Wild taking long look at signing Sheppard

ST. LOUIS - Wild General Manager Doug Risebrough said before the Wild's 4-2 exhibition loss to the St. Louis Blues on Friday night that he's "strongly contemplating" signing 19-year-old center James Sheppard to a contract.

"I wouldn't keep him this long if I wasn't seriously considering keeping him," Risebrough said.

Risebrough said he was "very curious" to see how Sheppard would play in between two high-scoring linemates, Brian Rolston and Pierre-Marc Bouchard, in Friday's game.

Sheppard wound up playing a strong game, drawing one penalty and assisting on Bouchard's goal after hammering Christian Backman by the Wild's bench to dislodge the puck.

"I'm at my best when I'm hitting," Sheppard said. "I thought I played well, and hopefully I rose my stock."

Still, as Sheppard said, it's getting down to the "nitty gritty" to sign him.

The deadline to send unsigned players back to their junior teams is Monday, and Sheppard's agent, Mark Guy, said Friday that he hasn't heard from Wild assistant GM Tom Lynn.

Lynn wouldn't comment but said earlier that he didn't plan to call Guy until it became clearer whether Sheppard would make the team.

"I don't know what direction it's going yet, but we'll find out very soon," said Guy, alluding to the deadline.

Because of the NHL agreement with the Canadian Hockey League, Sheppard would have to be returned to Cape Breton of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League if he doesn't make the Wild because he's younger than 20.

Sheppard wishes that weren't the case.

"I think the best thing for me would be to play in the minors, but it's not an option," Sheppard said. "It's going to be up to these guys to decide what's best for me. If I played here, I think it'll help my progression. At the same time if I play junior, I can have a really good year and put up some points at the same time.

"Either way it can be a positive."

If the Wild signs Sheppard, he can be returned to Cape Breton before he plays his 10th game and a season won't count toward his contract. Risebrough reiterated the only way he'll sign Sheppard is if he feels he can play at least 40 games.

Boogaard gets angry

Wild left winger Derek Boogaard was incensed during the second period when Blues veteran Doug Weight slashed him across the wrist. Boogaard punched Weight, earning a double roughing minor while Weight got two minutes for slashing.

"Doug Weight will get his coming," Boogaard said. "Players who play like that, bad things happen to them all the time. A matter of time, it'll catch up to him."

Weight, who had a run-in with Boogaard late last season, declined to comment after the game.

Blues coach Andy Murray said: "We were disappointed in our 7-0 score the other night. Didn't really like the fact that it was 6-0 and we had a young team there and they had all of their top power-play guys out on the ice to get the seventh goal.

"I like how our whole team responded. That's how to deal with that. It doesn't really help us all that much for everybody to go after Boogaard. If he's going to take liberties with some of our skill guys, then some of their guys need to be on alert. Their skill guys ... they were put on alert."

Johnson has fans

Blues defenseman Erik Johnson, a Bloomington native and former Gopher, is amazed at how many St. Louis fans are wearing his jersey.

"I know when I was growing up, I had a [Marian] Gaborik jersey," Johnson said. "Now some kid is going to be wearing your jersey. That's kind of cool."

Michael Russo • mrusso@startribune.com