Risebrough's rebuttal: 'Give Chris a chance'

SUNRISE, FLA. - Wild General Manager Doug Risebrough admitted Thursday he "miscalculated" the backlash to his acquisition of veteran winger Chris Simon, who has received the two longest suspensions in NHL history.

For two days, Simon and the Wild have been raked over the coals in the media. Risebrough and team officials said the Wild offices have been flooded with e-mails from disconcerted fans. In fact, they have received so many, the team is responding with a form letter that says, in part, the Wild is "aware of the fans' concerns."

But Thursday, before the Wild's practice in South Florida, Risebrough pleaded for the media and fans to "give Chris a chance."

"This is a new start for him," Risebrough said. "I called him [after trading for him]. You don't very often get people as excited as this guy was. I mean, genuinely excited. This is a fresh start. Give him a fresh start. People deserve second chances."

Simon, 36, who made his Wild debut in Wednesday's victory at Tampa Bay, has been suspended eight times and is coming off a 30-game suspension for stepping on Pittsburgh Penguins agitator Jarkko Ruutu's leg and a 25-game suspension for slashing New York Rangers agitator Ryan Hollweg in the face.

Risebrough said he was "disappointed with the media" for not telling "the complete story." Risebrough felt it should have been pointed out that none of the incidents that resulted in Simon suspensions caused a serious injury.

For instance, notorious bad guy Bryan Marchment was suspended a league-high 13 times in his career. More often than not, Marchment's victims couldn't walk away.

"There's no doubt the incidents that have caused attention here were mistakes and poorly motivated decisions by Chris, but the players haven't been dramatically hurt," Risebrough said. "That's not to say the league was wrong in disciplining him, but tell the complete story.

"Why wouldn't the media look at players in the league who are playing today and tell people who's the second-most-suspended player and draw a little bit of analysis? Who is that? Do you know? Guess who it is? [Chris] Pronger." Pronger has been suspended seven times by the league.

"And I would argue the players [Pronger has] hurt have missed more games than the ones Chris has hurt. I'm not trying to defend it ... but it's [the media's] job to try to give a perspective. I was disappointed in the media's lack of perspective."

Risebrough said he "miscalculated" how fans would look only "at snippets of the incidents" and judge Simon's character.

"I've done the due diligence and talked to enough people that know a little bit about who this person is," Risebrough said. "But why would the fans know all this stuff? Why would they know he's got three young kids and he's a soft-spoken guy who really wants to keep playing his career and has paid his price? Why would fans know that? They wouldn't know that, so that's my fault. I miscalculated that they would know that."

Risebrough is confident that Wild fans will greet Simon warmly when he makes his home debut Sunday against Los Angeles and treat him fairly throughout his Wild career.

"I don't feel that Minnesota is a place where people hold grudges, and they'll give him a chance," Risebrough said.

On whether he feels he has personally angered fans by acquiring Simon, Risebrough said: "I haven't felt that. The true measure? Our players, if they have a chance to speak in time about this guy, they'll say, 'What a nice guy, what a good person he is.' All the people around Chris like him.

"He's already paid a price for his actions -- a substantial price. He just wants to have a career. Let's let him do that.

"Lets face it, where his salary's at right now [$475,000], he doesn't necessarily need this headache. But he wants to play. He wants to be part of a team. Right now, it would be easy for him to drift away. But he doesn't want to do that."