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This is Michael Russo's 17th year covering the National Hockey League. He's covered the Minnesota Wild for the Star Tribune since 2005 following 10 years of covering the Florida Panthers for the Sun-Sentinel. Michael uses “Russo’s Rants” to feed a wide-ranging hockey-centric discussion with readers, and can be heard weekly on KFAN (100.3 FM) radio.
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Don Lucia on Haula, Notre Dame; Bjugstad, Wilcox honored; NHL update
Posted by: Michael Russo under Gophers, Wild off-season news Updated: January 3, 2013 - 4:45 PM
The No. 1 ranked Gophers face the No. 2 ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Tuesday night at Mariucci Arena.
The Gophers held availability today and coach Don Lucia addressed a number of subjects, including the injury to leading scorer Erik Haula, how the Gophers plan to overcome the loss, playing his alma matter and his son, Mario.
On Haula’s injury, it’s an upper-body injury and he’ll miss at least the next three games, most likely. The hope is he will return vs. North Dakota on Jan. 18-19. Haula was slashed across the right hand early in the third period against Boston College.
It appears as if Nate Condon will move from first-line right wing to second-line center. Condon played center for much of his life before coming to the U and played there at times during his freshman year.
“It impacts us in every phase,” Lucia said of Haula, the team’s most consistent forward this year, being out. “It impacts the power play, penalty killing. Really, every situation, he’s a key guy. But the good thing it’s not something that’s going to be two months or three months.”
Lucia said the Gophers are experimenting in practice whether or not to use Condon or maybe Christian Isackson there, but it certainly sounds like it’ll be Condon.
I will be doing a big Don Lucia-Mario Lucia story for Tuesday, but I’ll provide a few quotes from Don below (Mario Lucia, after being named CCHA Rookie of the Week recently, was named CCHA Rookie of the Month today). Here is Lucia on a number of subjects:
Freshman Mike Reilly will play in Saturday’s gold-medal game at the world junior championships in Ufa, Russia, against Sweden. Will Reilly play Tuesday against Notre Dame? “He gets back Sunday night, which is the following morning Ufa time. It’s something we’re wrestling with right now whether to play him or not. Originally when we set this up, we thought it’d be three guys (also three guys for Notre Dame) and that was a concern. Now that it is only one, I don’t feel the same necessity. I want to do what’s best for our team, but also what’s best for him. So we’ll gauge that. The good part is we have six good defensemen that can play, so the question becomes, he gets back Sunday night, he’s going to be fatigued, we play Friday, Saturday league games [against Alaska Anchorage]. Is it going to help him and help our team more not to play him on Tuesday and we’ll give him Wednesday and Thursday to get some rest? I mean, this is a long grind they’re going through, the travel as much as anything, not the mention they’re only back Sunday night. It’s a 12-hour time change, so what are his legs going to be like? I don’t know. Maybe we’ll gauge that when he gets back on Monday. We have not made a decision one way or the other. It’s a hard decision to make to be honest. … They leave Sunday morning and they get here Sunday night, but that’s really 8:30 Russia time the next day. So what’s your sleep going to be like the first couple days? It’s not like he’s just coming back from Edmonton or Ottawa.”
Will Mario play? “That’s their call what they end up doing. That’s their decision. One reason why we set this up [against Notre Dame] was because he was going to be playing there, but at the same time we knew we’re setting up to play a good opponent, too. If he plays, great. If he doesn’t, I understand it.”
(Russo note: Trust me, Mario Lucia is playing vs. the Gophers on Tuesday).
Have you watched the world juniors? “I’ve taped them. I have not gotten up at 3 o’clock in the morning. That’s a little bit too early for me. If it was 5 or 6 I can handle that. It’s been a great experience for [Mario]. He’s in a whole new role he probably hasn’t been in, but that’s all part of the growth. The team’s done great and now they can play for a gold medal.”
(Russo note: Don Lucia is referring to the fact that his son has become the 13th forward, meaning he hasn’t played the past two games. Lucia sent an email to his son this morning to keep his head up and to let him know this is all part of the growing process, how three months ago, who knew he’d even be in the tournament after breaking his leg. I will write a world junior advance for our web site and this blog on Friday. I will have more on Mario Lucia in there).
What’s Mario Lucia think of Russia? “He says the food’s getting better. We sent him over with some protein and peanut butter and some things. He and Mike Reilly are roommates. They lived together in Penticton, so it’s nice he’s got a roommate he’s familiar with and gets along with. They’re like Oscar and Felix.”
On Condon: “He’s played center all of his life. … So this will be an easy transition for Nate to make to move back to center. Notre Dames got two [high-end centers] in [Edina’s Anders] Lee and [T.J.] Tynan and Nate’s speed can help us defend there.”
On playing Notre Dame: “It’s always your alma mater. I’m looking forward to play an elite program. I’m still trying to figure out how they were ranked ahead of us, they don’t play and now we’re ahead of them. [Assistant coach] Andy [Slaggert] texted me after our [8-1] win [over Boston College] and said, ‘You’re going to be No. 1,’ and I said, ‘No, not a chance.’ That doesn’t matter. We’re playing a top team, the best team at least right now in the CCHA, a team that obviously will be contending at the end. It’s another good opportunity for our team to play an elite opponent.”
How they Irish compare to BC: “They’re more methodical in how they play, they don’t beat themselves, they’re a very difficult team to play against, they haven’t given up more than three goals in a game all season long, they’re scoring a little more than they did at the beginning. They’re a big, strong, physical team. I’m looking forward to it.”
By the way, Lucia reminded that in 1977, the Irish won the national title in football during his freshman year, so maybe they’ll do the same during Mario’s freshman year.
I’ll have a lot more on Don and Mario Tuesday, but Lucia said, “The ideal scenario: he has a great game and we win.”
Nate Condon: “Going from wing to playing center, I’ve got to play a lot more defense. Lot of puck movement, you see a lot more of the ice going up the middle, keep your head up in the neutral zone, faceoffs. Not too much changes. Played with Budish before.”
Captain Zach Budish says it’s been a great few days around the program after creaming BC and they’re looking forward to the Irish. On losing Haula: “He’s a big player for us, he plays in every situation, he’s one of our top guys, and it’s definitely a loss, but it’s an opportunity for someone else to step up.”
Also, Nick Bjugstad was named WCHA Offensive Player of the Week after scoring six points, including a career-high four in the BC win, as the Gophers won the Mariucci Classic. Adam Wilcox, who stopped 50 of 51 shots, was named WCHA Rookie of the Week.
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Lastly, not a good day in NHL/NHLPA bargaining. There was no formal bargaining session, and the NHLPA will begin a two-day vote tonight to again authorize the union to file a disclaimer of interest.
I've been all Gophers today. Here is the TSN story with today's events.
Americans blow out Canada, advance to world junior final; Compliance buyouts have little affect the Wild
Posted by: Michael Russo under Gophers, Wild off-season news Updated: January 3, 2013 - 1:22 PMIn the wee hours of this morning, the United States, coached by Minnesotans Phil Housley, Grant Potulny and Mark Osiecki, crushed Canada, 5-1, in the semifinals of the world junior championships in Ufa, Russia.
Here's the story, with video highlights.
The Americans will face defending champion Sweden, who upended Russia in a shootout, in Saturday's gold-medal game at 7 a.m. CT.
Boston College's Johnny Gaudreau continued his offensive assault with two more goals (seven in the past three), Wisconsin's Jake McCabe, the U.S. captain, had two goals and an assist and John Gibson made 36 saves.
Gophers defenseman Mike Reilly tweeted at @mreilly93: "What a game to be a part of. Moving on to the finals. #goforgold"
Saturday morning's game will be on NHL Network and streamed on NHL.com. I will be on KFAN at 10:35 a.m. to talk about the game and NHL/NHLPA bargaining updates.
As you can see on the previous blog, the two sides met late into the night last night and expect to meet again today with a federal mediator. Gary Bettman said the sides agreed to meet at 10 a.m. ET. The two sides haven't begun meeting yet as the NHLPA is reportedly meeting internally and updating its membership of yesterday's events.
I get asked a lot if there's any chance after a handshake agreement that the NHL starts playing while the collective bargaining agreement is drafted, lawyered up and ratified. Doubtful.
In 1994-95, there were tons of wildfires that had to be put out the ensuing months when they tried that, stuff like, "You agreed to this, ... Uh, no we didn't." This morning is a case of the NHL thought they agreed to meet at 10 a.m. moments after this alleged agreement, and the NHLPA didn't understand it that way.
So the two sides can't agree on that, think they'll play with a handshake?
Details are starting to emerge:
-- I have confirmed ESPN Pierre LeBrun's report that the league has agreed to the two compliance buyouts the players want for 2013-14 (wouldn't count against the salary cap). But the owners feel that since they're willing to hand players a lump sum of money to walk away, that should come out of the player share of the 50/50 split of revenues, not the owners. Players don't want it that way; they want it to come from outside the system. This transition rule is a big bridge that must be gapped.
There seems to be a lot of confusion among fans. The purpose of the compliance buyouts are so teams can get compliant with the 2013-14 salary cap that will decline (the league wants it to be $60 million, the union $65 million) as the split in revenues go from 57-43 in favor of the players to 50-50.
Because this affects 2013-14, this really has little affect on the Wild.
The salary cap this year (if they get a deal done to salvage the season) will still be prorated at $70.2 million, so the Wild, with the second-highest payroll in the NHL, are compliant. Even if the cap falls to $60 million in 2013-14, the Wild would be at $50.5 million assuming Niklas Backstrom, Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Matt Cullen aren't re-signed. This doesn't include the promotions of Houston prospects other than Mikael Granlund, free-agent signings and the re-signings of potential restricted free agents like Cal Clutterbuck.
But the Wild conceivably wouldn't have to buy out anybody.
By the way, check out the previous blog for Wild injury news and also how an abbreviated training camp may determine which kids from Houston get a look right away. It's interesting because the kids in Houston succeeding are in midseason form, so that could be quite the advantage for the Wild. However, there's very few open spots due to one-way contracts, so there's just no chance more than a handful could start with the Wild.
-- Also, reportedly (I have not confirmed yet), the NHL is willing to move the variance of salaries inside contracts year to year to 20 percent.
-- Pensions, the fact the NHL wants six-year max deals (seven to re-sign your own players) and a $60 million ceiling in 2013-14 continue to be the big "open issues."
I'll be back later with a report on the Gophers after availability, but as I mentioned, Erik Haula is expected to miss at least the next three games with a finger injury. Don Lucia indicated yesterday that Nate Condon may move to second-line center from first-line right wing to replace him.
Midnight NHLPA disclaimer deadline comes and goes; Wild injury updates; Haula update
Posted by: Michael Russo under Gophers, Wild off-season news Updated: January 3, 2013 - 12:20 AMUPDATED
A five-hour meeting between the NHL and NHLPA just broke up at 1 a.m. ET and NHLPA Executive Director Don Fehr said the sides moved closer together on a few issues but remain apart on others. Still work to be done.
There was a mediator involved in today's meetings. Commissioner Gary Bettman said the sides will meet Thursday morning at the mediator's request.
The good news is Fehr did not hand Commissioner Gary Bettman a letter informing him the union will disclaim interest -- i.e. dissolve, i.e. walk away from representing the players and becoming a "trade association."
That's good news because if the union dissolves, lawsuits could be filed, things become a whole lot more complicated and basically it's completely unknown what could happen next. The season could very well be in peril if that were to happen.
Last month, the players voted to authorize the union to disclaim interest by midnight Jan. 2 if no deal was near.
Since no disclaimer was filed, union reps are still acting on the players' behalf. If that's the case, one would believe there's enough traction to keep on trucking as an actual union.
The big issue today according to multiple reports has been pensions. Under the previous collective bargaining agreement, teams were responsible for 3/4 of the pensions.
As the New York Daily News' Pat Leonard wrote here, "Thursday’s proposal said that the pension plan would be funded from the players’ share of annual revenue, and it also specified that “$50 million of the ‘Make-Whole’ payment amount of $300 million will be allocated and set aside to fund potential underfunding liabilities of the Plan at end of CBA,” according to a document obtained by ESPN.
The NHL and NHLPA therefore are debating which side would be liable to make up the difference in payments if league revenues in any given year do not provide adequate funds to match the players’ projected pension number."
Bettman said tonight the pension issue is complicated and the league hopes to satisfy the players.
Again, Bettman has said a deal must be struck by Jan. 11 with the goal to start training camp Jan. 12 and a 48-game season Jan. 19.
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In Wild injury news if training camp were to start Jan. 12, defenseman Marco Scandella is currently out of Houston's lineup with a groin injury, but he should be ready by the 12th. Jared Spurgeon left Switzerland with a groin injury, but he is back skating.
The length of training camp would determine how many players from Houston come up to Minnesota for a look. Obviously, Scandella and Mikael Granlund will be up to camp, but the Wild will have to gauge if any of its NHL guys have injury issues.
For instance, Pierre-Marc Bouchard is feeling good. But he has been out for more than a year. He hasn't been cleared to play yet and hasn't passed the final big hurdle -- real contact. So would he be able to play right away if there's only a seven-day camp with no exhibition games?
Maybe that opens the door for a Jason Zucker or a Charlie Coyle or a Johan Larsson. All three have been great in Houston. Others playing real well down there up front include Justin Fontaine, who has an upper-body injury, Nick Palmieri and David McIntyre.
If the lockout ends, the Wild will likely sign Palmieri, who is on an AHL deal, to an NHL deal. He has been that good. Nine goals, playing a big man's game, driving the net, using his size, says GM Chuck Fletcher. He's liked McIntyre, too, saying, he's been consistent, a pest, a great penalty killer. He is plus-15.
Today was the eight-week checkup for defenseman Jonas Brodin, who underwent surgery for a broken collarbone. If all went well, the hope was he good intensify his upper-body strength training. He has been skating. But obviously, he would start in Houston some time down the road and isn't a candidate to start with the Wild if there's a season.
More and more players are starting to roll into town in case the season starts. Tom Gilbert, who lives in Madison is back. Devin Setoguchi tweeted he is in town.
Mikko Koivu is back in Finland and only returning if a deal is struck.
In Gophers news, I'll be at availability Thursday, but I had Don Lucia on KFAN today and he said Erik Haula will likely miss at least the next 3 games. The hope is he is back by the North Dakota series Jan. 18-19.
Remember, the world junior championships continue in the wee hours of Thursday morning with a 3 a.m. semifinal showdown between Canada and the U.S. It's on NHL Network and NHL.com live.
Be there or be square.
NHL/NHLPA working to salvage season; USA-Canada world junior rematch Thursday
Posted by: Michael Russo under Vikings, Gophers, Wild off-season news Updated: January 2, 2013 - 6:49 AMAfter working past midnight on New Year's Eve and all day New Year's Day, the NHL extended a "comprehensive response" to the NHLPA's comprehensive response to the NHL's latest proposal late Tuesday night.
Got it?
Basically, the NHL and NHLPA are in a negotiating game of ping-pong, which is very much a good thing.
Good morning. I'll be filling in from 12-3 on KFAN (100.3 FM) today, so please tune in. You can also tweet me questions at @russostrib or leave them on my Facebook page.
Guests today include Gophers coach Don Lucia (12:35 p.m.), St. Louis Blues coach Ken Hitchcock (1:20 p.m.), Ottawa Sun's Bruce Garrioch (1:35 p.m.), Vikings.com's Mike Wobschall (12:15 p.m.) and WCCO's Mark Rosen from 2-3.
The NHLPA took the NHL's latest response last night in order to digest it and likely respond to it today. There's a very good chance the two sides meet again.
"In our response, there were certain things that the Players' association asked for that we agreed to, there were some things that we moved in their direction and there were other things that we said no," Commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters in New York. "But that's part of the process."
Three proposals have been exchanged in the past five days. A deal must be struck by Jan. 11, or the season likely will be canceled. The plan is for training camp to start by Jan. 12 and a 48-game season to begin Jan. 19 if a collective bargaining agreement can be reached.
Realisticallty, a deal must be reached before Jan. 11 in order to get it fully down on paper, lawyered up and ratified.
The NHLPA has until midnight tonight if it wants to file a disclaimer of interest and dissolve the union, but with both sides creeping closer, that's unlikely. The NHLPA could always vote as a membership again to file a disclaimer of interest at a later date if things go haywire.
But I don't see that happening. I truly believe a deal will be struck in the coming days. There's several part of the pact that has already been agreed upon, and as RDS reported last night, the NHLPA is willing to do a 10-year CBA now under certain conditions and the sides are close to an agreement on revenue sharing.
The main things being tackled now are pensions and what the upper limit of the salary cap will be starting in 2013-14. The NHL's proposal of $60 million was unacceptable to the NHLPA.
"The fact that we're involved in a continuous process is something that I'm glad to see, but we're clearly not done yet," said Bettman.
But players I talk to are confident and more and more players are starting to trickle back from Europe in anticipation of camps starting.
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I'm up early because I couldn't fall back to sleep after my 3 a.m. wakeup call to watch the U.S. Czechs. No contest as the Americans won big, 7-0, in the quarterfinals to advance to a 3 a.m. CT Thursday rematch against Canada. The U.S. lost 2-1 to Canada a few days ago. The game can be seen on NHL Network and NHL.com.
Johnny Gaudreau had a hat trick today and has five goals in two games, showing why Don Lucia said after the Gophers' 8-1 win over Boston College on Sunday that the win should have an "asterisk" on it because the Eagles were without Gaudreau and two injured veteran defensemen.
Riley Barker had two goals, JT Miller had a goal and two assists, Jacob Trouba and Seth Jones had four assists apiece and John Gibson had the shutout with 31 saves. Trying to decipher the boxscore, but I think the Americans went 5 for 12 on the power play and there were 18 or 19 power plays in the tightly-called game.
OK, that's it. Give me a listen please on the radio if you want to hear some Vikings, puck talk and a little bit of everything with Rosie. And of course I'll be up at 3 a.m. for the semifinal, although I've been keeping the tweets to a minimum because I don't want to wake up anybody who happens to get my tweets texted to their phones.
Get ready folks. NHL season on the horizon. 
Gophers ring in the New Year with No. 1 ranking; Haula week to week; CBA update
Posted by: Michael Russo under Gophers, Wild off-season news Updated: December 31, 2012 - 5:38 PMUpdated
The 13-3-3 Gophers' men's hockey team jumped three spots in the rankings today to overtake Boston College for the No. 1 team in the nation in the USCHO.com poll.
This was thanks to an 8-1 pasting of the now second-ranked Eagles on Sunday night to win the Mariucci Classic.
So the fifth-place team (three points behind St. Cloud State with two games in hand) in the WCHA is No. 1 in the country.
Nick Bjugstad scored a career-high four points, Kyle Rau had two goals and an assist and 12 Gophers had points, including goalie Adam Wilcox, who made a career-high 32 saves.
The bad news though is Wild prospect Erik Haula left the game in the third period after being slashed across his hands.
Coach Don Lucia emailed me tonight that Haula is week to week with an upper-body injury and is doubtful for the Gophers' Jan. 8 game against Notre Dame.
I am hearing from multiple sources that Haula, the Gophers' most consistent forward this season, has a potential fracture in one of his fingers. A few years back, another Finnish center, one that's captain of the Minnesota Wild, missed a month when he broke a digit.
Again, the Gophers don't play next until Jan. 8 against No. 3 Notre Dame. That could feature a father-son battle between Don Lucia's Gophers and Notre Dame freshman Mario Lucia.
Despite the U.S. world junior team expected back into the country only the day before, one would assume Mario Lucia will want to be in the lineup.
However, Don Lucia said before the holiday tournament that he will likely give freshman defenseman Mike Reilly, who scored the winning goal in the Americans' 9-3 win over Slovakia today, the game off to rest for the weekend series Jan. 11-12 against Alaska-Anchorage.
In NHL lockout news, the NHLPA tendered a counterproposal today. Talks are done as the NHL reviews the counter. The two sides plan to get together New Year's Day. Maybe their New Year's resolution is to play hockey this year. 
In Wild news, Torrey Mitchell has signed with the ECHL San Francisco Bulls.
Remember, I'll be hosting for Common on KFAN from 12-3 on Wednesday, so please tune in.
Happy New Year everybody!
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recent posts
- Don Lucia on Haula, Notre Dame; Bjugstad, Wilcox honored; NHL update
- Russo: World juniors, NHL labor update
- Russo: NHLPA disclaimer deadline comes and goes; Wild injury updates
- NHL/NHLPA working to salvage season; USA-Canada world junior rematch Thursday
- Gophers hockey rings in New Year with No. 1 ranking
- Postgame: Bjugstad leads trouncing of No. 1 Boston College; Haula injured
- Gophers return with same lineup against No. 1 Boston College
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- NHL cancels games through Jan. 14
- Setoguchi taking time off from ECHL team; Spurgeon update
- Wild's Pierre-Marc Bouchard "symptom-free;" Bill Daly: NHLPA dissolving won't "expedite things"
- Russo: NHL seeking to void contracts if players file 'disclaimer of interest'
- NHL goes to the courts against players union
- Live chat today at 1 p.m. with Star Tribune hockey writer Michael Russo
- NHL, NHLPA done for the day, no progress reported
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