Wild: Agitator wants to clutter up kid's mind

Cal Clutterbuck once protected young phenom John Tavares. Tonight, the Wild's chatterbox will deal the smack.

By MICHAEL RUSSO, Star Tribune

Last update: November 19, 2009 - 10:08 PM

If you want to witness a trash-talking extravaganza tonight, keep an eye on Cal Clutterbuck during warmups.

For fun, the Wild's king of smack is planning to hurl a bunch of one-liners at the direction of New York Islanders prized rookie John Tavares, the No. 1 overall pick in last June's NHL draft.

"Just to get him thinking, I'll be in his ear," Clutterbuck said, laughing. "I know too many things about him, so it'll be easy. Some of them I probably won't even use because I'd probably break his heart if I did. I'll make sure to tell him I still run his show.

"I'm excited to know what it's like to play against him."

Clutterbuck sure loved playing with Tavares, who scored the most goals in Ontario Hockey League history (215).

"He definitely helped my career, which I'm appreciative of," said Clutterbuck, 22, three years older than Tavares.

When Clutterbuck played for Oshawa of the OHL in 2005, the Generals drafted Tavares, then a 14-year-old phenom, first overall after the league created an "exceptional player" clause so Tavares could enter a year sooner than rules permitted.

"I used to make fun of him being so young. I called him, 'My little pigeon, my little puppet,'" Clutterbuck said.

For two years, Clutterbuck and Tavares were linemates. In 2006-07, Tavares scored 72 goals to break Wayne Gretzky's OHL record for goals by a 16-year-old and registered 134 points. That same season, Clutterbuck scored 35 goals and 89 points.

When Clutterbuck, the Wild's third-round draft pick in 2006, left for Houston of the AHL the following season, Tavares' production "slipped" to 40 goals and 118 points.

"I realized how much I missed Cal's presence," Tavares said earlier this year. "He always had guys looking over their shoulders. He made guys second-guess things and turn pucks over, and that created a lot of opportunities for myself."

Clutterbuck's most infamous hit was on superpest Patrick Kaleta, the former Peterborough Pete who now plays for the Buffalo Sabres. Kaleta used to take runs at Tavares every game until ... "I hit him with a football block," Clutterbuck said, laughing. "He was going into kill Johnny, and I came out of nowhere and just hammered him. He never hit Johnny again. Johnny was the franchise guy, and my job was to make sure nothing too crazy happened to him."

After several false rumors minutes before the NHL draft that the Islanders were about to select Matt Duchene, General Manager Garth Snow snatched up Tavares. He hasn't disappointed, leading all NHL rookies with nine goals and 19 points.

"He's exactly as good as everybody said he was," Carolina Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford said.

Like the debate currently going on between 2010 draft-eligible OHL stars Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin, every facet of Tavares' game was picked apart last season.

"Go back and look what he did in junior hockey and look at his numbers. They're ridiculous," said Craig Button, an NHL analyst and former North Stars director of player personnel. "I go back to [1984] with Mario Lemieux and Kirk Muller. There were public arguments that maybe Kirk should be No. 1.

"Mario Lemieux had more goals than Kirk Muller had total points. But people watched them so much, they were picked apart. It's like in [2005]. People were saying if Phil Kessel was in that draft that Sidney Crosby might not go No. 1. That's laughable.

"Last year, when people were trying to make the argument between Brayden Schenn and John Tavares, or Matt Duchene and John Tavares, I mean, come on."

Clutterbuck found all the second-guessing of Tavares hysterical as well.

"There's always been a question about his skating. Well, look at any level he's played at, his skating has never hindered his ability to do anything," Clutterbuck said. "He just manages to score. He's 19 and he's already a dangerous offensive weapon in the NHL. He's going to score a lot of goals in this league."