Patrick Reusse: New Wild players make Risebrough look good

The Wild pushed back the starting time for Saturday night's season opener by a half-hour in order to further celebrate the glory of claiming a Northwest Division title in the closing days of the 2007-08 season.

The clinching took place in the final home game and was marked by much postgame screaming over the public address system and in the stands. The division title also was given many joyful mentions during the postseason, which was supposed to last deep into spring but was short-circuited by underdog Colorado in 11 days of April -- the ninth through the 19th.

The Wild offered two explanations for this six-game elimination: A) Television analyst Mike Greenlay saw officiating as the culprit in all four losses; and B) the Wild brain trust assured us our heroes had been bounced by an outstanding team.

The Avalanche put the lie to that theory by getting swept by Detroit. So, Greenlay must've been right ... must've been the refs.

The playoff flop did not prevent the St. Paul marketers from celebrating last season as if it were a monumental success. The culmination of Saturday's pregame festivities was to proudly unveil a Northwest Division championship banner.

This overshadowed the regular-season debut of Nordy, the first mascot in the history of the franchise.

The Timberwolves have Crunch the Wolf, and the Twins have T.C. Bear, so the Wild was left to find another woodsy creature to entertain youth and annoy adults.

What the Wild came up with in Nordy is a hybrid that appears to be the result of a breeding experiment involving a bear cub, a fox and a woodpecker.

That sort of fits the Wild of 2008-09, since the new roster involves the cross-breeding of kids, holdovers and new veterans by Doug Risebrough, team president, general manager and guardian of the owner's wallet, whether it belongs to Bob Naegele or Craig Leipold.

Risebrough refused to pay the freight to retain Brian Rolston, a noble veteran and the Wild's best player in the Colorado series. He also allowed Pavol Demitra to walk and paid off Mark Parrish to leave.

This meant the Wild was losing its leading goal scorers Nos. 2 through 4, although those last two -- Demitra and Parrish -- were not wanted back by coach Jacques Lemaire.

Risebrough brought in a handful of free agents, none of whom was a budget breaker. Four of those were in the lineup Saturday: forwards Andrew Brunette (back after a three-season absence), Antti Miettinen and Owen Nolan, and defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron.

Colton Gillies, the 19-year-old the Wild chose to retain rather than return to juniors, also debuted.

So, the Wild had the kids, in James Sheppard, Gillies and Benoit Pouliot, and the old-timers, in Nolan and Brunette, and a few additions of modest pedigree, and there was an irrestible urge to scream "hogwash'' when Risebrough kept trying to sell the idea this could be an improved team over the division champs/playoff busts of last season.

One game into the schedule of 82, here's the scorecard: Risebrough 1, skeptical smart alecks 0.

The Wild offered little to admire in the first period, beyond killing off a four-minute penalty after Brent Burns' high stick brought blood from Phil Kessel.

If you blinked you might have missed it, but Kessel used to play for the Gophers. He scored the game's first goal at 8:03 of the first period.

Eric Belanger tied it with a power play late in the first period. The setup came from Gillies. And then the Wild tormented Boston's Manny Fernandez, both Lemaire's nephew and a mercurial goalie who used to drive Unc nuts, for three goals in the second.

Bergeron had a blast from on top for the second power- play goal. Miettenen received a tremendous feed from Brunette for the next goal, leading to a sing-song chant of "Manny, Manny.''

Belanger then scored on a play started by Nolan, leading to a harsh chant of "Sieve, sieve'' toward Fernandez.

The Wild held on from there for a 4-3 victory. The new guys in the lineup -- Gillies, Bergeron, Miettenen, Brunette and Nolan -- all contributed a point.

Everything considered, Risebrough's experiment with his roster looked much better than Nordy.

Patrick Reusse can be heard weekdays on AM-1500 KSTP at 6:45 and 7:45 a.m. and 4:40 p.m. • preusse@startribune.com