Havlat kicks off 'reunions' week for Wild

The Chicago return for the onetime Blackhawk could provide the jump start he needs this season.

By MICHAEL RUSSO, Star Tribune

Last update: October 26, 2009 - 9:31 PM

CHICAGO - Just like your high school reunion, where you spent hours in front of the mirror, put on your finest duds and sucked in your gut, a bunch of motivated hockey players --and one executive -- will make an effort to show off and look their very best this week.

Finally, the four games have arrived that have been anticipated since the moment the NHL schedule was released in mid-July: It's Minnesota Wild Reunion Week, and it starts tonight at the United Center.

In a six-day span: Martin Havlat, the Chicago Blackhawks' leading scorer in the regular season and playoffs last year, will make his first return to Chicago tonight; on Wednesday, longtime Predators defenseman Greg Zanon will face Nashville at home; on Friday, the all-time leading scorer in Wild history, Rangers star Marian Gaborik, returns to Minnesota for the first time; and Saturday, Wild GM Chuck Fletcher, the Pittsburgh Penguins' assistant GM the past three seasons, and winger Petr Sykora return to Pittsburgh, where they'll receive their Stanley Cup rings.

"I'm very excited, that's for sure," said Havlat, who led the Blackhawks with 77 points in 81 games last season. "... It's still the same game. They're just on the other side."

While players face former teams all the time, this is really a first for Havlat, 28. Ottawa's the team that drafted him in the first round in 1999. He returned to Canada's capital once, but he was injured in the first period.

"So I'm not used to this," he said.

Havlat had a special relationship with the fans in Chicago. He had a career year last year, and it filtered into the playoffs when he had a team-leading 15 points.

The Blackhawks went all the way to the Western Conference Finals, but maybe the most important victory was Game 1 of the first round against Calgary. Havlat scored the tying goal with 5 1/2 minutes left and the winning goal 12 seconds into overtime for the Blackhawks' first playoff victory in seven years.

The victory made a statement to the young Hawks that they were there to win, not just be there.

"There was a big question mark before the playoffs started last year about the kids and how they'd react, how we were the youngest team in the league and how they'd handle the playoff pressure because it's different hockey," Havlat said. "The guys did great. It was a lot of fun to watch."

Havlat should be fired up tonight. In a home preseason victory against Chicago, he scored two goals, including his first shift in a Wild uniform when he twice schooled youngster Jack Skille. In his preseason return to Chicago, he scored a goal and added an assist.

But he hasn't been that type of threat in the regular season; in eight games, Havlat has a goal and four assists.

So maybe the return to Chicago will be enough to jump start Havlat. After he signed a six-year, $30 million deal July 1 and after the Blackhawks fired GM Dale Tallon a few weeks later, Havlat sent out Twitter "tweets" criticizing the Blackhawks and saying, "the real story about what happened in Chicago [will] come out."

Havlat says it's in the past, but he was insulted that after trying to sign a long-term deal with the Blackhawks, the team told him they could only sign him to a one-year deal because of salary-cap issues.

Havlat became a free agent, and the same day the Blackhawks signed Marian Hossa to a 12-year deal.

"It was kind of sad to see him go away, but there's nothing you can really do about it," Patrick Kane told the Chicago Tribune. "...It's good to see him back in Chicago and obviously tough to see him on the other team."

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