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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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Posts about Wild practice
Cuma reassigned
Posted by: Michael Russo Updated: April 6, 2012 - 3:46 PM
With the Houston Aeros trying to halt a six-game slide (0-3-3), the Wild reassigned defenseman Tyler Cuma this morning to play tonight at home against the Chicago Wolves.
Nate Prosser has a 12:30 p.m. conference call with the NHL regarding his headbutt last night. Depending on the status of Clayton Stoner (coach Mike Yeo said last night again that he can't see Stoner playing in Saturday's finale vs. Phoenix). the Wild may need to recall two defensemen if Prosser is suspended.
That could be Cuma and somebody else, or that could be two others. Nevertheless, I'd be surprised if one's not Chay Genoway to give him a little taste.
As for Prosser, if he's suspended, the big question is if Brendan Shanahan gives him a break because he's got no history and suspends him for only the finale or if it carries over to the regular season next year.
On Tuesday night at 7 on the NBC Sports Network will be the NHL Draft lottery. As of now, the Wild has a 4.7 percent of winning it and moving from No. 7 to 3.
Per NHL rules, the club selected in the Draft Drawing may not move up more than four positions in the draft order. Thus, the only clubs with the opportunity to receive the first overall selection are the five teams with the lowest regular-season point totals, or the clubs that acquired an eligible club’s first-round draft pick. No club will move down more than one position as a result of the Draft Drawing.
Based on team finish, the percentage chance of being selected in the Draft Drawing is:
30th place team - 25.0%
29th place team - 18.8%
28th place team - 14.2%
27th place team - 10.7%
26th place team - 8.1%
25th place team - 6.2%
24th place team - 4.7%
23rd place team - 3.6%
22nd place team - 2.7%
21st place team - 2.1%
20th place team - 1.5%
19th place team - 1.1%
18th place team - 0.8%
17th place team - 0.5%
The 2012 NHL Draft will take place at CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh. The first round will take place on Friday, June 22 commencing at 7 p.m. ET and the subsequent rounds (two through seven) will begin at 10 a.m. ET Saturday, June 23.
The following is a summary of the impact on the order of selection since its introduction in 1995:
NHL DRAFT DRAWING HISTORY
Year Selected Effect On Draft Order Player Selected
1995 Los Angeles Moved from 7th to 3rd D Aki Berg
1996 Ottawa Retained 1st selection D Chris Phillips
1997 Boston Retained 1st selection C Joe Thornton
1998 Tampa Bay Moved from 3rd to 1st via trades C Vincent
Lecavalier (Russo note: Florida actually won the lottery but traded its first-round pick to San Jose earlier in the season for Viktor Kozlov).
1999 Chicago Moved from 8th to 4th RW Pavel Brendl *
2000 NY Islanders Moved from 5th to 1st G Rick DiPietro
2001 Atlanta Moved from 3rd to 1st LW Ilya Kovalchuk
2002 Florida Moved from 3rd to 1st LW Rick Nash **
2003 Florida Moved from 4th to 1st G Marc-Andre Fleury
***
2004 Washington Moved from 3rd to 1st LW Alex Ovechkin
2005 Pittsburgh n/a C Sidney Crosby
2006 St. Louis Retained 1st selection D Erik Johnson
2007 Chicago Moved from 5th to 1st RW Patrick Kane
2008 Tampa Bay Retained 1st selection C Steven Stamkos
2009 NY Islanders Retained 1st selection C John Tavares
2010 Edmonton Retained 1st selection LW Taylor Hall
2011 New Jersey Moved from 8th to 4th D Adam Larsson
* NY Rangers obtained Chicago's pick in a trade (via Vancouver and Tampa
Bay). The Rangers selected RW Pavel Brendl fourth overall.
** Columbus obtained Florida's pick in a trade. The Blue Jackets selected
LW Rick Nash first overall.
*** Pittsburgh obtained Florida's pick in a trade. The Penguins selected G
Marc-Andre Fleury first overall.
Wild holds brief, brisk practice
Posted by: Kent Youngblood Updated: April 4, 2012 - 1:36 PMAfter having played three straight games that went into shootouts, Wild coach Mike Yeo ran a very brief practice at Xcel Energy Center Wednesday.
"We've had a pretty busy schedule lately," Yeo said, "a lot of games crammed into a short period of time, and they all seemed to be going extra time, too. So we just wanted to get out there and execute a little bit, feel the puck and make sure we saved something for tomorrow."
Greetings. Kent Youngblood here. I was at practice today. Mr. Russo will be back tomorrow.
Not a ton going on today. Neither Mikko Koivu nor Clayton Stoner were on the ice today. For Koivu, it was a maintenance day. Stoner, though, went to see the doctor after sustaining -- and then playing through -- an upper body injury in the Wild's game at Nashville Tuesday.
Yeo made it sound as if he expected Stoner to play against Chicago here tomorrow. If for whatever reason Stoner cannot play, the team would make an emergency call-up for a defenseman.
Meanwhile, Kyle Brodziak was back on the ice for practice, stitches and all, after taking a skate to the face in Nashville.
"He's a little bruised," Yeo said. "There's a nasty cut there. One thing about Brodzie is he's tough. Not tough as in he's going to get in 15 fights a year. Tough as in you see him block shots. You see times when he comes off the ice and he's hurt. Then, 30 seconds later, he's back and hasn't missed a shift. He's a real tough hockey player.''
Yeo said he expects Brodziak to wear the full-sized visor for the final two games.
That's about it for now. Have a good afternoon.
Zucker to make his NHL debut Thursday
Posted by: Michael Russo Updated: March 28, 2012 - 12:48 PMJason Zucker will make his NHL debut tomorrow night against the Florida Panthers. Wearing No. 16, Zucker (pronounced Zooker) will become the 45th player to dress in a Wild sweater this season.
He said he couldn't sleep last night, won't sleep tonight, but yet, he seemed very confident and definitely sure of his decision to leave DU. He said he made the decision Monday night while talking to his parents, Natalie and Scott, who will attend the game with siblings Evan, Adam, Cameron and Kimberly. He said he informed Pioneers coach George Gwozdecky of his decision yesterday, and he was glad he was able to leave on good terms.
"It was purely my decision," Zucker said. "It was something that I wanted and thought I was ready for. ... I think it was just time for me to move on."
In Wednesday's practice, he skated on the left side of a line with center Erik Christensen and right wing Nick Johnson. Cal Clutterbuck moved to a line with Kyle Brodziak and Darroll Powe.
Chad Rau has been reassigned.
"It's going to be a great opportunity," Zucker said. "I'm real excited for it. I'm going to be able to gain a lot of experience."
Said coach Mike Yeo: "He's going to feel so much more comfortable coming into camp next year. ... I don't want to pigeonhole him into anything as far as what we expect from him."
In other news, Matt Kassian will miss the final six games with a sports hernia. Yeo said the plan is for him to undergo surgery. Also, defenseman Justin Falk (knee) practiced today but is not ready to return.
Koivu to return to normal line; Lundin done for the year; "Play the Kids"
Posted by: Michael Russo Updated: March 21, 2012 - 3:42 PMAs mentioned on the previous blog, captain Mikko Koivu will return from a shoulder injury Thursday night against Jarome Iginla (like the Flames need anybody else when facing the Wild) and the Calgary Flames.
Koivu will return to his normal line -- between wingers Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi. Heatley, for one, will likely welcome Koivu's return. He has one goal in the past 16 games (that late goal in the Wild's shocking waning-minute comeback March 1 in Montreal) and no points in the past eight.
Coach Mike Yeo said he'd monitor Koivu's ice time, but "knowing Mikko, he's not going to be too pleased" to not get normal minutes, Yeo said, so expect Koivu to play regularly.
"It should provide a big lift for our group," Yeo said. "It’s a big lift for all of us. We’re excited to have him back in there. What a leader he is for us as far as emotionally what he puts into a game and his will to win every night and skillwise what he can add to our group."
On my Twitter, this blog and emails, I keep seeing, "Why bother?"; "Why don't they shut him down?"; "Now they may win and ruin our draft pick" comments and questions.
Hey, I get it. As I've contended through my history covering this team, the Wild's mediocrity has kept it from ever getting top-5 picks. They're always just good enough to get the 10th pick. My theory with this team has always been, "Hey, if you're not going to make the playoffs, really don't make the playoffs."
BUT -- No team is going to forbid its captain to play with 10 games left in a season if he's ready. As Yeo says, the Wild's trying to change the culture of being a losing team, so it refuses to just tank the last 10 games. Said Yeo this morning, "We're not packing it in."
As somebody else high up in the organization said to me this morning, "As painful as it might be to not get a top-5 pick now, trust me, losing games is a lot more painful."
Now if there was a Mario Lemieux in the 2012 draft, I'd probably campaign for the Wild to tank it like Eddie Johnston and the Pittsburgh Penguins allegedly did late in the 1983-84 season.
What else? I chatted with Erik Christensen again this morning and talked to him more in depth for a bit of a deeper story on him. I said yesterday that would appear in Thursday's paper. I may actually hold that to advance his first game against his previous team, the Rangers, next week.
Defenseman Mike Lundin underwent successful surgery on a sports hernia last week and is done for the season. It'll be a 2-3-month recovery and he's expected to have a full one. That'll put a wrap to his Wild homecoming obviously. The former Apple Valley High standout played 17 games featuring two assists. He started the season with a back problem, played hurt all year and spent many nights as a healthy scratch. Unfortunate return to Minnesota for a good guy.
Justin Falk has started skating and may be able to return from a knee injury sometime next week.
I wanted to point something else out that also lately I'm seeing on the comment section of the blog a lot. I keep on seeing it's time to "play the kids" and call em up from Houston.
Essentially, that's not allowed in the NHL. You're allowed three four non-emergency callups after the trade deadline and the Wild's exhausted that. So the only callups still permitted are emergency callups. That's why Matt Hackett had to go back the second Niklas Backstrom returned. That's why if a Chad Rau was called up for an injured forward, he'd have to go back the second the Wild was healthy at forward.
With 10 games left and one extra forward on the roster now that Koivu's coming back, there will certainly be more "emergencies," but they couldn't be permanent unless there were other injuries.
The same goes with a guy like Brett Bulmer. I've gotten questions about whether he'll be on the Wild roster this season if Kelowna goes out in the WHL playoffs. He can only be recalled in an emergency situation once Kelowna's season is over. The Wild wouldn't be allowed to just put him on the roster unless, again, it's in an "emergency" situation.
His next game played in Minnesota this year, by the way, would burn a year of his contract because it'll be his 10th game. That means it'd make him a restricted free agent after two more seasons instead of three and most importantly, an unrestricted free agent in six years, not seven. But I don't think the Wild would be too concerned if it burns a year. So if Kelowna loses in the playoffs and the Wild's in an emergency situation, there is a chance we see Bulmer again this season. Otherwise, he'd be Houston bound most likely.
As for all the Jason Zucker questions I keep getting, when DU is eliminated, if the Wild and Zucker opt for a contract, I don't see the Wild giving him games this year. Just my opinion. I think the more likely scenario IF he's healthy is games in Houston.
In fact, a number of prospects could be getting amateur tryouts soon in Houston, like Notre Dame's Sean Lorenz. My guess is he's with the Aeros in Chicago by the weekend.
Lastly, finally, after almost a month of being sick like many of his HIFK teammates, Mikael Granlund is expected to return for the first game of IFK's playoff series with Jokerit tomorrow.
Koivu's Turku team? Donezo. Finished 10th. 
Mikko Koivu to return Thursday against Calgary
Posted by: Michael Russo Updated: March 21, 2012 - 10:59 AMBarring an issue that crops up in today's practice, Wild captain Mikko Koivu will return Thursday night against the Calgary Flames, General Manager Chuck Fletcher just confirmed to me.
Koivu has missed 15 consecutive games and 23 of the past 27 with a shoulder injury.
Also, if you didn't check out today's article on Devin Setoguchi, here it is. In a bizarre story, Setoguchi was struck by a car and injured last July while INSIDE his San Jose chiropractor's office.
The Wild is practicing now. Further update later.
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