betty hockey in Colorado's future, the article was an absolute joke, that the Wild can't win unless they goon it up. That article was so bad that the Star and Tribune covered this skippy's story. Now the another writer says the Wild resorted to Goonery. Just for the recored the Colorado Avalanche's have more fighting majors this season than the Minnesota Wild this season.

Talk about one sided journalism, while I agree the Veilleux hit on Stansy was brutal, it could have been a five minute majors some of the other crap from the Avalanche's did was just as bad. Peter Forberg is an absolute dive queen, and should be given a unsportsman like conduct penatly for his antics. Check out the latest skippy from the Denver Post.

Adrian Dater Denver Post writes:

Frustrated and outplayed all night, the Wild resorted to some goonery after getting down 5-0, including a third-period boarding penalty on Stephane Veilleux where he left his feet to hit Colorado's Paul Stastny. While a suspension is probably unlikely because Stastny was not hurt, the fact he left his feet to deliver a potential dangerous hit from behind could warrant action from the NHL front office, which has cracked down on such infractions this year. Minnesota's Derek Boogaard also drew a 10-minute misconduct for shooting the puck down the ice after a penalty, then throwing an elbow to the head of David Jones.

Patrick Reusse wrote what a lot of Wild fans think of Ian LaPerriere the guy is a hack and loves to go around running the smaller skilled Wild players but wants nothing to do with the Boogey man.

We might as well take a Kiszlaesque shot here and point out what a classy guy the Avalanche has in LaPerriere. There were a couple of fighters on the ice -- normal-sized fellows -- but LaPerriere decided the guy to drop gloves with was Veilleux, the smallest guy on the ice at the time.

After his historic night of piling up penalties, Veilleux said it wasn't a case of the Wild being down big and trying to intimidate.

Bouchard scores in overtime.

It is about time that Pierre-Marc Bouchard earns his pay and scores a goal. The overtime goal sealed the win for the Wild as they took a two games to one lead in the best of seven series against the Av's. This is the third game of this series and all three have gone overtime. If you watch the film you will see that Brian Rolston beat the slow footed Jeff Finger to the puck.

Apparently the Denver Post blogger Mark Kiszla is less that impressed with the Wild. Funny I have never seen the Wild referred to as a bunch of goons. I think the Wild have gotten tougher with Voros Boogaard and Simon but they are far from being a bunch of gutless hacks and goons. But check out this article, talk about sour grapes.

Ugly Betty hockey in Colorado's future
By Mark Kiszla

Let the mugging begin.

It's the only way the Minnesota Wild can win.

To advance in the NHL playoffs, the Avalanche must embrace the darkness. When playing this goon-it- up Wild bunch, hockey is a no-holds- barred battle of attrition, not skill.

The only good thing that can be said about Minnesota's 3-2 overtime victory against Colorado was the game lasted so deep into the night that it ended past the bedtime of most kids who could be frightened by the way the Wild mauls all the beauty from the sport.

In a long playoff series, this is the Wild motto: If you can't beat 'em, break 'em.

"You hope to wear down the opposition," Minnesota mauler Aaron Voros said Monday.

"By Games 4, 5 or 6, those bumps and bruises start

Minnesota, the land of 10,000 dead car batteries, has an inferiority about this hockey team. The Wild's style of play is as ugly and obnoxious as the uniforms, which look as if designed by a toddler who randomly pulled two crayons from the box of 64 and began scribbling.

This hard truth makes the Wild faithful grumpier than they are after waking up to yet another subzero morning. But why deny what makes the team so successful?

Marian Gaborik vs. Ian Laperriere

Do the Wild really need their top forward mixing it up before the first round of the NHL playoffs? I think someone should remind Marian Gaborik what his role is; it's not to be a fighter/goon. Gaborik can leave that to Simon, Boogaard, Fedoruk aka the Fridge. It would have been really devastating to the Wild if Gaborik had broken a fist or gotten a concussion. Lastly, I would also like to know why Jacques Lemaire didn't have Derek Boogaard in the line up? I look for Wednesday's game to have a little bit of life to it. Apparently the Minnesota Wild were less than thrilled with Ian Laperriere.

Here is an explaination of what happen from the Star and Tribune: Colorado winger Ian Laperriere, a veteran of 161 NHL fights, did everything he could to get inside Wild star Marian Gaborik's head.

Taking advantage of a rare Gaborik third-period shift without bruising linemate Todd Fedoruk on the ice, Laperriere locked onto Gaborik's stick, collared his arm around Gaborik's head and drove Gaborik hard where the glass ends and the Avalanche bench begins.

"It was just battling on the boards and stuff," Laperriere said.

Then, at the end of overtime and knowing there was nobody but Wild skilled players on the ice, Laperriere again collided with Gaborik, the shocking result being Gaborik's first fighting major in 485 career games.

"We kind of collided, pushed, shoved and just happened to drop the gloves," said Gaborik, his right hand covered in gashes. "It happened so quick. It shows things are heating up. It's going to be a tough series. It's going to be a battle like five years ago."

When the Wild next meets Colorado, Gaborik plans to "play my game and leave that stuff for other guys."

And those "other guys," Fedoruk, Derek Boogaard and Chris Simon, weren't happy with Laperriere's antics.

"Obviously I'm going to be playing in the first game," said Boogaard, who was scratched Sunday. "We'll see if somebody has a problem then."

"We'll see if [Laperriere] does it again and on who," coach Jacques Lemaire said.

Hot Stove Hockey: A trip down Memory Lane

The
Wild Puck Banter had a clip from the 2003 Stanley Cup Playoffs that sent the Av's to the golf course and Patrick Roy into retirement. Unfortunately there won't be any great hockey moments this season because the Wild brass have decided to nickle and dime the fans by going on a shoe string budget and failing to pick up any key free agents.