Tasty Brownie! Kings ink young phenom to 6-year extension among others

The future is now for the Kings

There have been a few contract extensions handed out in the NHL recently, topping the list are the Los Angeles Kings, who signed forward Dustin Brown to a 6-year contract extension today.

The former 13th overall pick from the 2003 draft has 4 goals and 4 assists so far in 11 games with the Kings and has been a star on the rise ever since his definitive entry to the NHL in 2005-2006, putting up 14 and 17 goal seasons since then.
His points total have been on a uprise as well...from 28 to 46, and if his current pace continues, he will finish the season in the 70-point area.

Brown is poised to become a 30-40 goal scorer with huge upside, and he's a mainstay in Los Angeles for at least 6 more years.
All this at such a young age, the 22-year old Ithaca, New York native will turn 23 on November 4th.

Kings GM Dean Lombardi on "Brownie":

Dustin is an integral part of what we are building here with the Kings.
We like how he competes; we like his toughness; and we are very pleased with how his overall game has developed.

"An integral part" is not far off with guys like Mike Cammalleri (10 G, 3 A), sophomore sensation Anze Kopitar (4 G, 8 A) and star Alex Frolov (3 G, 7 A) all destined for superstardom (or at least come close to it).

On defence? They're well equiped with former Hurricanes prospect Jack Johnson (1 G, 1 A), veteran goldie Rob Blake (1 G, 4 A), the dangerous Lubomir Visnovsky (1 G, 7 A) to go along with new faces Brad Stuart (1 G, 2 A), Tom Preissing (0 G, 2 A) and another guy who's been around a while, Jaroslav Modry (0 G, 1 A).

On paper? They're awesome...but the defence has had its own problems this year totally a paltry -14 rating with Modry being the only blueliner in the plus column (+4).

Kings fans are calling for Rob Blake's head because of his shoddy defensive work and inconsistent performance on the attack...Stuart and Preissing are off to slow starts...Johnson is still adapting with Visnovsky and Modry leading the way.

The future is definitely bright in sunny LA, but can the Kings finally pull out of their misery with the younglings and big names picked up this offseason?

Their current 5-6 start could be better, but if you look at last year, it could be worse.

They have the talent, time to fully exploit it...look for the Kings to be serious contenders now or possibly in the near future

Draper stays in Detroit:
The Red Wings have retained former Selke winner Kris Draper, signing the 36-year old to a new 3-year contract that will pay him $1.6 million per season.

Kenny Holland calls Draper an essential part of the team's core:
Kris has been such an important part of this organization's success.
We are fortunate to have secured a player with his leadership qualities and work ethic for the next three seasons.

He has 5 assists to start the season and has put up double digits in goals for the past 4 campaigns.

Minnesota locks up Burns:
Brent Burns is only 22 but already a force on Minnesota's blueline.
The Wild locked him up to a 4-year contract worth about $14.2 million or an average payout of $3.55 million per season.
Minnesota's former 1st round pick is +6 this season and hopes to repeat the +16 rating he put up last year.

I like Doug Risebrough's reasoning when it comes to these big long deals being thrown around:
Long-term contracts are about projection now.
Not about what they'll make, but their ability to earn it and make things happen during the length of the contract.

Panthers sign Cullimore:
The Florida Panthers have reportedly signed defenceman Jassen Cullimore to a 1-year contract including a 2-week conditioning stint in the minors, likely to replace the injured Noah Welch as the team's 7-8 defenceman.

Markov to Russia:
The Danny Markov free-agent saga is officially over...the veteran signed a contract to play in Russia with Dynamo for the upcoming season and TSN reports that his deal includes an out clause that would allow him to come to North America and sign with another team next summer.
Markov was rumoured to be seeking between $2.5 and $3.5 million, but teams like the Boston Bruins and New York Islanders backed out because of salary cap constraints.

-BBeR

Wild are kicking ass...it's that simple!

The Minnesota Wild have been on a tear since the start of the 2007-2008 season.

A 3-1 win in St. Louis against the Blues last night pushed Minnesota's record to an outstanding and a little surpising 6-0-1, to lead the Western Conference.

Centres Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Eric Belanger and winger Brian Rolston are all tied for their team's lead in points with 7 heading into Sunday night's matchup against the Colorado Avalanche.

What's surprising about the absolutely Wild run?

Their team has only 17 goals scored in 7 games...the lowest among all division leaders in the NHL...but that isn't unexpected, as Jacques Lemaire's squad tends to focus more on the defensive side of things rather than potting goals in the other end despite having a guy like Marion Gaborik on their front (who is not doing so hot to start the year).

Lemaire and the fans can thank veteran 'tender Nicklas Backstrom for their league low 9 goals against to start the year; the 29-year old Finn has posted phenomenal numbers in his first season as the undisputed number one after the Wild parted ways with Manny Fernandez this summer with 4 of the team's 6 wins, a 1.38 average and a 0.945 SPCT% that are amongst the top 3 in each respective category.

And to add insult to injury for opposing teams, the Wild lead the league in home shutouts with 2 (both from Backstrom) to go along with 3 straight home wins and are the only team in the NHL that have yet to lose a game in regulation on home ice.
They tied the Detroit Red Wings for home victories in 2006-2007 with an astonishing 29.

The new guy in Minny, centre Eric Belanger, says the team has the city's fans to thank for their recent success at home:

"You have the Canadian cities that are pretty loud, but after that, this is top-five in the league for sure."

Belanger has clicked well with linemates Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Brian Rolston, all are tied for the team lead in points.

But one can wonder how much longer the Wild can hold back Josh Harding from taking over as the number one goalie for the team after several succesful seasons in Houston and Minnesota.
Things are looking bright for Minnesota in goal, especially with Backstrom holding the fort with his bulletproof numbers and Josh Harding pressing for playing time with a convincing 37-save shutout effort against the defending Stanley Cup Champs Ducks in his season debut one week ago.

Petr Kalus, highly-touted scoring prospect acquired from the Bruins in the Manny Fernandez deal, did not make the club out of training camp and has been melting away with the team's minor-league club Aeros in the AHL.
Kalus has yet to show why the Bruins and then Wild were so hot about his scoring potential, after potting 4 goals in only 9 games with Boston last season.

But don't forget Minnesota's fast start to the previous campaign did not last, and one can only hope that it will for the sake of hockey and its great fans in Midwestern Minnesota.

No matter which way you look at it, the Wild seem poised for great things...now only if Marion Gaborik would wake up and do what we think he could do best for a team that is goal-hungry in a city waiting for the rise from mediocrity too long.

-BBeR

Sabres Lose to Wild 2-1 in North Dakota

The Sabres dropped a 2-1 decision in Grand Forks, ND, Monday, in a pre-season tilt with the Minnesota Wild. Phillipe Gogulla scored the Sabres only goal, set up by Marek Zagrapan. Jocelyn Thibault (above) started and played the whole way making 20 saves. He was the games third star.

The game was a homecoming, of sorts, for Paul Gaustad, who grew up in the area and Drew Stafford who played at the University of North Dakota. According to Jim Lorentz Gaustad had 65 tickets for the game.

On Sunday the Sabres and Blue Jackets finished off the back-to-back fight fest with the Sabres scoring a 3-2 shoot out victory. The game highlighted bouts in the first period between Sabres enforcer Andrew Peters and Jackets tough guys Tommy Sestito and Jody Shelley in seperate bouts. Al Kotalik and Jason Pominville scored the goals for Buffalo and Ryan Miller went the whole way in net.

In the shootout Miller shut the Jackets down and Max Afinigenov and Kotalik both scored on their opportunities for Buffalo.

News and Notes:

36 players remain in camp

No major injuries to report.

The team returned five players to their junior clubs:
Benjamin Breault (Baie-Comeau, QMJHL)
Jean-Simon Allard (St. John’s, QMJHL)
Paul Byron (Gatineau, QMJHL)
Drew Schiestel (Niagara, OHL)
T.J. Brennan (St. John’s, QMJHL)

Wild deal Fernandez to Boston as Tkachuk signs pact with Blues

I'll get more up on this later, just wrote a huge post on Briere and Drury, so I'm kinda pooped, but here's the basic:

The Boston Bruins have finally got their no.1 goalie, and no, it's not Evgeni Nabokov like many fans might've hoped but the well-rested Manny Fernandez, who after a breakout 2005-2006 season in which he stole the starting role from now Oilers goalie, Dwayne Roloson, missed a huge chunk of 2006-2007 to multiple injuries and eventually lost his starting role to the emerged and fully loaded Niklas Backstrom.

This deal per the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Fernandez was expendable from the Wild's point of view, with their new no.1 man in Backstrom and Josh Harding itching to finally get playing time, there was no more room for him.
His $4 million salary is also a hefty addition to the Bruins' payroll, and should hinder them from targeting any major players on this summer's UFA market.

The Wild received top prosepct Peter Kalus, who had an awesome end-of-season stint with the Bruins last year and impressed many many people.
I guess Minnesota fans can consider Kalus a replacement for Patrick O'Sullivan, another top prospect, who was dealt to the LA Kings at last year's draft for Pavol Demitra.
They got O'Sullivan back, but now his name's Kalus.

The Blues have also signed forward Keith Tkachuk to a 2-year deal worth $4 million per season.
Tkachuk's a valuable asset to any lineup and his return to St. Louis is heroic and I hope they seriously turn it around next year, they have the tools, all they gotta do is bring in a big name tomorrow.

--BBR

Wild's Future Promising

Over the last past few days, a couple of Minnesota's youngsters have been named to their respective country's "World Championships" roster. Those two youngsters being american forward Adam Hall and canadian defenseman Nick Schultz.

Schultz was drafted in 2000 by the Wild, 33rd overall, and has been with the young franchise ever since. The 24-year old is scheduled to become an unrestricted free-agent this summer and is expected to be re-signed by the Wild.

To the opposite of Schultz, Hall has been a Minnesota Wild since this year's trade deadline, the day he was acquired from the New York Rangers for forward Pascal Dupuis. Hall is also expected to become an unrestricted free-agent this summer, but has an uncertain future with Minnesota.

Both young skaters are talented and promising: Schultz, a steady defenseman with vast offensive potential, (even though he needs to adjust his skills to the Wild's restricted defensive system) and Hall, a confident forward who loves using his size and strength in the offensive zone.

Wild Offseason Preview

The Expression on Niklas Backstrom's face says it all...

The Wild's season having ended abruptly last night in Anaheim, I thought this was in order:

Minnesota Wild: 48-26-8, finished 2nd in Northwest Division, 7th in the Western Conference. Were eliminated by the Anaheim Ducks, in 5 games (1-4).

1) Current financial obligations

FORWARDS:
W Marian Gaborik, 6.50 M$
W Pavol Demitra, 4.50 M$
W Mark Parrish, 2.65 M$
W Brian Rolston, 2.43 M$
C Dominic Moore, 0.70 M$
W Branko Radivojevic, 0.68 M$
W Stephane Veilleux, 0.59 M$
--------------------------------
TOTAL: 18.50 M$

UFA
C Todd White
C Wes Walz

RFA
C Pierre-Marc Bouchard
C Mikko Koivu
W Derek Boogaard
W Adam Hall

DEFENSEMEN:
Kim Johnsson, 4.80 M$
Keith Carney, 2.10 M$
Petteri Nummelin, 1.00 M$
Brent Burns, 0.87 M$
--------------------------------
TOTAL: 8.77 M$

UFA
Martin Skoula

RFA
Nick Schultz
Kurtis Foster

GOALTENDERS:
Manny Fernandez, 4.50 M$
---------------------------------
TOTAL: 4.50 M$

UFA
Niklas Backstrom

RFA
Josh Harding

2) Needs and Donts

- Along with his average 44 points, Todd White proved that he was expendable from the Wild's point of view. With the acquisition of Dominic Moore (as a late pickup), White's role was once again questioned and undecided:

Was he going to be Minnesota's 3rd line center or 4th ?
Was he going to be the Wild's 2nd line center if Mikko Koivu ran out of gas, was he going to be able to fill the role he was signed to occupie ?...

Wild fans are still wondering why White was signed... but the sure thing is he is expendable with the presence of the speedy Dominic Moore. Another question is if he can find a better job elsewhere, plenty of factors for his unprobable re-signing.

- Martin Skoula was a decent defenseman during his stay with the Wild, he even proved that he could bring a steady presence to it's defensive core, but I think that he is due for a change, and so are the Wild. With an important lack of defensemen who can play steady defense and score goals, Doug Risebrough might start targeting defensemen like Brian Rafalski (if not re-signed by NJ), Brent Sopel (if not re-signed by VC) and Brad Stuart (if not re-signed by CGY) who could spark the Wild's offense as well as providing serious defense.

- Manny Fernandez, once again, showed the Wild why he cannot be trusted with the starting goalie's role, without having a precise and reliable plan B... B for Backstrom?

Backstrom will probably be re-signed and start the '07-'08 campaign as Minnesota's no.1 keeper. On the other hand, Fernandez's salary is at a hefty 4.5 million dollars with an immediate 4.33 million dollar cap-hit, which, if not starting, is completely ridiculous to pay him. Backstrom might also only want to sign with the Wild if Manny is completely out of the way... thus rendering a Fernandez trade probable. Interested teams might include the Phoenix Coyotes, Florida Panthers and the Los Angeles Kings... but add a severe knee injury and Manny's age, 34, to the case, and you appear to be a clear loser... Even though Risebrough might not get a good player in return for Fernandez, a trade would be a complete gain for the Wild, loosening up all that important cap space, and a clear sign of relief.

3) Offensive Preview

- The Wild's first line for the 2007-2008 season is set (Gaborik/Koivu/Demitra), which causes the focus to be on the "less important" combinations for the Minnesota Wild.

- Rolston is a sure lock on the 2nd line and so is Pierre-Marc Bouchard, but can Mark Parrish, who had a despicable season with 39 points in 76 contests, regain the form he had when he scored at least 25 goals "some many seasons ago" ? That is an important clause for the Wild's second line.

- The 3rd line is also uncertain, with a mix of gritty forwards looking in on it, Dominic Moore, Branko Radivojevic, Stephane Veilleux and Adam Hall will give it their all to make it onto the young franchise's 3rd assortment of offensive players.

- I would also not be suprised to see the Wild go after a certain number of gritty and experienced forwards, to fill a certain number of spots on both of their 3rd and 4th lines.

Ducks buring Minnesota alive...

Man, the Ducks are kicking ass!

No offense to Ducks fans, but the team looked a little weaker throughout the second half of the season, in the first half, they were unstoppable...now, they look like that first half team.

After a 2-1 victory in Minnesota yesterday, the Ducks hold nearly an insurmountable lead over the Wild, with a margin of 3 games to none.

Again, it was one of those low-scoring nail-bitting games, Niklas Backstrom did his best to keep Minnesota in it, but it was reason that prevailed in the end.

Backstrom has been phenomenal from the start, his 2.37 GAA and .910 SPCT are the kind of numbers that should propel any team to victory.
But sadly enough, for my hockey pool and for Wild fans, not this time.

I fail to understand why Jacques Lemaire doesn't enforce a more offensive style, just a LITTLE more offensive, especially if he expects his team to go far.
And, I fail to understand why guys like Brian Rolston, Todd White, Kim Johnsson and Mark Parrish haven't amassed a single point.

How do you expect to win if your secondary scoring, and one of your primary (Rolston) don't put up anything.

There is SO much talent on this team, SO much...I would like to see what Minnesota would look like as a team if they played a more offensive-minded style, rather than defensive minded...

The Ducks are the better team, and I failed to see that when I chose Minnesota to beat them in 7 games in my local hockey pool, and because of that, have likely lost that.

Anyway, I'd like to congratulate the Wild too, for managing to stage only one-goal losses, and not 3 or 4 goal crushings like some have predicted.

The Ducks stayed with the Wild's defensive style, and even played along with it, but, in the end, it came down to the solid goaltending of Ilya Bryzgalov, who, after a somewhat questionable season, has rebounded in fine fashion with numbers nearly identical to last year's magical playoff run, with a 1.34 GAA and .948 SPCT, that's 4 goals in 3 games.

It's also kind of sad to see Jean-Sebastien Giguere's awesome season sit on the bench.

Hey, the series isn't over yet, but with a 3-0 Anaheim lead, you can say it is indeed over...

I'll have my eye on the Nashville-San Jose game tonight, it should be great again!

Meanwhile, in more sad news...

-Gaetan Duchesne dead at 44.
According to RDS, Gaetan Duchesne, who played over 1,000 NHL games, has died.
Duchesne reportedly suffered cardiac arrest while working out.
He was 44 years old.
He totalled 179 goals and 254 assists in 1,028 games with 5 different teams.

May he rest in peace.
His son, Jeremy, is actually a goalie for Val D'Or in the QMJHL and was drafted by Philly.

Josh Harding looking like real deal for Wild as Minny wins over slumping Edmonton.

With Nicklas Backstrom and Manny Fernandez out, the Minnesota Wild are hoping young Josh Harding can finally realize his potential, and lead the team to the playoffs.

So far so good.

In only his second start and third appearance, Harding stopped 30 shots over the mourning Edmonton Oilers, who have now dropped to 0-2 after the Ryan Smyth mega-deal.
Harding, a 2nd round pick in 2002, received a pat on the back by Wild head coach Jacques Lemaire for his strong play.

"The chances that they got, he was just great on them," Lemaire said. "They had the opportunities to score goals and get going, but he was there to make the big saves. It's a good thing because we don't have nobody else."

Harding, now 1-0-1 with a miniscule 0.49 GAA and .982 SPCT is happy to have made the most of his oppertunity in goal.

"It's an unbelievable feeling right now," he said. "When I get home tonight it will hit a lot harder. I'm just enjoying the moment right now."

With Manny Fernandez and Nicklas Bacstrom out indefinitely, the Wild hope Josh Harding can continue his heroics and carry the team into the playoffs.

Bleu, Blanc et Rouge.