wings5gal

Scratch that on Backstrom being the official starter. There's now talk of Harding starting since both goalies are dealing with minor injuries. I guess the goaltending for the Wild will be determined later on. All this is on the Wild page on the Lighthouse blog for the practice report.

Boogaard is officially scratched for tonight with the hamstring. So either Shepherd will be on the 4th line or they'll bring John Scott up from D to play up at forward. Backstrom is the official starter, especially as Harding does have a hip injury that was originally going to sideline him 1-2 weeks, but he has declared himself ok to back up Backstrom.

According to Russostrib (covers the Wild) Scott and Boogaard are scratched for tonight. Burns is in after being activated from IR. Clayton Stoner has been moved to IR. I'm glad to see Howard in the net. As Redstorm said, he needs the chance to redeem himself after last year. That was brutal. And I'll also be in attendance tonight.

Well, supposedly, he won't be injury prone after this season now that he's been surgically repaired. On both hips now. And, well, after spending the majority of the season in IR, he isn't worth what he thinks he it. Honestly, the Wild will offer him the best contract, simply based on the fact that he's spent his career there and they know what he can do healthy.

Where did you hear talks with the Wild are going well? Before Risebourough got fired, they had deteriorated into nonexistent. They haven't really started with Fletcher yet.

I've worked for most of them. The only game I've been able to see and will be able to see was game 5. I think I may be the only person grateful for NBC coverage, as I work in a nursing home, and well, a lot of residents watch the news and then don't change their channels, so I sometimes catch bits and pieces. Unfortunately, they're all usually in bed by 8:30. (I'm in Central time). Although I do have computer access and am on yahoo sports checking the score as I'm charting. I am having parents tape the next one for me, and anything after that.

I didn't see it, but now I've got a headagche from trying to figure out how he can possibly look like more of an idiot. I'll try to watch it when I'm not worn out from work.

You could probably do it if you got Rafalski and Datsyuk to waive their NTCs and agree to go somewhere else. Lidstrom would be another NTC that you could ask him if he wants to waive it and go somewhere else. But I'd like to keep those three here. Buyouts aren't really an option as then the Wings are still responsible for some if not all of the salary (I can't remember how much...I just know that right now it's putting a kink in for the Wild as they've got a million plus tied up in Parrish for a few years even though he did a try out with Dallas and is getting a salary from them) And for a trade...then they have to pay the new guy. Best bet is with the contract renewals...and that leaves Kopecky, Sammy, Huds, Conks, Howard, Hossa, and the guys from GR as the main players. I don't envy Ken Holland one bit right now. I have a feeling though that retaining Huds could get tricky due to the RFA situation. With everything going on and being so close to the cap, it won't be hard for another team with money to burn to make an offer Detroit can't match. They're going to want to sign Huds and sign him early if they plan to keep him.

Exactly...he was checking to see if the trainer wanted diet or regular coke.

And Hossa makes up for it. And are they switching goalies? I think they are... oooohhhhhh......

Flippper

MUUUUUUUULE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GO WINGS

I'm just shocked O Halloran made a call favoring the Wings. I mean, there's really no way he could have not made it and gotten away with it, but.... WE WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ozzie - You can do it

He's retired as coach of the Wild, but hasn't said that he's done with coaching altogether. So he may appear somewhere else. If someone wants him.

The best announcement Leipold has made yet. According to other articles, he'd made the decision a month ago...was just waiting for the season to be over to announce it. I saw this and my jaw nearly hit the floor. I'd been praying. Honestly, I'm not sure there could be a worse GM. But...again...I could be wrong. Hoping I'm not though. It was going to be a rebuilding year for the Wild...I guess now it REALLY is.

He's not planning to go to Montreal. link It's on page 3 of the article. He's made some other comments in other articles about the media there. He was the Head coach there in the 80s and the media was part of why he left if you look at his bio on the Hockey Hall of fame website. He also worked upstairs in the organization. It doesn't sound like he wants to go back to Montreal at this point. I'm sure the Wild has stressed him enough. It'll be interesting to see where he ends up though. I honestly thought before I read the article that it would be Montreal...kinda a finishing where you started thing. And it still could happen...I'm just not betting on it.

Amen. I am a MN girl and a wild fan as well. And the trade deadline was horrible. I'm cringing at the thoughts of who will walk away for nothing come free agency. The guy can't trade anyone for a bag of pucks, and he can't pick worth a crap. There's a quote I read somewhere by JL and I know I'll never be able to find it again, but it was criticism of Doug, and was along the lines of "This is what you get when you shop at Wal-mart instead of Macys."

Way to go Huddles!!!!! Let's keep that streak going for the playoffs.

Well, I am a bit sad to see him go. He's been with the team since the beginning, and with the injury obstacles and well, to be perfectly honest, some of the roster the Wild had this year, I think he's about the only one that could have taken the team as far as they went. They did finish just 2 points out of 8th place. Which was a lot further than many, including myself expected them to go. And I will miss the Blackhawks and Kris Versteeg complaining about the trap. Since they can't beat it. As for if hockey in MN will get more exciting...not really sure. The front runner is apparently the Aeros coach, Kevin Constantine...so if he becomes coach, I'd expect more of the same only maybe not as good. Everyone one on the Wild boards, including myself is hoping Riseborough does do a thorough job of looking at new coaches and either promotes Ramsey or brings in someone from outside the organization since no one wants Constantine. But, well, it's DR....they guy can't trade a good player for more than a pick and even that he screws up. But, as this is a JL thread...all I'll do is thank him for the 9 years and for the ride.

Yay...I'll be able to watch a good chunk of it since I don't have to leave for work until 1:30. , According to Mlive, Kopecky's out with a shoulder injury. Also, according the Wild NHL homepage, Cal Clutterbuck is going to be micc'd up at some point. That should be interesting. No prediction from me. Depends on which Red Wings team shows up and which Wild team does.

Anyone else watching the Wild/Flames game? Flames just had 2 Power Play goals waved off in a span of about 2 minutes. Never really got a reason for the first one...first thought was goalie interference, second one was stick above the crossbar. And as I type this, they just scored a goal that wasn't waved off. Score is 2-3 in favor of the flames. But yeah...just thought that was freaky.

I think we should also add LGW people worried about flooding in ND/MN. I was reading about it in the paper (I'm still too far south at this point), and my first thought was...gee, I hope 55fan is ok. Second thought...maybe I spend a little too much time on the internet (esp. since I was reading the paper online) Anyway, here's to hoping for a comeback in the 3rd. C'mon Wings...You Can Doooooo It.

Pogge got slaughtered by the Wild. He's not ready to be a starter. I wouldn't put that kind of pressure on him just yet. And Backstrom; plain and simple, the Wings cannot afford him. Even if he stays to his current salary of 3.1 million. But that is expected to increase this year. I doubt there's any cap space available for him...even dumping Ozzie and Conklin's salaries won't add up to it. If we were to re-sign Hossa and sign Backstrom, we'd be looking at dumping Hudler, and Sammy and possibly Franzen and trading Flip. If we re-sign Franzen, it'd be dumping Hudler, and Sammy and possibly Hossa, and trading Flip. Besides, he has already stated that he wants to stay in Minnesota on several occasion and would like to re-sign there. It's kinda unclear if they are negotiating with him yet, but then MN does have a history of losing good goalies on the open market.