Havlat already feeling at home

The Wild winger met the media and received a welcome assist on new accommodations.

By MICHAEL RUSSO, Star Tribune

Last update: July 4, 2009 - 12:39 AM

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WILD MEET MARTIN HAVLAT

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Since training camp doesn't start for more than two months, the Wild's biggest free-agent pickup had only two things to accomplish on his first day in Minnesota:

1) Find a place to live. 2) Pick a jersey number.

First, Martin Havlat received a phone call from now-former Wild star Marian Gaborik, who not only welcomed him to hockey-mad Minnesota but offered to sell Havlat his posh downtown Minneapolis condo.

"We are talking about," Havlat said, laughing.

Next objective was figuring out a way to strip No. 24, the number he's worn his entire career, off 6-7 Derek Boogaard.

"I think I will have to call Boogey," Havlat said. "I think he'll be the first guy I will talk to."

Boogaard, without cracking a smile, said he'd consider giving it up "if the price is right."

It must not have been: Havlat will wear No. 14.

Havlat, an explosive winger fresh off signing a six-year, $30 million deal, slipped on an "Iron Range Red" Wild sweater for the first time Friday. He asked with a big smile, "Do I look good? What do you think? Feels pretty good. Feels like a beginning of something new."

The Wild rounded out its seven-player defense corps with gritty defenseman Shane Hnidy, who signed a one-year, $750,000 contract. But winger Ruslan Fedotenko turned down a multiyear deal from the Wild to re-sign in Pittsburgh for one year, meaning the Wild will likely wait now to bring in another winger.

The team continues to be patient as free-agent center Saku Koivu takes his time deciding where he will sign. It's not looking good with Minnesota, and it doesn't appear to be so much about money as a concern about playing with his brother, Mikko.

"We've put a lot of conversations and time into it," GM Chuck Fletcher said. "Whatever decision he makes, I'm sure they'll be for good reasons."

If Saku Koivu doesn't sign and Fletcher can't make a trade, coach Todd Richards believes Pierre-Marc "Bouchard can be that guy" at No. 2 center.

Bouchard, a right winger in the NHL, is actually a natural center. He played center when he was Canadian Hockey League Player of the Year and led the CHL in scoring with 140 points for Chicoutimi of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in 2001-02.

If the Wild can't acquire a No. 2 center, Richards plans to talk with Bouchard in training camp to see how comfortable he would be switching to the middle. Bouchard couldn't be reached for comment, but it is believed he would welcome the move.

"I feel Bouchard can be that guy, but it's going to be up to him to show us he can be that guy," Richards said. "Playing center, there is a lot of responsibility. But with our system, we aren't going to just require our centers to play down low. It's going to be a group of forwards. It may end up being the left winger playing low in D-zone coverage, and if that's the case, it should take a little bit of responsibility away from Bouchard."

Of Bouchard's 267 points, 190 are assists, so he could be a prototypical center because of his ability to stickhandle in tight areas and hold on to the puck long enough to draw defenders to him and open up ice for linemates.

If it's not Bouchard, it could be Benoit Pouliot, James Sheppard or Eric Belanger.

"There's a certain point in the free-agent market where the quality of center icemen drop off, so rather than signing someone just to sign someone, why not look at what options you have internally?" Fletcher said. "Are they the answer? Time will tell. We'll see in camp if we don't make an adjustment prior to that.

"If we could add the right guy, we'll do it. But center ice is a hard commodity to find. We've looked at several players through free agency and the trade market and we'll continue to scour. Hopefully we're still in on one player [Koivu], but we may have to be prepared to look at internal options if better ones don't present themselves. That's all we can do."

See video from the Wild news conference to introduce Martin Havlat at startribune.com/wild.

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