Wild: Lemaire staying? Leaving? Find out today

Jacques Lemaire was upbeat, laughing as he talked on the phone. He was practically buoyant.

Is it a sign?

Lemaire laughed, again. "You'll find out tomorrow,'' he said Friday afternoon. "There will be an announcement.''

Today, for sure, we'll know whether Lemaire will be back to coach the Wild for an eighth season. Doug Risebrough, the team's president and general manager, is expected to announce Lemaire's future today. On Friday, neither was willing to say what that announcement would hold.

And so, the clues:

• With three days of organizational meetings in Tampa, Fla., wrapped up, Risebrough headed home to Minnesota while Lemaire said he would stay for a while in Florida -- where he owns a home -- before heading up to Ottawa for the NHL draft in June.

Aha! So he'll be with the team in June?

Not so fast. "But you know what?'' Lemaire said coyly. "That would be the end of my contract; it would end the 31st of June.''

Or:

• Lemaire said he would be in Minnesota come next fall. Because he'll be coaching? "I'll just be in Minnesota, no matter what.''

Technically, he has two years remaining on his contract. And although neither Lemaire nor Risebrough would give a concrete clue, Lemaire's mood might seem to indicate his intention to return. Either that or relief at having made a difficult decision.

Hmmm.

"We had a good discussion,'' Lemaire said of the meetings this week. "We talked. We talked about what was important to me, how he feels about the job I've been doing. The season, all what happened through the season. How the team can be improved.''

Lemaire talked both during and after the season about how difficult it had been to coach a team filled both with talent and pending free agents. He questioned whether he still was the right man for this job. Risebrough, meanwhile, had an answer for that: Yes.

"At different times, when times are tough, every coach has a different way of working with the players,'' Lemaire said. "I'm very open with what I'm doing with my boss, and I want to make sure that he feels I'm always on the right track with what I'm doing.

"All of this is important, especially when you do get older. No doubt, your patience is a little less.''

Risebrough, meanwhile, said the content of the meetings -- which included Lemaire's future but encompassed the direction of the entire franchise -- wasn't different than in past years.

"For me it wasn't different, it was more public,'' Risebrough said. "Every year we sit down as a staff. Jacques and I talk about how he did, how he thought I did in some situations. ... It wasn't like this is a big meeting where we had to rethink a lot of stuff. We did the normal things, like we normally do. We're comfortable with what happened this year, we're comfortable that our plan is working, in what we're trying to do.''

So while many signs would seem to lead to the conclusion that Lemaire will return, the possibility remains that the Wild could be the fifth team (Colorado, Ottawa, Toronto and Florida are the others) looking for a new coach.