Fedoruk taking new role, putting on his game face

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA - As it turns out, now-Wild teammate Derek Boogaard did Todd Fedoruk a favor last season when he rearranged the Anaheim Ducks forward's face with a mighty blow.

Sure, it was a painful favor, but a favor nonetheless.

Fedoruk, in his first season with the Wild after being claimed off waivers in November, admits he no longer can run around in an attempt to drop his gloves with every heavyweight in the NHL. His face, which has enough inserted metal to attract every TSA agent at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, simply can't take too many more violent hits.

It has forced Fedoruk to actually play hockey, and thus earn himself a regular shift in Minnesota and the trust of his new coach, Jacques Lemaire.

"I've had to take a different road with my game," said Fedoruk, 28. "When I came into the league, I did two things good -- I fought well and I skated well. But my hockey was in development stage. I was on a learning curve, with fighting keeping me in the league.

"Now, the face won't let me just go toe-to-toe and buck-wild with the fighting. I have to be smarter with it now and pick spots differently. I'll still deal with guys when they need to be dealt with, but I'm not looking for it as much."

In fact, entering tonight's game at Vancouver, Fedoruk has fought only twice in 23 games with the Wild. In seven NHL seasons, he has 89 bouts on his résumé, according to hockeyfights.com, and he sought to bruise it up with the league's toughest combatants.

Just look at his fight in October 2006 with Boogaard. It wasn't Boogaard who came looking for Fedoruk. It was Fedoruk who chased Boogaard up the ice after he checked Ducks forward Chris Kunitz.

"He took a run on one of our skilled guys, and my job in Anaheim was to send a message from our team to theirs that you can't do that," Fedoruk said.

Obviously, the confrontation didn't shake out as Fedoruk had planned. He spent the night in a St. Paul hospital and needed surgery. In Minnesota, chasing heavyweights is no longer Fedoruk's role.

"If he wants to only fight, he's going to have to get another team, because I want him to play," Lemaire said. "He will have to go somewhere else, because I'm not sending him to fight. What I care is he's got to play well."

Fedoruk credited Ducks coach Randy Carlyle and former Flyers and current Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock for teaching him the sport.

"I took little pieces from everybody along the way, worked on my game, and finally have a coach that's gained trust in me, who feels he can put me out there in situations," Fedoruk said. "I still don't want to get away from fighting completely. I think it's very important to stick with what's got you here, but I want to take advantage of playing more, be smart defensively and chip in offensively.

"It's nice to have a guy who can play 10 minutes and still scrap the heavies in the league sometimes."

But Boogaard added, "Todd can face certain guys, and the guys he can't fight, I can. I think he's been a great addition to have and maybe, who knows, I might play more just because of the overall toughness thing."

In fact, Boogaard, in his first game back from a back injury Friday, played 9 minutes, 9 seconds -- his second-highest ice time of the season.

Lemaire was delighted with Boogaard's all-around game "and that he had a goal."

"He had a goal," Lemaire repeated, referring to Boogaard's goal that was disallowed because of an offside whistle from a linesman that replays proved to be incorrect.

"My first goal in 80 or 90 games," Boogaard said.

It's actually been 103 games since his previous goal on Jan. 7, 2006, but who's counting?

"It's too bad," he said. "It'll happen again sometime, hopefully sooner than later. I'll still put it on my highlight tape. I'll just mute the whistle."