Weekly Poll

Please check out a the new poll I put on the right hand side. This week's question deals with the Wild's captaincy. I limited it to 5, but there are certainly other viable choices.

Best Wild Moment Ever

Here's "The Goal" by Andrew Brunette that ended the career of No. 33.

And when you get done watching this one, click on the Game 6 OT winner by Richard Park that's on the bottom of the screen. That one still gives me chills.

Wild Barbeque

We're hosting a small neighborhood gathering in a few weeks, and while I was going through the guestlist I asked myself "which member of the Wild would I like to have over for such a party?" Good question indeed. Here are the nominees:

• Jacques Lemaire: he'd be the logicial choice, but I think my other guests would have trouble understanding him with the heavy french-canadian accent, and nobody wants to hear about the beauty of the trap while enjoying margaritas.
  
• Marian Gaborik: the fast-skating forward wouldn't be a good guest because he'd probably slip into my basement to play the PS2.
• Derek Boogaard: we've got a lot of kids in the neighborhood who'd appreciate his defensive fighting school, but he'd eat too many brats to make the event affordable.
• Brian Rolston: another good option, but I have a feeling he'd start out the party on fire, telling funny stories and mixing incredible drinks. Then towards the second half of the party he'd become boring and we wouldn't even know he was here.
• Martin Skoula: too easy to take a shot at him here. Something about turning over the potato salad might be appropriate.
  
• Which leaves me with Keith Carney. You just know he's got some great hockey stories, and I hear he's one hell of a jart player. Plus, he'd tire after about 15 minutes and go home, not wearing out his stay.
  

Lemaire's Heir?

Just how many years does Jacques Lemaire have left behind the Wild bench? That's the question DR must ask himself every spring after the Wild get eliminated from the playoffs. Some would argue that the NHL has passed Lemaire by; they'd say that his defense-first style of play has no place in the league anymore.

I wouldn't argue that, but one has to wonder how many more years Jacques would like to coach. My gut tells me that he's got 1 or 2 years and then he'll retire again. Assuming he leaves, who is his most likely successor?

Mario Tremblay? Nope, I think the Wild would want to go a bit younger.

Coach Ramsey? Perhaps, but I'm guessing DR would want a fresh voice behind the bench.

How about Houston Aeros new coach Kevin Constantine? The guy's got NHL head coaching experience and by the time Jacques retired, and Constantine would have 1-2 years coaching the Wild's top prospects in Houston. Constantine would be the logical choice.

In fact, I don't think it's too outrageous to speculate that Lemaire went to DR during this offseason and told him he's got 2 years left. DR then went out and hired Lemaire's successor for the Aeros club. Makes perfect sense to me.

Brandi Covers Radiohead

Here's a quick video of Brandi Carlile covering a great, great Radiohead song.

I promise more hockey posts next week.

Ice Road Truckers

Next summer I think I'll take a month off from work, move to Northern Canada and become an Ice Road Trucker. I flipped over to the History Channel the other night and saw this show, which appears to be a bad copy of Discovery's "Deadliest Catch". At first I thought it was going to be about the history of Zambonis, but I was sorely mistaken. This is a show about guys who drive big semi-trucks across icebergs, delivering equipment to far north settlements. At the end of the show they get paid, just like on "Catch".

Why is this show on The History Channel anyways? Didn't they use to feature programming about history? I don't get it; I used to be able to watch that channel to learn about old civilizations while sitting on my couch eating doritos, but those days are gone apparently. Speaking of the doritos, has anyone checked out their Smoky BBQ flavor? For me it was a bit of an odd taste...BBQ doesn't belong on a dorito. Stick with cheesy flavors please.

Summer Warning

With Wild hockey news in short supply this time of year (not withstanding today's signing of Josh Harding to a 2 year contract), I thought I'd offer fair warning that the upcoming series of posts may not be entirely hockey-related. This is just a slow news time of year for hockey rubes, that's all.

I don't think I've ever posted anything music-related before, but I heard something the other day that I really liked. It's Brandi Carlile's "The Story". Amazing voice in this chick, a bit Joplin-esque if you ask me. Of course now that I've heard it once, I seem to hear it all of the time now on the radio.

Noble Sid

Who else can take $45 million over 5 years and be called a "hero" for taking less money to remain in Pittsburgh, playing the game you love and getting paid more than anyone else in the world at the age of 19? I'm tired of reading the reactions of hockey columnists who think Sid should be applauded for signing this extension. People, the kid signed for his market value. He's the best skater in the league and is now going to get paid accordingly. Good contract for Sid and the Penguins, but let's not kid ourselves by using this as another reason to laud him for "taking less".

Vancouver Used to Really Suck

I'm reading Ross Bernstein's book "The Code" now. It's a pretty good read about fighting in the NHL and it reminded me of the glory days for us Canuck-haters. Remember back in the day when they had Brad May, Todd Bertuzzi, Jarkko Ruutu and were coached by Marc Crawford? Matt Cooke was also on that team. Those were the days. Besides Cooke, who else is there to hate these days? I guess Dave Cowan might be a good place to start, but it's not quite the same as Ruutu or May. Even their friggin' head coach seems like a good guy.

Some would say I should direct my hatred towards the Anaheim Ducks, but as easy as that may be for a Wild fan, it just isn't as fun because there isn't much of a fan base to piss off. Here I can take one mild shot at the Canucks and spur 20 comments spewing with venom from Canuck fans. If I post something irrational about the Ducks I barely get a whisper from Cali. Sure, Earl may react, but that's about it.

Thank goodness Calgary hired Mike Keenan.

It's Wicked Hot

There are only a handful of days in Minneapolis when a person can say "damn! It's wicked hot today." Tomorrow is going to be one of those days with a high around 97 degrees F. For those readers in Canada, 97 degrees F is wicked hot.

Not much new on the Wild front, although I'd like to give a quick opinion regarding the recent signing of one Pierre-Marc Bouchard. Bouchard and the club reached agreement on a 1 year contract for around 2.3 million yesterday. I go back and forth on PMB, some days I think he's the next Adam Oates, and then other days I think he's Scott Bjugstad. Today I'm in the latter's camp. PMB really needs to assert himself this year and become more than just a fancy stickhandler that's got a dazzling spin-o-rama. PMB needs numbers like 30-60-90 and then, only then will I want him to sign the 4-year, $12.0m contract he's seeking.

Viva La Duluth!

Wild sources indicate free agent defenseman, and Duluth native, Sean Hill, will sign with the Wild in the next few days. Hill, a graduate of Duluth East High School(*), is a 37 year old, rugged defenseman who will bring some sorely-needed attitude to the blue-line for the club. Think of him as a nastier version of Keith Carney. It's expected to be a 1 year incentive-laden contract.

(*) I won't hold this against him, however. I also won't continue to hold a grudge against Hill because he shunned the University of Minnesota-Duluth and went to play for some other school in Madison. Well, maybe just a little grudge.

Farewell Mr. Fernandez

Well, I guess Russo didn't screw it up too badly. The Wild traded yesterday to the Boston Bruins for Czech prospect Manny Fernandez for Czech prospect Petr Kalus. Manny and his $4.33 million are on their way to Boston and the Wild now have some money to spend in the free agent market.

Before I get too happy with my Manny-bashing, let's remember he's served this team well. He was one of the original members of the team and played well for many years. He was part of the duo that led the team to the 2003 Conference Finals, he played at Vezina level at times, and always gave me something to write about.

Having said that, it was clear that he was a divisive force on this team. Constantly yapping and complaining, he was the squeaky wheel that always sought the grease. He consistently thought Wild management and coaches didn't have much confidence in him and could never get the chip off of his shoulder, despite making $4.33 million. Here's one last Manny quote from yesterday that pretty much sums up his attitude about his time here:

"This is something that's been juggling in a circle for a long time now, whether they'd trade me or not. There's been questons my whole time here, whether I was doing good or not, there's always talk about me getting traded."