sports

I was talking to somebody high up in the Wild yesterday and he made clear the Wild will not trade away its top prospects before the trade deadline.

He said, "Now that's not to say we won't trade some prospects or picks."

I immediately thought to myself guys like Casey Wellman can be had.

He could. Wellman has been traded to the New York Rangers for Erik Christensen and a conditional 2013 seventh round pick. If the Wild re-signs Christensen, it doesn't get the puck. If he leaves as a free agent, it gets the seventh.

From the Jan. 19 paper: The Rangers are offering Wojtek Wolski and Erik Christensen to the Wild.

From Jan. 16 blog: Some guys available? Maybe the Rangers' Wojtek Wolski, who has been a healthy scratch lately, and Erik Christensen, who hasn't played since Dec. 17 and then basically asked to be sent to the minors on a conditioning stint so he could play. Fletcher does have a history with him from Pittsburgh, but, man, that'd be just adding a body in my opinion.

OK, that should get me off to a good start with Christensen. He is a shootout stud, and the Wild's not a studly shootout team.

"I'm very excited for a fresh start," Christensen said. "It's been a trying year and to go to a place where Mike Yeo and Chuck Fletcher know me, it's really excited. I can't wait to find my game again because I haven't played an NHL game since Dec. 17."

Christensen played with Kyle Brodziak in Wilkes-Barre, Josh Harding in Brandon and skates all summer in Edmonton with Brodziak and Matt Kassian.

Wellman was the Wild's first big college free-agent pickup out of UMass. Remember, that was when the Wild literally had NONE of its top prospects. He fell down the depth chart bigtime.

Christensen, who has a 6:15 flight tonight en route to Dallas, will make his Wild debut on Saturday, wearing No. 26. He'll center the third line with Darroll Powe and Carson McMillan. Warren Peters will go to the fourth line with Kassian and Jed Ortmeyer.

Chad Rau has been reassigned.

Christensen, 28, has five points in 20 games for the Rangers this season, and three points in five games for the Whale. He posted 27 points (11-16=27) in 63 games for the Rangers last season. Christensen totaled a career-high 33 points (18-15=33) in 61 games for Pittsburgh in 2006-07. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound native of Edmonton, Alberta, has collected 156 points (62-94=156) and 156 penalty minutes (PIM) in 358 career NHL games during seven seasons with Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Anaheim and the Rangers. He was originally selected by Pittsburgh in the third round (No. 69 overall) of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.

He ranks ninth all-time with 24 shootout goals -- two behind Mikko Koivu and four behind leader Jussi Jokinen.

Coach Mike Yeo had Christensen in both Wilkes-Barre and Pittsburgh: "I'm excited. He's a quality NHL player. He's got elite skill. That's one thing for sure. His hands, his passing ability, his vision, his shot, he's versatile, good power-play guy, can win faceoffs and good on shootouts."

Wellman, 24 (10/18/87), has seven points (2-5=7) in 14 games with the Wild this season, and 24 points (13-11=24) in 25 games for Houston.

The Wild's without Guillaume Latendresse and Pierre-Marc Bouchard and littered with minor-leaguers. Christensen has NHL experience. Fletcher said he has to assume the worst right now with Latendresse and Bouchard and that they won't be back. He said that's not definite, but there's no road map and he can't as a manager keep waiting.

"We hope for the best, but we have to plan for the worst. That's a big reason behind this move," Fletcher said.

He said what Christensen does well, it needs -- faceoffs, center play, PP, shootout ability because "this could come down to one or two points."

Wellman obviously slid down the depth chart since the Wild drafted Granlund, Zucker, Larsson, Bulmer, Phillips, Lucia and traded for Coyle. There was a time when he was the top dog prospect, so a lot's changed since.

Update: Only guys skating today in Dallas are Marek Zidlicky, Mike Lundin, Mikko Koivu, Brad Staubitz, Josh Harding, Jed Ortmeyer, Cason McMillan and Matt Kassian. Rest of the guys off-ice workout after the Wild got to hotel at 4 a.m. Yeo says if he has to guess, no Clayton Stoner vs. Dallas.

Evening from the Pepsi Center, where apparently outside it looks like Snowmageddon -- so much so that my flight Friday morning was preemptively cancelled hours ago. I was put on an afternoon flight Friday, but there’s a good chance I’ll be spending the night here.
So, why do I tell you this? Barring news, likely no blog Friday because I won’t make it to practice in Dallas because if all goes to plan, the earliest I’ll land is 7 p.m. However, after tonight’s game, I’d think it would be a very optional practice anyway.
Heck of an effort in the thin Colorado air tonight – 1-0 win, 37 saves by Niklas Backstrom, and because Colorado and Dallas lost, Wild's up by 3 on them for the eighth and final playoff spot. Down to five defensemen by the 7:04 mark of the second period because Clayton Stoner sustained a lower-body injury during a fight with Cody McLeod, the Wild was taxed as the Avs came on strong.
But the Wild played gritty, physical and threw its bodies in front of shots. The team blocked 26 in all – five by Nate Prosser and four by Greg Zanon. I think it was actually more, quite frankly. They’ve got Dany Heatley down for one. I remember three off the top of my head.
The biggest block came on the shift before Zanon’s goal. Colorado attempted its first shot of the game. The rebound wound up on McLeod’s stick with a gaping net in front. But Prosser blocked it. The Wild got a faceoff in the Avs’ end. Kyle Brodziak won it, Heatley sent it to the point and Zanon weaved his first goal since Oct. 15 through traffic. It was the 11th goal of his career and second career game-winner. It held up from 6:04 of the first to the end.
And what da ya know? Zanon talked to us tonight. He “had nothing for you guys” after the Nashville collapse and has lately been on a no-talk-about-me edict.
It’s a shame, too, because he’s a great quote.
“This is a tough place to play with the [thin] air,” he said. “You get caught out there for a couple long shifts in a row, and it’s tough to get your air back. When Stony went down, as a D corps, we just sucked it up and decided [to play] short shifts. The forwards did a great job collapsing down low to help us get the pucks out.”
Prosser, as usual, was money. The kid is so poised and he and Chad Rau had a bunch of Colorado College buddies at the game tonight. Also, DU’s Jason Zucker was in the coach’s office as usual after the Wild plays here. I’m not so sure the Wild second-rounder has ever seen a Wild loss here. It’s 10-1-2 in the past 13 visits.
Backstrom is money here, too. It was his fourth shutout vs. the Avs and he is 9-2-1 here all-time, 6-1-1 in his past eight with having allowed one or fewer goals six times. He is 20-5-2 all-time vs. Colorado with a 2.16 goals against average and .928 save percentage (2-4 in the playoffs though).
Mike Yeo’s been begging one of his goalies to seize control of the cage. Tonight was a good start for Backstrom. He’ll start in Dallas, where the Wild has lost 14 in a row.
Stoner is a question mark. The big question is who enters for Stoner if he can’t play: Marek Zidlicky or Mike Lundin. If it’s Lundin, the Wild better keep Zidlicky away from sharp objects and in seclusion.
That’s it for me. I’ll update the blog if there’s news Friday. Obviously, I’ll have a follow in Saturday’s paper and this Sunday, I’ll have a Wild insider in the paper looking at the trade deadline. Maybe I’ll mentioned Zach Parise and the Minnesota lovefest currently going on.
Also, check out this Kyle Brodziak story in Friday’s paper. Contract talks are about to begin.
OK, I’m going to go drive through a blizzard now.

Same lineup tonight for the Wild in Denver, meaning defensemen Marek Zidlicky and Mike Lundin, and forward Brad Staubitz, will be scratched. Mike Yeo said he liked the way the team played for 50 minutes against Nashville before the Predators rallied for the 5-4 victory on Tuesday.

Afternoon from the Pepsi Center, where outside is the calm before the storm. Snow is coming, so much it might keep me from getting to Dallas on time tomorrow.

Yeo clarified some remarks yesterday when he hinted captain Mikko Koivu might play against Dallas on Saturday, saying that would likely not happen.

As for tonight's game against the Avalanche: Niklas Backstrom vs. J-S Giguere tonight in goal. Backstrom is 8-2-1 in 11 games at Colorado with a .934 SV%, a 2.12 GAA and 2 shutouts. In the past seven games he is 5-1-1 with a .948 SV%, 1.75 GAA, two shutouts and has allowed one goal three times.

The Wild is 9-1-2 in the past 12 here. Not sure what its record is in games after I spilled coffee on myself walking to the rink.

Wild practice today was surprisingly upbeat at Xcel Energy Center after Tuesday night's collapse in a 5-4 loss to Nashville.

Most newsworthy thing was probably Guillaume Latendresse (concussion) taking a slight step backwards and being held out of Wednesday's practice. Latendresse did not travel with the team. 

Greetings. Kent Youngblood here. I was at practice while Russo made his way towards Denver.

Wild coach Mike Yeo ran a fast-paced practice that felt almost relaxed in its tone. Perhaps that's by design, after the disappointing way the team finished its game with Nashville last night, blowing a 4-1 lead in a 5-4 loss. 

Yeo's theme in practice today was taking the positives out of the first 50 minutes of the Nashville game and not dwelling on the final 10 minutes of said game.

"We don't want to dwell on it," Yeo said of the loss. "If we want to dwell on anything it should be the fact that we should have won the game. For the majority of the game we were playing our game, doing the things we were supposed to do. And we gave ourselves a chance to win three games in a row. I'm very pleased we're starting to see some consistency come back to our game. Obviously it ended on a very negative note. But let's look at the positive here. We've won two out of three, had a chance to win three out of three. Now we get to go out on the road and make sure we continue that game going."

To that end, Yeo said he would discuss possible lineup changes -- say, inserting Mike Lundin or Marek Zidlicky back into the mix. But Yeo sounded as if he wasn't sold on the idea of a knee-jerk lineup change in reaction to the loss.

"We have to look at the big picture here," Yeo said. "We have to get consistency in our game, and sometimes getting consistency, it's a little easier when you have consistency in your lineup. ... I've seen consistency in our game the last three games, again minus the last 10 minutes (of the Nashville game).''

In other news:

--Mikko Koivu continued to work hard trying to come back from a shoulder injury. Yeo said now the biggest thing is conditioning. Koivu is going on the trip. He won't play in Denver. When asked if Dallas was a possibility, Yeo said, "I don't really want to talk about that." Translation? He could play against the Stars.

--Yeo said he talked with Marek Zidlicky about comments he made yesterday about not playing. Offering no details, Yeo did say the meeting went well. 

 --Can goalie Niklas Backstrom continue his domination in Colorado? He is 8-2-1 in 11 games there, with a .934 save percentage, a 2.12 goals-against average and two shutouts. Over the last seven games he is 5-1-1 with a .948  save percentage and a 1.75 goals-against average. He has allowed one or fewer goals in five of those seven games.

That's about it for now. Russo will be at tomorrow's skate

The Wild should purchase bleach by the buckets this morning because the stain of this Valentine's Day horror show might be almost impossible to remove.
In an unprecedented meltdown that had coach Jacques Lemaire screaming mad in the postgame news conference, the Wild lost at home after leading by three goals for the first time in history as the Ottawa Senators stormed back for a 5-3 victory. The result could be catastrophic. ...

The above passage is part of the lead to my game story in the Star Tribune on Feb. 15, 2009.

Why do I bring this up? Because it happened again tonight, only this time in the third period, where a sure win turned into an instant 5-4 loss to Nashville.
“And to lose in regulation,” Dany Heatley said, shaking his head, “It’s tough.”
Again, why do I bring the 2009 loss up?
Because as I was hustling to the postgame locker room tonight after scrambling to rewrite what was a very winning game story into a very losing game story on the fly, I was thinking about that Ottawa meltdown and how I remember writing so much about that defeat in my end-of-the-year analysis that season.
Why? Because the Wild finished ninth in the West in 2008-09 – TWO points behind Anaheim. Obviously, in an 82-game season, you can’t blame missing the playoffs on one loss. But when you miss the playoffs by that margin and blow a three-goal lead at home, you can pretty much single out, well, a single game.
Tonight, coach Mike Yeo said, “What we have to do is make sure this is a story today and not a story at the end of the year.”
Some good quotes in a very empty, quiet locker room tonight, so read the game story. I’ll throw some extras up here. Josh Harding fell on the knife, and probably justifiably so. Blamed the loss on himself, calling it a “goalie’s worst nightmare.” He seemed to fall asleep at the switch, but so did most his teammates.
But the losing goal with 20.8 seconds left was unacceptable and he said as much. Clayton Stoner turnover, yes, but turnovers like that happen 50 times a game. It’s a game of turnovers if you think about it.
Mike Fisher, standing along the wall to the right of the circle, found the puck and just turned and fired by Matt Cullen. But this was no screen. Harding just lost it and the Wild was stunned. Loud, boisterous cheers turned into loud, ear-piercing jeering as players left the ice in a shocking defeat.
What happened? How did the Wild, holding a 4-2 lead with 3:21 left, find a way to lose?
“Didn’t seem like there was a sense of panic on the bench,” coach Mike Yeo said. “To be honest, it’s no excuse, but we looked completely out of gas. Still, it’s no excuse. They should be tired, too. They had the same amount of time off. But you see the way that our gap was, once we got up 4-1, I’ve never seen us laying on the ice as much we were trying to defend. In D-zone, we weren’t pressuring at all. The one-on-one battles we were winning earlier in the game, we couldn’t win one of them. Even the way we were executing, it leads me to believe we were really tired.”
I know it’s hard to buy that a team that was off for a week was tired, but when you’re lounging around, eating, drinking, relaxing, not thinking about hockey and then have to turn on the switch again, I think that’s what Yeo’s basically saying.
Whether or not his reasoning is sound or not, I have no clue. But I do agree with his synopsis.
I noticed it in the second and third period when certain players weren’t even trying to beat out icings or pressure in the defensive or offensive zones. It was just strange. And as Yeo mentioned, the gaps, well, the gaps were brutal. The Predators attacked with speed late in the period and were flying by guys or able to pull up and find late trailers.
Yeo said there was never a sense of panic on the bench, but the Wild certainly turned off the intensity. And their play in front of their net went from great to terrible.
Second and third goals were dirty, greasy goals because of a lack of physicality. I still think referee Don VanMassenhoven, who had a disallowed goal overturned by video review on Nashville's second goal (Brandon Yip) was in an inexcusably bad position on the Patric Hornqvist third goal and that Harding had it frozen. That puck was pinned under the right pad and players shouldn’t be allowed to pitchfork pucks into a net.
But Harding said he should have stood his ground.
The fourth goal, total and utter breakdown. Forecheck and the Wild give it up. Then Nashville comes with speed. Colin Wilson drops a puck for Martin Erat. Justin Falk reads it wrong and drops to block Erat’s shot. He didn’t shoot, instead sending it down low. Wilson passed by Nate Prosser to Fisher, who lost Cullen. Goal. Tie game with three minutes left 21 seconds after Hornqvist’s goal.
The Wild hadn’t lost in regulation when scoring four goals at home since a 6-5 decision to Colorado on Dec. 1, 2008.
“If this is a playoff series, you’ve got to forget it and drop it and go to the next game,” Heatley said, who had his first two-goal game with the Wild and three points for the second time in three games.
Easier said than done, however.
“It’s really hard right now,” Yeo said. “It feels like two different games. I guess the good news is when we were doing the right things, we saw the result. But oooooofffff, that’s a tough one.
“If we bounce back with a couple big wins, then we can still feel good about where we’re coming with our game. This one will be forgotten, and that has to be our goal.”
Just an amazing loss. 2-0 lead after 1, 11-5 shot advantage to start. Then Cal Clutterbuck scores 1:29 into the second, Kyle Brodziak makes it 4-1 16 seconds into the third. That should have secured the win. But the momentum died, and Pekka Rinne then became good again. The guy has won 10 straight – 9 in a row tonight when allowing two goals or less. And he did make several clutch saves – on Matt Cullen a minute before Hornqvist’s goal – if my memory is right – and on Devin Setoguchi in the second and Heatley’s hat trick try in the second.
“We’ve got to play a full 60 minutes,” Falk said. “But like, we played darn near 50 real good hockey tonight. After the break, we played a solid, simple game with our execution. We’ve got to rebound quickly, flush this as quick as possible, because despite that 10-minute lapse, things have been looking real good around here the last couple weeks now.”
It’s actually the second time the Preds have rallied from three goals down to win.
Said Fisher: “It was a wild one, there’s no question, but we’ve done that a few times this year and feeling confident being down in thirds, and just kind of chipped away. Once we get on a tear and momentum, we’re hard to stop.”
That’s it for me. Read the two Marek Zidlicky blogs below this if you didn’t yet and the Marek Zidlicky story in the paper. There’s also a Mikko Koivu-led notebook.
I’ll be on KFAN at 9 a.m. Kent Youngblood has practice. Barring news, I’ll talk to you Thursday from Denver.