Mimicking Mikko suits Sheppard just fine

DENVER - Mikko Koivu doesn't know it, but virtually every second of every practice, the same teenage eyeballs are watching his every move.

When Koivu battles in the corner, somebody's watching. When Koivu toe-drags the puck through the middle, somebody's watching. When Koivu drinks from the water bottle, somebody's watching.

Wild rookie center James Sheppard wouldn't call himself a stalker, but he's soaking up Koivu like a sponge. Who knew a 24-year-old third-year NHLer could have a 19-year-old protégé?

"I didn't get to watch a lot of Minnesota the last couple years, but this year, I've realized watching Mikko practice that he's exactly what I was growing up and what I want to be in the NHL," Sheppard, the ninth pick in the 2006 draft, said Wednesday. "He's big, he's strong, his hands are amazing. The way he stickhandles in practice is amazing. He's so smart. His size, his effort, his want to win every puck is just top-notch."

"Going into the draft, people kept asking me which player you think you're most like," Sheppard continued "I was saying Todd Bertuzzi because he's big and strong and Joe Thornton because he protects the puck. Well, the combination of those guys is pretty well Mikko Koivu.

"I should probably tell Mikko I like the way he plays," Sheppard said, laughing. "I just really respect him. I think my game is going to evolve hopefully like his."

Wild coach Jacques Lemaire certainly thinks it is. After the Wild's 4-2 victory at Vancouver on Monday -- which arguably was Sheppard's best game in the NHL -- Lemaire said, "He's getting close to the type of player that Mikko is. That's the direction it's taking."

Sure, Sheppard hasn't taken the NHL by storm like Chicago rookie phenoms Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. He's not getting the hype that center Nicklas Backstrom is getting in Washington or center Peter Mueller is getting in Phoenix.

But Sheppard is ahead of where Koivu was at this age, and his development is ahead of even the Wild's optimistic schedule.

Sheppard has played his best hockey lately -- six points and a plus-4 in the past nine games. But his value can't be found in the boxscore.

He's cerebral and does these subtle things while battling -- whether it's a stick check or body position or a touch pass -- that often lead to the Wild coming out with the puck. And his size 15 boots keep him from getting knocked off his feet.

"I like being creative," said Sheppard, and he's not talking about dipsy-doodling with the puck. "The best players in the game are the guys who are creative and do things that no one thinks about, do things players don't expect to throw them off their game. Little stick checks, little things I've learned.

"Before I was timid, and that was my problem. It wasn't necessarily that I wasn't confident. I just knew I was in the NHL, and it was a lot different from what I was used to. I was nervous about making mistakes because I didn't want to come out of the lineup or to be stuck on the fourth line playing limited minutes."

Plus, Sheppard is 19. Besides the colossal difference in hockey, he's a Canadian teenager living in Minnesota and expected to be a man pulling in five-figure biweekly paychecks.

"Getting everything in order was a big task," Sheppard said. "I mean, when I first came here, I couldn't play because I didn't have a visa. There was so much just in life to deal with, all the things about becoming an adult overnight. Plus, the hockey's such an adjustment -- still is. I'm mature for my age, but it was overwhelming at first -- having my own car that I paid fully and all these credit cards and having a job really.

"Hockey was almost the easiest thing. When I went to play hockey, all the stress kind of left my brain. I love hockey, and that kind of gets me back to neutral."

Still, Sheppard admits that every game he looks up and can't believe whom he's gazing at. When he helped set up Brian Rolston's goal in Vancouver, it wasn't lost on him that he outbattled Canucks legend Trevor Linden for the puck. Linden's rookie year (1988) was Sheppard's birth year.

"But you can't look and say, 'This is Trevor Linden. How do I battle him?'" Sheppard said. "You've got to say, 'That's my puck, I don't care who that guy is. I'm going to win it.'

"It's taken awhile to realize that. I remember the first time I played [Colorado's] Joe Sakic. I took a faceoff against him and said to myself, 'I don't know how I'm here right now.'

"I won that faceoff by the way," Sheppard said, giggling.