New teammates have tangled before

By MICHAEL RUSSO, Star Tribune

Last update: March 4, 2008 - 8:32 PM

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Want to know how well Derek Boogaard knows Chris Simon?

Just go to YouTube, type both their names and you'll hear this back-and-forth between Wild announcers Dan Terhaar and Mike Greenlay:

Terhaar: "Oh. ... That's not good."

Greenlay: "Well, you've got to take a few to give a few, and [Boogaard] certainly did that."

During Boogaard's first three seasons, the Wild enforcer has built a reputation as one of the NHL's most intimidating heavyweights. But during his rookie year of 2005-06, Boogaard squared off with Simon, then with Calgary, and let's just say you won't find that clip on Boogaard's fight tape.

After Boogaard picked the fight, Simon got his left hand free and connected with four consecutive punches.

"He can throw a pretty mean left," Boogaard said, laughing. "He hit me twice good. Hardest I was hit that year. I remember that fight, for sure."

Boogaard was excited last week when the Wild traded for Simon, a 15-year NHL tough guy. While coach Jacques Lemaire said it was insurance if Boogaard couldn't return from a back injury, Boogaard made clear Tuesday he anticipates playing with the physical Simon and Todd Fedoruk this season.

"It would scare people," said Boogaard, who has played five games since Nov. 23 and none in the past 19.

Boogaard said he could already tell Simon is a "great guy," and not the person the hockey world knows as the player who slashed the Rangers' Ryan Hollweg in the face in retaliation for checking him into the glass.

"Everybody's done a bad thing in their life," Boogaard said. "That was one of his, and I think he regrets it. I've even said, 'That's bad for hockey,' but what he did, I probably would have done the same thing maybe.

"The people [who criticize Simon] don't really know the game too much."

As for Boogaard, who has a herniated disk, he hopes to practice next week.

"I missed 3 1/2 weeks last year with the ankle, but this tops it off," Boogaard said. "It's the most frustrated I've ever been. It definitely is tough. You want to be a part of everything the team does, but you just can't."

Boogaard said he will probably need surgery after his career, but he's not considering it now.

"That's always an option, and the doctors have told me my options from one extreme to the other," he said. "With surgery, it's hit or miss. It could get better or it could get worse eventually."

Etc.

• Proving optional morning skates aren't really optional, Lemaire noted Tuesday morning, as the Wild prepared for that night's game against Chicago, that veterans Brian Rolston, Kim Johnsson, Eric Belanger and Nick Schultz didn't go on the ice.

Lemaire said he didn't want players to "fool around and go through the motions and get bad habits" but then added: "Some of the guys felt they didn't want to push. They better play tonight then."

• On Brent Burns, Lemaire said: "He's got a lot of energy. ... He loves to be on the ice." Asked if Burns is playing his best hockey, Lemaire said, "Let's put it this way: He's exciting to watch." Is that a good thing or bad thing? "Both," Lemaire said.

• Defenseman Kurtis Foster missed Tuesday's game because of a sore back. Sean Hill replaced him.

• Rolston and Mikko Koivu will be assistant captains the rest of the season.

• Vikings coach Brad Childress watched Tuesday's game with GM Doug Risebrough in his booth.