Continued: Wild signs Havlat for $30M

With Wild fans in a tizzy for much of Wednesday as the Sedin twins, Marian Hossa, Mike Cammalleri, and yes, Marian Gaborik left the free-agent board, the Wild finally calmed the masses by landing the biggest free agent in team history late Wednesday night.

The Wild agreed to terms with dynamic winger Martin Havlat on a six-year, $30 million deal -- the richest total contract in franchise history -- and the team wasn't done there.

According to sources, the Wild was working late into the night trying to sign center Saku Koivu, the older brother of Wild center Mikko Koivu.

"It's been a long day, and I think everybody's excited on both sides," Havlat told the Star Tribune during a telephone interview. "I've talked to [GM Chuck Fletcher] and I had a great feeling from the conversation. From looking at the team, there's a lot of potential, a lot of great players.

"It's kind of a fresh start for everybody with the new GM, with the new coaches. I think everybody's going to start as a new team right now. It's going to be exciting."

Earlier in the day, the Wild also signed Nashville Predators shot-blocking defenseman Greg Zanon, 29, to a three-year, $5.8 million deal, but Havlat turned into the headline maker.

Essentially, he's considered the replacement for Gaborik, the Wild's career leading scorer, who signed a five-year, $37.5 million contract with the New York Rangers.

Havlat, 28, a flashy, speedy, artistic player who can be a difference-maker when healthy, scored a career-high 77 points in 81 games last season for Chicago. He led the Blackhawks in playoff scoring with 15 points and has 396 points and is a plus-87 in 470 NHL games.

However, like Gaborik, a long list of injuries have kept Havlat from greatness. While he only missed one game last season, Havlat missed 137 in the three seasons prior and has undergone three shoulder operations in his career.

But if his injury problems are behind him, the Czech winger is a bona fide first-liner with a scorer's touch at the net and snapshot from between the circles.

"I just wanted to show everybody I can play the whole year," Havlat said. "It's very important. We had a great year in Chicago and a great playoff, but I'm happy to be part of a team where I'm feeling that I'm wanted and they really want me.

"I want to be better every year, and I know I can be better than I was last year. There's still a lot of things I can bring to the table."

The Wild doesn't appear done. Sources say it still has interest in Pittsburgh's Ruslan Fedotenko and at least one more defenseman, but Koivu appears next.

Koivu, 34, a shrewd veteran playmaker, has been the Montreal captain since 1999 and has 641 points in 791 games. He ranks sixth in Canadiens history with 450 assists -- 19 behind former Wild coach Jacques Lemaire.

Fletcher, still working late Wednesday night, was not available for comment.

Zanon, ranking in the top 15 the past two seasons in shorthanded time on ice, is well known to, at times, almost recklessly throw his body in front of any puck fired his direction. After games, he is usually covered with ice on his ankles, knees and elbows.

Playing all 82 games last season, Zanon blocked 237 shots -- third-highest in the NHL -- and has been top 10 in blocks in the past three seasons.

"I'm well-protected now," Zanon said, laughing. "It took me three years to find the spots and cover where I'm taking most of the shots. It's a lot of summer preparation. I work very hard in the summertime. I don't take very many days off and just try to push myself to the limits to handle the rigors of the season. So far I've been lucky -- knock on wood -- and stayed healthy."

Like the pickup last weekend of Kyle Brodziak, Fletcher found a player coach Todd Richards knows well.

Richards coached Brodziak at Wilkes-Barre and was an assistant in Milwaukee when Zanon played there.

"He kind of brought me up," Zanon said. "I came from playing college, where I was strictly an offensive guy, to having to reinvent myself and become a defensive defenseman. He taught me a lot of positioning and spent extra time with me in practice to mold me to the player I am today."

Zanon knows the Wild well. Besides playing Minnesota four times a year, the former Nebraska-Omaha standout's wife, Jen, hails from Hastings, so Zanon skated with a number of Wild players before training camp each summer.

Defenseman Brent Burns called him a "sick defenseman."

"Great beard, better D-man," joked Burns of the often-bearded, shaved-headed Zanon. "Very, very smart, big hits, great passes. I'm very excited to see that signing."

Zanon is a character, always keeping it loose. He wore a nasty, ratty, stringy blonde wig to a Predators gala last season.

"It was a bad comb overstyle wig that I concocted that became the hit of the party," Zanon said. "I'm an easy-going guy. I know what I bring to the table, I know my role and I just come to play hard. Hockey's a fun game, but when comes time to be serious, I am."