Wild Insider: Tough calls will follow Wild's tough loss

DENVER – Niklas Backstrom ripped off his socks and spiked them to the ground. Pierre-Marc Bouchard stared at the floor as if he were in a trance. Long after most of his teammates were in the shower, a despondent Marian Gaborik still was slumped in his locker in full gear.

The Wild dressing room was a somber place Saturday night — seven months of hard work down the tubes with a second consecutive first-round playoff defeat.

Last season when the Wild forced a Game 5 against Anaheim, one could sense the Wild was delaying the inevitable. Players wore it on their faces; they knew they weren’t ready to defeat the eventual Stanley Cup winner.

This season, after winning the Northwest Division, the Wild felt it was poised for a long playoff run. Players wore dejection and anger on their faces after the Colorado Avalanche knocked them off.

There’s no denying injuries to Nick Schultz, Kurtis Foster, Branko Radivojevic and Mark Parrish left the Wild thin at the worst time.

There’s no doubt Gaborik’s goose egg in the goal column was catastrophic.

But that’s the past. It’s time to move on, and in a painful reality check, Wild players will clean out their lockers this morning rather than host Game 7 tonight.

Many players don’t know if they ever will be in the Wild locker room again.

The Wild will look vastly different on the ice next season, and maybe off it, too. There are 10 unrestricted free agents, including veterans

Brian Rolston and Pavol Demitra. After Saturday’s loss, Jacques Lemaire said he would “think about” returning as coach. And there’s a good chance the Toronto Maple Leafs will seek permission to speak to General Manager Doug Risebrough about their vacant GM position.

This is the most critical offseason in Wild history. The next cast of decisions is going to write this franchise’s future.

The correct moves — such as signing two quality defensemen and adding gritty, competitive, up-tempo forwards (especially centers) with the ability to score — could secure the team for a long time. The Wild’s disappointing exit is not all doom and gloom. A strong nucleus in Mikko Koivu, Brent Burns, James Sheppard and Schultz is locked up.

But, the wrong moves could cripple the franchise for years.

A difficult call

First, the Wild, which has $34.9 million of salary-cap room tied into 13 players next season, has to decide between Rolston and Demitra.

In a fixed market, one in which Bouchard, a restricted free agent, might warrant a long-term deal between $3 million and $4 million a year like Koivu, Burns and Schultz, there’s only so much of the pie that can go around before a team gets hamstrung.

Last season, Demitra and Gaborik showed magical chemistry. This season, Demitra often was MIA, had his worst offensive full season and didn’t seem to enjoy playing in Lemaire’s system, especially at center. However, Demitra said Saturday he wants to return.
Rolston had his third consecutive 30-goal season and elevated his game tremendously in the playoffs. He’s a respected leader and gamer. How do you let him go?

Rolston, 35, is older than Demitra, 33, but of the 492 games played the past six seasons, he has played 486 (one missed to injury, four to illness, one to rest for last year’s playoffs). Demitra has been limited to 425, because of a variety of injuries. Before that, Demitra missed 38 games in 2000-01, 11 in 1999-00, 21 in 1997-98.

Rolston’s $2.432 million salary his first three seasons in Minnesota was well below market value. He is going to want a raise. After all, he will be a highly sought free agent in a weak free-agent class.

Rolston is the best free-agent signing in franchise history. He’s done everything the Wild has asked and more. It’s time to reward him.

“It’s going real good for me here, but we’ll see what happens this summer,” Rolston said. “Obviously there’s a disappointment of losing, and there might have to be changes. I don’t know what they think. I have no question I’ll still be playing at a high level for some time.”

Gaborik will make $7.5 million next season, the final year of his contract. The Wild likely will come to him with an extension offer this summer to gauge if he wants to stay. Hopefully Gaborik, 26, is mature enough to not let it affect him if Demitra, his close friend, leaves.
Of the Wild’s other eight unrestricted free agents, the Wild almost certainly will try to re-sign Radivojevic, who had a strong final two months, and Todd Fedoruk, a combatant who can skate, play the game and provide electricity in the locker room.

Leaders in limbo

It’s still a long shot that Risebrough leaves. If he goes, Lemaire almost certainly would go. If he stays, Lemaire obviously has some pondering to do.

Lemaire, 62, essentially has a lifetime contract in Minnesota. When he eventually leaves, it will be because he chooses to walk away. Is now that time?

There were times this season where players seemed to tune him out. There was definitely a period of dissension and negativity, and you know he sensed it. He clearly boiled over March 6 during a locker-room tirade in Raleigh, N.C. The next morning, he admitted he had never been so frustrated with a team, saying, “I don’t have any pride the way they’re playing.”

If Lemaire bails, that throws another monkey wrench into what’s bound to be a jam-packed summer of Wild news.
Decisions, decisions, and none of them are easy.

Michael Russo • mrusso@startribune.com