Here is the latest on Tomas Mojzis, signed by the Wild in July, as reported by the Hockey News’ Ken Campbell.

Updated at 8:30 pm

I just got off the phone with Brent Burns.

“I’m feeling great. I’m just at home watching Big Brother 10 and reading Russo’s Rants!” Burns said.

Safe to say Burnzie’s back to his old self, eh? Star Tribune might need to start cutting Burns some checks for all this continued good pub (don’t count on that Brent).

Burns, according to the team, will miss about four weeks after undergoing surgery earlier today to remove loose bodies from his left elbow. He says he’s a quick healer and hopes to be back sooner.

Burns was feeling pain in his elbow last season, assistant GM Tom Lynn said, and it returned when he hit the ice last month.

But Burns tried to play through it the last few weeks. In fact, he even scrimmaged Wednesday morning before his doctors’ appointment. According to Burns and Lynn, Burns could have perhaps gotten through the season without the surgery, but if it got worse, he definitely would have missed time.

So the Wild made the decision to operate on Burns now to fix the problem and prevent missed time this season.

The Wild’s best defenseman will likely miss the start of training camp Sept. 20, but he said he’s a quick healer and won’t miss the start of the season, which is Oct. 11.

In other news, check out the Daily Show with Jon Stewart tonight on Comedy Central at 10 p.m., replayed at midnight.

My buddy, who’s a senior producer with the show, hooked me up with tickets, and it’s hysterical. It’s been a fun couple weeks. Hung out with the Counting Crows last week, and took some friends back stage before the show. Also got to meet and hang with Daily Show’s Wyatt Cenac over the weekend.

Not to give too much away, but the Minnesota Wild sweater makes a Daily Show cameo, only instead of the Wild emblem in the middle, it says, “Hockey Mom!”

And as some astute readers have pointed out, it turns out the hockey mom is Mikko Koivu’s mom, Tuire. You can see yesterday’s episode on dailyshow.com to see what I’m talking about.

I wandered down to the Rec Center in St. Louis Park this morning for more of the Octagon camp, which runs through next week. Several NHLers — Keith Ballard, Ryan Malone and many others — have been skating for some time with Wild players Brent Burns, Derek Boogaard, Stephane Veilleux and Josh Harding.

But I found a couple more Wild players added to the fray.

James Sheppard. Andrew Brunette. Eric Belanger. And, guess who, but none other than Marian Gaborik!

Gaby lives, and speaks. Here’s the story in Wednesday’s editions. It was the first time Gaborik put out his voice regarding his ongoing contract extension talks with the Wild.

If you’re a Gaborik fan, the good news is there’s definitely been back and forth negotiations, which means Gaborik’s at least open to talking. But the bad news is Gaborik was noncommittal when it came to actually saying he’s going to sign long-term here.

Of course, he has to be to retain his leverage. This is after all a negotiation. But Gaborik also made clear to me that he knows his options. He knows that next summer there’s going to be “20 teams” that come after him if he becomes a free agent.

So negotiations are definitely “complicated,” according to assistant GM Tom Lynn. It’s not as simple as picking a salary out of the hat and number of years. When you’re talking about this type of term, you have to estimate how high the salary cap will get six, seven, eight years down the line, you have to try to determine what the market value for a top-10 player will be six, seven, eight years down the line. Remember, you can’t tear up a contract and renegotiate in the new NHL. And there are no performance bonuses in the new NHL.

So the Wild and Gaborik’s agent, Ron Salcer, are in the discovery stages. Whether this ends with Gaborik signing an extension is still to be determined. But right now, they are undoubtedly talking, but this could very well go into training camp, which will undoubtedly create some kind of subplot to camp. The one thing that was clear to me is Gaborik is going to get tired talking contract publicly.

As for Gaborik’s surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip, Gaborik says he’s feeling very good and is just trying to “tune it up.” Gaborik hadn’t talked about the injury previously with the media, but Gaborik said it was a lingering problem throughout last season. And remember, he scored 42 goals and 83 points in 77 games.

He said it never got so bad where he felt he had to pull himself from the lineup in the second half, although “sometimes it was bothering me more than others.” He said it hurt at times during the playoffs, but he did not use it as an excuse for not scoring a goal against Colorado.

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… but in a Bruins sweater.

Good afternoon. Just checking in before the holiday weekend.

1. The Wild has had a number of talks with the agent of longtime checking center Stephane Yelle, but right now, Yelle’s agent Larry Kelly says the Wild has informed him they are “holding off.”

Yelle, 34, a gritty character guy and terrific faceoff centerman, is a two-time Cup winner with Colorado and spent the past five seasons with Calgary. Obviously, the Wild is thin, thin, thin up the middle, and whether it’s Yelle or someone else, you’ve got to figure at some point before or during the season that the Wild will address this issue.

2. On the Wild’s first-ever Fan Forum conference call, Andrew Brunette and James Sheppard chatted with season-ticket holders Thursday. My moles tell me Sheppard announced he’s giving his No. 15 back to Brunette, who’s worn the number throughout his career and back in the day with the Wild. Sheppard will switch to No. 51.

Brian Campbell’s the only No. 51 I can think of off the top of my head in the NHL, and I’m sure he’ll bring that to Chicago. Just thought of another: Detroit’s Valtteri Filppula.

3. Josh Harding’s doing something cool. On Sept. 9, he’ll be in Vancouver with Dion Phaneuf, Jeremy Roenick, Chris Pronger, Corey Perry and L.A.’s Drew Doughty to showcase some of his best moves in EA Sports’ first on-ice capture event for the upcoming NHL09 EA game. I guess every goalie in that game will be a southpaw

Enjoy the holiday weekend, Russoville.

See below. The Wild just announced its roster for the upcoming prospect camp/tourney in Traverse City. The camp is Sept. 13-17 and will be a tournament with the Rangers, Detroit and Tampa Bay.

The maximum age for the tournament is 23. This year, players born in 1985 or later are eligible. In other words, if Ryan Jones still played for the Wild, he would not be eligible. Goalies may be older.

No player who has played regularly in the NHL is eligible. You can play a maximum of four players in a game who have played no more than one year of minor pro hockey.

One other thing: I’ve gotten a number of emails this summer regarding when the Wild will unveil its third jersey. The Wild is not having a third jersey this season but is exploring one for 2009-10.

OK one other thing: The Wild will have a mascot next season. It will be unveiled Oct. 5. The release is below the roster.

Lastly, for your amusement, the below picture was emailed to me to show me how Derek Boogaard could pound me if I write bad things about him. Of course, so could Pierre-Marc Bouchard, trust me.

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