Mike Yeo: Wild starting job in goal wide open

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As we make our way towards the NHL season there's more hockey news starting to emerge. The Wild are going to have a stable of goalies this season. According to Minnesota Wild head coach Mike Yeo, the position is wide open.

NHL Insider -- The Minnesota Wild will enter training camp next month with three goaltenders, Josh Harding, Niklas Backstrom and Darcy Kuemper, competing for the starting job. Wild coach Mike Yeo said each will have a chance to win the No. 1 job.

"I have to say we're kind of open right now, to be honest with you," Yeo told Michael Russo of the Star Tribune on Wednesday during an appearance at the Minnesota State Fair. "We're going to have some scrimmages … but we're going to have to pretty quickly determine who we want to give a greater workload to after that. That's going to be a good challenge."

Obviously, they Wild are going to  need to sign Darcy Kuemper who remains an unsigned restricted free agent. There's also many questions about Niklas Backstrom and Josh Harding's health. Neither has been able to play a full season the last two years.

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Minnesota Wild: Jason Zucker done for the season

It's been a tough season for the former DU Pioneer forward Jason Zucker and his season with the Minnesota Wild is probably over after having knee surgery.

Michael Russo, Star Tribune --- Zucker probably out for year.

Winger Jason Zucker is likely out for the season, General Manager Chuck Fletcher said. He will likely need additional knee surgery after aggravating his injury while training.

“It’s gone from something minor to not,” Fletcher said.

#mnwild GM Chuck Fletcher says Jason Zucker is likely out for season. Reaggravated knee injury. "Gone from something minor to not."
— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) March 18, 2014

Jason Zucker is likely out for the remainder of the season with a knee injury. He said he'll comment on the injury at a later time.
— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) March 18, 2014

A look at "Jason Zucker's Lost Season", and what the future may hold for Zucker with the #mnwild. http://t.co/2ATGHW1fWX
— Hockey Wilderness (@hockeywildernes) March 19, 2014

Jeff Dubay resurfaces - talks about his addiction

s/t @Bruce Ciskie... The P.A. and Dubay show from nine to noon, Monday through Friday was a very popular radio show on KFAN for 10 years; then in the fall of 2008, co-host Jeff Dubay’s world fell apart on him. For college hockey fans Dubay filled the college hockey void that Minneapolis, St. Paul and the upper Midwest had.

Since his dismissal from KFAN – the station has lacked a daily college hockey presence – until recently. While Ryan Cardinal of Gopher Puck Live has done a good job filling in on Thursdays, the station has never been the same since Dubay left KFAN 100.3, there has been a void that has yet to be filled.

That being said, I do have to give credit where credit is due, Paul Allen has incorporated some good hockey minds like Michael Russo of the Star Tribune and Allen has also improved in his knowledge of the game of hockey.

Chad Hartman, MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) —“When somebody brought this out and set it on the table, I’d never seen this before,” Dubay said. “It’s these chunky, little white things. I thought, ‘What the heck is it?’ The guy said, ‘It’s rock.’ I still didn’t know what it was. I still didn’t know it was crack cocaine.”

The drug was a break from the depression, but it quickly became a habit.

“You took the drug and then the drug took you,” he said. “And that’s all it took. I was done for the next two years.”

In October 2008, while driving home after buying crack, an officer started pulling Dubay over for a broken taillight.

Dubay panicked and threw the drugs out the window. But officers found them.

“I was crying, saying, ‘My life is over.’ Please don’t. Just please give me a break,’” he recalled.

You can listen to the whole interview right here. I ran into Jeff Dubay three years ago during the WCHA Final Five and have often wondered what had happened to him. Hartman's interview on WCCO kind of catches us up. Thankfully Dubay has been clean since May of 2011. I hope that Jeff can finally get his act together and go on to live a healthy life.

Latendresse calls himself symptom-free, wants to stay

This is is one of those stories of what could've been - Guillaume Latendresse came to the Minnesota Wild via trade that sent Benoit Pouliot to the Montreal Canadians on On November 23, 2009 and started out on fire scoring 25 goals in his first 55 games in a Minnesota Wild uniform before he was then out of the line up for the past two seasons with a myriad of injuries... There seems to be a lot of risk with this potential signing.

One of the biggest concern is Lattendresse had a concussion last season and missed most of last season and as we have seen with the Pittsburgh Penguins super star Sidney Crosby, Boston Bruins forward Marc Savard and with the Minnesota Wild's Pierre-Marc Bouchard concussion are can return again and linger for some time. All three players suffered multiple concussions and the Bruins Savard's is no longer in the NHL and Bouchard could soon join Savard in the retirement line if he doesn't get healthy but also stay healthy. 

Michael Russo, Star Tribune --- Latendresse, after being treated by a concussion specialist in Georgia who uses a contraption called a "GyroStim," has declared himself symptom-free from a concussion that destroyed his 2011-12 campaign. He said he can return to being the thunderous power forward who scored 25 goals in 55 games after a November 2009 trade from Montreal.

"It's like I never had any concussion," Latendresse said from his home in Montreal. "I feel 100 percent. I'm doing training like before. I have nothing. I can't even remember when my last headache was." But that doesn't mean the Wild will re-sign Latendresse. While collecting $5 million, Latendresse has played only 27 of 162 games over the past two seasons because of injuries.

The Wild would have to tender him a qualifying offer of $2.5 million by June 25 to retain his rights and make him a restricted free agent. That's unlikely. "I know I won't get a qualifying offer," Latendresse said. "I'm 100 percent sure about that. It's pretty obvious with my last two years."

This would be a perfect player for the Minnesota Wild to sign to a one year contract that based on incentives. If Latendresse isn't healthy you fail to re-sign him in the off-season.

For all of your Minnesota Wild Ticket needs you can purchase tickets on this link See Minnesota Wild games.

Mikael Granlund is now part of the Wild

Michael Russo of the Star Tribune was on KFAN with Paul Allen last week talking about the Wild signing Mikael Granlaund. Russo informed Allen that as soon as the World Championship was over, the Minnesota Wild would sign the young star. That wait is now over and the Wild now have their top prospect signed up and ready to go.

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"Some" GM's want to reinstate the center-ice red line in an attempt to curb concussions.

 This is a horrible idea, it would slow down the game and make the game of hockey less exciting to watch because it would cause more whistles and stoppages.

BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP)----The GMs began three days of meetings Monday. Several have said they would like to see the red line and two-line passes return in an effort to slow the game in the neutral zone, which might reduce the rate of concussions by making collisions less violent.

There is opposition, however, with many arguing that the removal of the red line in 2005 made the game more entertaining.

''We're looking at ways to make the game safer without taking away the physical nature of the sport,'' Minnesota Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher said. ''It's a balance you're always trying to strike.'

Related articles

• NHL GMs debate return of center-ice red line (sportsillustrated.cnn.com)
• GMs expected to debate return of the red line (espn.go.com)
• Josh Harding Injury: Wild Goalie Puts Minnesota In A Tough Spot (minnesota.sbnation.com)
• Chuck Fletcher to Wild veterans: It's all your fault (prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com)
• Wild Trade Rumors 2012: Chuck Fletcher Hasn't Asked Marek Zidlicky to Waive No-Trade Clause (minnesota.sbnation.com)

The types of hits that need to be eliminated from hockey

Tom Serratore of Minnesota hit UND defenseman Andrew MacWilliam up high in the head area with with the shoulder, this is the types of hits that the NHL is cracking down on, this is also a play needs to be more than a 2 minute minor penalty.This is hit is a text book example of what should be a five minute major and a game misconduct.

With Jenna Privette of Burnsville and Jack Jablonski of Benilde-St. Margaret’s both being paralized with dangerous hits this has got to stop, the players need to show some respect for their fellow competitors.This is a dangerous hit and here is the still shot of the hit as well.

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• Mark Alt's CFB on Michael Parks (mvn.com)
• Benilde-St. Margaret's Jack Jablonski hurt by dangerous check (mvn.com)
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• Hockey check hospitalizes another teen (startribune.com)