Wild finds 'optionals’ are no longer optional

By MICHAEL RUSSO, Star Tribune

Last update: March 27, 2008 - 10:02 AM

When Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said optionals were history after Monday’s lopsided defeat in Edmonton, he wasn’t kidding.
Proof positive that Wednesday’s morning skate was mandatory came when Brian Rolston strolled onto the ice. He typically takes morning skates off.

“You’re going to have those games whether you have optionals or not, I believe, so I can’t tell you for sure one way or the other whether optionals were the reason,” Rolston said. “But maybe guys can’t get themselves ready if they take those optionals off.
“I’m a guy who’s always taking them, and I get prepared for the games. But maybe some guys need to be skating every day.”

Earlier this month, when Lemaire was having trouble determining how much rest to give players, Rolston advised Lemaire “to put it in the players’ hands.”

Lemaire switched to daily optional practices, and the Wild’s play improved until Monday’s ugliness.

Goalie Niklas Backstrom was victimized by three consecutive breakdowns in the first five minutes.

“Look at how we started,” Lemaire said. “It’s just awful for a goalie to have these type of shots in the first five minutes. You can’t have passes across, two-on-ones and shooting in the open net.”

Injury update

Pavol Demitra (leg) and Pierre-Marc Bouchard (flu) returned Wednesday, but left winger Stephane Veilleux has the flu and missed the game.

Aaron Voros, scratched in five in a row, replaced Veilleux. Benoit Pouliot was scratched, along with Chris Simon and Matt Foy.
Hill plans on patience Veteran defenseman Sean Hill said he’s going to do his best to stay in position rather than go for the big hit. That was Lemaire’s instruction after Hill clobbered Edmonton’s Robert Nilsson on Monday night. Hill got the hit, but Andrew Cogliano scored the Oilers’ fifth goal because of it.

“In certain situations, it’s my nature to be aggressive, and sometimes it would help me to take a step back and read first before reacting and going for the hit,” Hill said. “It hasn’t been a problem for me in the past, but with the game being different, if you slide off a guy a bit, sometimes it’s better to contain than try for the big hit.”

Gagner playing well

Oilers forward Sam Gagner, 18, the son of former North Stars center Dave Gagner, entered Wednesday’s game with 48 points, fifth among rookies.

“It’s amazing a kid that age can be as polished emotionally and physically as he is,” Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said. “He knows the game. Obviously, the big advantage for Sam is to come from a father who played the game. Obviously, he passed on a lot of important lessons on how to play the game, conduct himself and prepare himself. He’s really a complete player at 18. Look at the greats over the years, they all had some growing pains within the game.

“But, as productive as he’s been offensively, you just don’t see it. The last time I saw that was when I started in 1979 with [Ray] Bourque. He was polished at 18. He came into camp and he was a player. You see the same attributes. Sam is going to be a special player.”

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