A Wild star, but for how long?

ATLANTA — Wearing a posh new suit and a smile that sparkled, Marian Gaborik dressed the part as he was ushered out Saturday morning with the rest of his All-Star counterparts.

He certainly didn't look out of place, except that the Wild's franchise leader in virtually everything was standing alongside a bunch of Western Conference power forwards, such as Jarome Iginla, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Joe Thornton, Jason Arnott and Rick Nash.

"I put Gaborik in the mix with a lot of the East guys, people like [Ilya] Kovalchuk, [Alex] Ovechkin, [Eric] Staal, [Marian] Hossa," Phoenix Coyotes defenseman Ed Jovanovski said. "Gaborik's so dynamic. His first couple strides are the best I've ever had to defend. He's just a pure goal scorer like those guys in the East.

"Minnesota's so well-coached and disciplined and defensive with Jacques Lemaire. Put Gaborik on another team, he'll score 50 goals."

This perception, one in which Gaborik would explode if he played in the more wide-open Eastern Conference, is becoming more and more widespread, especially after Gaborik swung the spotlight onto himself last month when he lit up the New York Rangers for five goals.

Even scarier, maybe from a Wild fan's perspective, Gaborik wonders, too.

"Minnesota is my only team so far," Gaborik, who turns 26 on Feb. 14, said. "But sometimes you think how it could be in an Eastern system, in a more offensive system. There's more offense there for sure. It's a totally different style of hockey. The West is tight and physical, so you're thinking that sometimes.

"This has been my only team, my only coach that I've had so far. I like Minnesota. We're successful, and I'm here right now. But I don't know what's going to happen later on. I'm here right now. I want to win with these guys and I want to do everything I can to win. But we'll see what happens in the future."

Uh-oh.

Gaborik tried to say the right thing about his focus on the Wild, but realistically, if Gaborik wants to put this East theory to a test, he will have ample chance very soon.

You see, Gaborik has the hammer. If he wants to leave Minnesota, he can as an unrestricted free agent in two summers. That might seem like a long way off, but it's not. If Gaborik is indeed at least considering leaving the Wild, this will become an issue this summer.

Can the Wild afford to let him enter the last year of his contract in 2008-09 if he can walk away in July 2009 for nothing in return?

"I have a deal with Minnesota now," Gaborik said. "When it's up, I'm going to consider what is going to happen. I don't think about it now. I'm only thinking about the Wild, staying healthy, helping us win. When the right time comes, I'll think about it."

General Manager Doug Risebrough doesn't buy into the players' theory of a more wide-open East.

"When I was a player, I thought I knew everything about hockey until I got into management. Then I realized I didn't know that much," Risebrough said. "I don't think there's any doubt the quality of defense in the West is higher, but if you want to win a Stanley Cup, playing against quality teams brings the best out of you.

"The issue is what you want as an objective. Steve Yzerman was a 100-point player and became the best two-way player in hockey and a great leader. He decided being a 100-point player wasn't worth it if being an 80-point player on a great team meant a Stanley Cup."

Asked if he's concerned that if Gaborik believes he'd thrive in the East he would depart as a free agent, Risebrough said: "I've always said players have choices now. I'd rather find out those choices sooner than later."

Two summers ago, even though it wasn't the sole intent, the Wild staved off a potentially volatile contract dispute with Gaborik by trading for his Slovak pal, Pavol Demitra. Gaborik signed a three-year, $19 million extension that kept him from becoming a free agent last summer.

One way the Wild could try to satisfy both Gaborik -- and the team -- this summer is by pursuing a superstar like Atlanta's Marian Hossa, another close friend of Gaborik's.

But Gaborik, who would know better than most, quashed that Saturday, saying: "I don't think he'd want to go to Minnesota anyway. I think that's impossible. I don't think he would consider it, and I don't think they'd have interest either."

Asked if it's the weather, Lemaire's system or some other reason Hossa wouldn't want to play for the Wild, Gaborik only smiled.

The perception -- real or not -- is that the Wild's system holds Gaborik back. Take the Rangers' Scott Gomez, who said: "Gaborik's one of the special ones. He's great for Minnesota. He's the face of the franchise. To play in that system and to thrive like he has is pretty impressive."

Gaborik is the only Lemaire-coached player to average more than a point a game (66 in 65 games two seasons ago, 57 in 48 games last season and 52 in 45 games this season).

Gaborik scored at a 48- and 52-goal pace the past two seasons, respectively, if healthy. So Risebrough's tired of the "misconception" that Lemaire holds Gaborik back.

"His rate of scoring when he's playing is as high as anybody in the league -- maybe top-five," Risebrough said. "His biggest challenge is staying healthy. Look now, his health is good and he's scoring at a rate of almost 50 goals. How many guys are scoring higher than that? Not a lot."

Edmonton Oilers center Shawn Horcoff, who sees Gaborik more than most, agrees, saying: "If it weren't for injuries, he'd be goalwise and pointwise right up there in the top tier of the league. He's proven if you get him a full healthy season, 50's not unapproachable.

"I watched that five-goal game. He could have had seven. That's the sad thing. He didn't want to embarrass [the Rangers] any more. Only so many guys in the league can do that, no matter where you play."