Jim Souhan: Lemaire likes players to feel they're driven

Some coaches want stars to feel comfortable, but the Wild feels a bit of uncertainty is OK.

By JIM SOUHAN, Star Tribune

Last update: January 15, 2008 - 11:41 PM

Sports teams crave calm. Give any general manager three wishes at the beginning of a season, and he'll ask for health, luck and a lack of controversy.

So what to make of the Wild, who are enjoying déjà vu redux?

Just like old times, Jacques Lemaire is needling star Marian Gaborik and nobody knows who would start the first playoff game in goal, and yet the Wild is rising in the West.

Actually, Lemaire needling Gaborik and the team's uncertainty in goal might be why the Wild is rising in the West.

Some coaches like to make their most important players comfortable. Lemaire likes them to feel the tingle of uncertainty every time they take the ice.

In the past three years we've seen Dwayne Roloson elbowed out of the way by Manny Fernandez, who was pushed out by Niklas Backstrom, who is now playing behind Josh Harding.

If in-season goalie competition is a problem, somebody forgot to tell the other players. They're on a three-game winning streak and enjoying another January resurgence.

Wild GM Doug Risebrough, sitting in the stands during practice Tuesday morning, was asked whether his team's constant state of flux at the game's most important position was a concern.

"I would say the reason there's always flux here is we always have options," he said. "In some cases, I think teams have to ride through the rhythms of a one-goalie system. You might not like the way the guy is playing but you just have to hang in there.

"Our team has always had good competition at the position, and that probably creates flux. The most vulnerable we were last year was when we thought we only had one goalie. Although Josh was here and he played well, we weren't planning on it working out that way. It was supposed to be Manny. And that only convinced me more to have the flux, so to speak."

Wouldn't a player prefer to know who the No. 1 goalie is?

"I think it's probably a little concerning, or edgy, but competition drives players," he said. "And having options allows you to take the pressure off the guy, so he can get his practices going, get in rhythm and get his game back. I'm always of the opinion that if a guy is struggling he'll get better faster in practice and with some time off than if he just goes back into net for the next game and tries to get better there."

Changing lead goalies in midstream didn't hurt the Wild last year. Backstrom was a big reason for the late-season surge, and Backstrom was hardly the reason the Wild lost to a superior Anaheim team in the playoffs.

Backstrom has played lately like he's weighed down with sandbags, but Lemaire said he saw signs of life during practice. "Backstrom was good today," Lemaire said. "I think he's coming back."

How can you tell?

"His demeanor in the net," Lemaire said. "You could see if a goaltender is confident, just the way he's in the net, he stands and he's stopping shots and he sees where the puck goes and he reads the play well. So you can tell that his confidence level is climbing."

Even with the team winning and Harding emerging, does Lemaire want to get solid play from Backstrom soon?

"Well, you want all the guys to be part of what the team achieves," Lemaire said. "It would be nice at this time, because the team is going well, that he's involved with this."

Plus, Lemaire doesn't want Harding, or any of his players, to feel comfortable.

Asked what more he could demand of the torrid Gaborik, Lemaire offered an insight into how he thinks.

"If I look at the potential he has, and where he's playing right now, he's probably 80 percent," Lemaire said. "So you can imagine what he would do if he would get that other 20?

"... We ask 100 percent, so we can get 90."

Jim Souhan can be heard Sundays from 10 a.m.-noon on AM-1500 KSTP. • jsouhan@startribune.com

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