wild/nhl

I'll be filling in on KFAN today (Friday) from noon-3. Great guests lined up, including Hall of Fame defenseman Denis Potvin (12:15), Wild assistant GM Brent Flahr (12:30), Hall of Fame hockey writer Jim Matheson (1 p.m.), Rangers play-by-play man Kenny Albert (1:30), Wild defenseman and former Devil Kurtis Foster (2 p.m.) and Fox Sports North's Kevin Gorg (2:30).

Have a question? Tweet me at russostrib, call in or email me at mrusso@startribune.com.

The Mikael Granlund watch that never really was a watch has ended and the Johan Gustafsson watch has started (Wild’s not expecting any issues signing the 2010 sixth-rounder who backstopped Sweden to gold at the world juniors).

Obviously, please read the Mikael Granlund article in Thursday's paper, but here's a massive blog to fill your stomach tonight.

Just to show you how there was never, ever really a concern internally that the Wild was going to be able to sign Granlund, its 2010 first-round pick, by the June 1 deadline, agent Todd Diamond was on today’s conference call with Wild GM Chuck Fletcher and Granlund.

I’m fairly certain that in the 6,382 conference calls I’ve been on in my career (I keep track), this was the first where the agent was invited on by the team. Usually, agents are thought of by teams the way Shane Doan thinks of Dustin Brown.

But that’s how good the relationship between these two sides has been. And, in fact, the purpose of having Diamond on the call was to confirm for all to see (hear) that the delay in Granlund signing a year had nothing to do with any type of contract dispute and was solely for the reason Granlund’s stated all along. He wanted to complete his military requirements, finish school and gain another year of experience so he’s a more complete player when he comes to the NHL.

On entry-level deals for this type of player, there’s no real hardball. The Wild essentially gave Granlund the works, or at least what is permitted under the terms of the current collective bargaining agreement for a top 2010 draft pick.

Granlund will earn annual $900,000 salaries in the NHL, including three $90,000 signing bonuses – the entry-level max for a 2010 draft pick. With potential performance bonuses, his annual salary-cap hit is $2.1 million.

According to sources, he can receive up to $850,000 in potential “A” bonuses, which include 20 goals, 35 assists, 60 points, .73 points per game, top-6 forwards in ice time, top-3 forwards in plus-minus and other big awards, like all-rookie team.

He can also receive up to $350,000 in potential “B” bonuses, which include being a finalist for league awards or finishing in the top-10 in significant league statistical categories.

If Granlund plays in the minors, he’d earn $67,500.

For the Wild’s sake, it hopes Granlund plays in the NHL all three years and achieves the bonuses.

It’s amazing, but the Wild has signed every 2010 and 2011 first- or second-round pick (2010: Granlund, Charlie Coyle, Brett Bulmer, Johan Larsson, Jason Zucker; 2011: Jonas Brodin, Zack Phillips) other than Mario Lucia, who is not allowed to sign if he wants to continue to be allowed on the Notre Dame campus.
Why is that huge?

Excerpt from one of my 2011-12 season postmortems:

It’s simple to see why the Wild has fallen behind most the rest of the league the past three years.

From 2004-08, the previous regime swung and missed on five consecutive first-round picks (A.J. Thelen, Benoit Pouliot, James Sheppard, Colton Gillies, and although it may be too early to declare, Tyler Cuma). Then Fletcher compounded matters by trading Nick Leddy.

Look at the Wild’s opponent on most nights and count how many of their own first-round picks are in the lineup. The Wild’s had one – Mikko Koivu (2001). It hasn’t developed a top-6 forward since Pierre-Marc Bouchard in 2002, an elite defenseman since Burns in 2003.

What’s more, go through the 29 other teams and look at their top players. Most team’s top scorers are their own draft picks and many from the 2004-08 drafts. This season, in the Wild’s regular lineup from the 2004-08 drafts were five players total – Marco Scandella, Cal Clutterbuck, Clayton Stoner, Justin Falk and Matt Kassian.

The best teams in the league build through the draft. The Wild? It has not.

That will change as the team starts to infuse young talent this coming year and six, maybe seven players turn pro (Brodin is the lone question mark because if he doesn’t make the Wild, the team will decide to return him to Sweden or send him to Houston).

Fletcher said the Wild’s not counting on all these kids to make the team or be ready right away. But at the very least, the Wild should have more depth to deal with injuries, something that killed the Wild this past season.

Fletcher also again made clear the Wild’s plan this offseason is to be aggressive and try to add “some NHL talent.”

Obviously, Fletcher can’t name names, but it’s been reported ad nauseam, there is zero doubt the Wild, like so many others, plan to pursue Zach Parise and Ryan Suter IF they get to free agency July 1.

Fans are obviously excited by the Wild finally locking up Granlund. The Wild is already trying to capitalize on the hype. No. 64 Granlund jerseys are on the shelves of the three Hockey Lodge locations and the first 64 fans to buy season tickets get an autographed Granlund jersey.

The July 8-15 development camp should be a fun one, as should training camp IF it starts on time barring a new labor agreement.

I’ve talked to a lot of people about Granlund, and often in these situations, I like to get outside opinions because there’s no bias. Obviously, the Wild’s going to glow about the kid.

Today, I talked to two folks, one who’s a big Granlund fan and compared Coyle and Granlund for me (longtime NHL scout Grant Sonier, who has worked for Tampa, Florida, L.A., Columbus, Boston and Atlanta and is a special contributor for ESPN.com), the other who is skeptical as to how good of an NHLer he’ll be.

The latter is Mike Johnson, the former NHL forward who covered the world championships for TSN. He’s also an analyst on NHL Network. He tweeted this week that he wasn’t convinced how good Granlund would be, so I gave him a ring.

Snippets from both these interviews:

1. Mike Johnson

Do you question his size or his foot speed? “The size, not so much, there’s lots of small guys. And there’s lots of rooms for small guys to be excellent players. He’s never going to grow, so that’s not going to change. He looks like he’s got a pretty stocky body. He’s kind of bottom heavy and should be able to manage himself around the boards. To me the greater concern would be the foot speed. You look at his track record and what he did as a 17-year-old, that Finnish league is good. It’s not easy to produce points, and to do it at 17 and again at 18, there’s no denying his skills – tremendous passer, great hands, great vision. But when you watch him, at least from what I saw at this past world championship, he looked a step slow. And it’s going to be hard for him to get the separation he needs to make plays. Now whether he was run down or tired, as I’m sure he probably was – I know he had an illness for a few weeks – all things combined, maybe he wasn’t quite 100 percent. But from what I saw in the way he played in the world championships this year, he’s going to have to get a little faster if he’s going to want to be a dominant offensive player. He can play in the NHL right now I would think. But is he going to be an elite level offensive performer? Well, he’s got to get a little quicker.”

Can that be done? “No question. That comes with a lot of hard work. It’s not easy to do. Through the proper weight training and summer routines, you can add explosive movements and change your body composition so maybe you’re lighter and have less body fat and more muscle. That can help you. With his brain, he’ll be able to get by being not quite as fast. But he’s still got to get better at that, from what I saw.”

So you have doubts he’ll be a future elite first-liner? “Well, on the Wild, he’ll probably be a first-line winger. Depends what you consider elite. Will he be a point-a-game player? I don’t see it, because I don’t see him being able to skate that well. Can he play with Mikko and Dany Heatley and get 60 points? He probably can. Now if that’s considered elite, I don’t think it is, but that’s probably a first-line winger. He has skill that you can’t teach, and those are the players that harder to get. The thing that I saw that he needs to work on most is probably stuff that you can change, and that’s a little bit of fitness and a little bit of explosiveness in his skating.”

2. Grant Sonier

What do you think of Granlund as a player and how good can he be at the NHL? “The things that come to mind about Granlund is just how special his hockey sense is and how competitive he has been for an undersized, and when he was drafted, an undersized, weak kid. He’s always found a way to compete. When you got high-end compete and elite hockey sense, you’re going to find a way to play in the NHL. And this kid has both of that. Known as a playmaker and has been a playmaker more than a goal scorer, but I would venture to say this guy’s going to contribute by scoring some goals as well. But he’s got really, really good passing and vision skills. Someone that can one-time the puck will benefit from this kid being on his line, I can guarantee you that.”

What’s his upside because a lot of people lately have really dissected him to death. Can he be an elite, elite player? “Well, he’s definitely a top-6 forward. He’s got to be put in an opportunity to play with offensive players. Smart offensive players will benefit him. I’m not trying to do Minnesota’s job for them, but it’s going to be about confidence with this kid. He had a tough year. But all players have tough years. He’s a super, super smart kid. I’m not as concerned about his feet as other people have been. I’ve heard all those remarks. He doesn’t have blinding speed, but he has enough quickness and evasiveness, he’s going to be able to buy himself some time and space to make plays. He’s just a good player. Smart and competitive. The only real visible downside to him is that he’s not a big kid. But he can overcome that by building a really strong core and being smart about using his size against bigger players. There’s going to be an adjustment period because of the speed and size and strength of the NHL. But he’s smart enough to do that. I think it’s going to be really interesting to see what type of player he turns out to be. I would bet he’s going to be a real good player.”

Is he a center, or a winger because of his size? “I think he’s more of center because of visionary work, but that’s where he’s really going to have to learn because of his size. His down low coverage, but there’s ways around that. Because he’s competitive, he finds a way to be smart enough to defend down low. That’s what we always worry about in hockey with the centericeman. But he doesn’t have to defend when he has the puck on his stick or he’s giving the puck to someone on his team when open. You don’t have to play defense when you’re doing that all the time.”

Seems like Coyle’s stock has skyrocketed with his incredible success in Saint John and Granlund’s has fallen a bit just because of his tough postseason. Is Coyle the top prospect on the Wild right now? “Charlie Coyle’s a helluva prospect. They’re different players. Charlie Coyle, in my mind, has gone to no better organization (Saint John). Playing college hockey (Boston University) was good for Charlie Coyle, but what he’s learned by going to Saint John and playing for Gerard Gallant is he’s learned to play harder. Like he’s really punishing people now, which must have Minnesota excited. Like, he’s almost too big and too strong for the junior league. Everything about him when you watch him play junior hockey, he looks like a future elite NHL power forward. So is he better than Granlund? They’re different types of player and if you put Mikael Granlund on the Saint John Sea Dogs, he would absolutely dominate. Like, it wouldn’t even be funny. Like [Florida prospect, Saint John star] Jonathan Huberdeau, put those two together, and Huberdeau might have scored 100 goals. You can’t elevate one guy based on his performance in junior and downgrade the other kid who’s playing in the SM Elite League.”

Couple excerpts from conference call today:

Granlund: I’ve talked to Mikko and he's said many good things about Minnesota. The organization has been great. I’m just looking forward to playing there. I think it’s a big help for me that Mikko is there and other Finnish players, too. Hopefully everything goes well.”

Fletcher: “Mikael is a world-class player. He’s shown that in the various international competitions he’s played in, whether it’s been in the under-18s or the under-20s to the men’s world championships. He’s performed very well within his age group and also playing against men. Don’t forget he’s played three seasons in the SM-Liiga in Finland and arguably has been the top player in the league over those three seasons. So he has a lot of high-level experience and certainly we feel he’s a top prospect. Having said all that, the NHL’s the best league in the world. There’s a lot of games, it’s a different style of play, it’s a different sized rink in some cases, although Mikael’s played very well at the world junior championships on the smaller ice surface. But there’s going to be adjustments for any 20-year-old player, for any first-tme player in the NHL regardless of your age. We’ll just let the process play out, but we expect him to be an NHL player for us and play well for us and time will tell how quickly the adjustment is. But we’re going to do what we can to make him comfortable and give him every chance to succeed.

Fletcher on whether Granlund should make next year’s team: “Yes. I feel he’s ready to play in the NHL and our expectation is he’ll play for our club next year and contribute. It’s very difficult to know at what level a 20-year-old will be able to step in in terms of numbers and exact role. That’ll be up to him and how he performs. And obviously he’ll have to come to camp and play hard and earn that spot, but there’s no reason to believe he won’t.”

Fletcher on whether he’ll play center or wing and could start with Mikko: “That’s going to be up to how Mikael plays in training camp and how the coaches see him fitting in. he’s played center, he’s played wing, he plays both well. Over his career, I’m sure he’ll play center, left wing, right wing, power play, penalty kill. As for where he starts, who knows? As we’ve seen over the last couple years, there’s a lot of change in our roster with injuries and performance. So he may have to play a little bit of everything very quickly. I’ll leave that up to the coaches and Mikael to work out.

Diamond on how under the microscope Granlund is in Finland and how coming to Minnesota might even offer a respite: “I think it will be to some extent a relief. I think in some ways and in some situations, he can be a little bit like Lennon and McCartney walking in the streets over there. If you look at Google statistics, he’s the most googled athlete in the country the past couple years. The one thing Mikael has always done really well is he’s played with older guys coming into professional environments. He blends in very easily with older players. They respect him because of his approach and because of his skill level. … With time, Mikael will come to the forefront.”

Finally, after more than a year of concern by many, Mikael Granlund, the No. 2-ranked prospect in February's Hockey News Future Watch, is officially locked up.

The talented playmaking forward signed a three-year, $2.7 million deal. That includes annual $90,000 signing bonuses. He also received a potential performance bonus structure that raises his annual salary-cap hit to $2.1 million. The deal's been done for awhile and essentially the transfer paperwork needed to be finalized, then registered with the NHL.

I'd certainly suspect that you can pencil the Finnish Elite League star onto next year’s Wild roster.

As a 17-year-old in a league made up of men, Granlund scored 40 points in 43 games for IFK-Helsinki and was named the Finnish Elite League’s Rookie of the Year. As an 18-year-old, Granlund led IFK to a championship by tying for the league’s scoring lead. To put Granlund’s production in perspective, Wild captain Mikko Koivu combined for eight points in the same league as a 17- and 18-year-old.

As a 19-year-old this past season, he led the HIFK in regular-season scoring.

Granlund’s a Finnish rock star.

He appears on murals all over Helsinki, he's followed by paparazzi and became the toast of Finland last May by helping the proud country to a world championship in part because of a highlight-reel, lacrosse goal in the semifinals that’s been captured on a postage stamp.

“My mom has a lot of them,” Granlund said, laughing, last June. “For me, it’s not so big deal. It was just one goal. And that’s it,” Granlund added. “I tell people, ‘Come on, we won a gold medal. That’s what’s important.”

The ninth overall pick in 2010, Granlund can fly up ice, handles the puck beautifully and almost nonchalantly creates offense. He’s as good a distributor and a shooter and could give the Wild a bona fide Rookie of the Year candidate next season along with maybe even Charlie Coyle and certainly the Rangers' Chris Kreider.

The naysayers say he's too small, his footwork needs to be better. "I'll never be the biggest, fastest player. I've got to be the smartest," Granlund said last year.

Granlund has grown close with Koivu during the last two world championships and a stint in the Finnish Army. That’s got to music to the ears of the Wild brass, which envisions Koivu and Granlund as cornerstone fixtures of the Wild’s foundation.

“He’s a great guy,” Granlund said of Koivu last summer. “I need to learn from him. He’s a great player and great leader, so there’s much to learn from him.”

Granlund delayed signing with the Wild because he wanted to fulfill his six-month military obligation, finish school and “practice hard so I will be more ready when I come here.”

But he always promised Wild fans, “I want to play in Minnesota. That’s for sure."

Granlund was second in scoring at the most recent world junior championships. But in the semifinals in a must-score situation to extend a shootout against rival and eventual gold medal-winning Sweden, the puck slid off Granlund's stick.

During the precise time of Granlund’s shootout snafu, the Wild touched down in Vancouver. Later that day, Koivu watched the highlights.

He saw Granlund’s dejected face. He saw Granlund’s tears as he stood with his head slumped over the bench. So Koivu called Granlund to lift his spirits.

“At the end, it’s one shootout attempt,” said Koivu. “It’s not going to make him any worse or any better as a player.
“Everybody who knows the game, everybody who looks at the game, they know what kind of player he is. One shot won’t ruin that. He’s got to know that. It was a tough spot to be in, and a big deal for him. But it won’t make him any worse. He’s going to do just fine when he gets to [Minnesota].”

If you know Koivu, he’s not exactly the touchy, feely type. So for Koivu to show this kind of compassion was big.

“He said, ‘It’s just hockey,’” Granlund said. “He tried to cheer me up. It means a lot that he called me. He’s a great player, and a good friend.”

In last year's world championships, besides "The Goal," his nine points in nine games were second on Finland. This year, he played on the second line, but the coaches used Koivu's line, an energy line and a checking line more. He was benched during long stretches and did seem to struggle at times. He also, after missing the end of the regular season with an illness, reportedly struggled during IFK's playoff-round loss to Jokerit.

Is this a cause for concern? I asked reporter Samuel Savolainen of the sports magazine, "Urheilulehti," and he said, "The thing that was talked about for instand in our magazine was that he was simply burned out. After his sensational performance in the World Championships last year, he had to endure media exposure like never seen before. He had to tour with the trophy around the country and did everything. Interviews, commercials, PR-events, you name it. You can also throw in his brief stint in the military.

"He became such an instant hero and celebrity that (I'm not kidding) there were news in the tabloids about him having pizza and him going out to have a beer. He is incredibly polite, so he had a tough time to say "no". And I think all that put together just took such a huge toll on him. And it showed in a transparent way in the playoffs in the Finnish league and the World Championships."

We'll see. Regardless, this should be a very exciting development camp (July 8-15) and training camp (if training camp starts on time due to the league and union needing to modify the collective bargaining agreement) to see Granlund, Charlie Coyle, Jonas Brodin, Johan Larsson, Brett Bulmer, Jason Zucker and Zack Phillips compete for roster spots.

I'll be updating this later. Content from this blog came from numerous articles I've written on Granlund.

Here is the feature I wrote on Granlund when I got to watch him play in Helsinki two Octobers ago:

By MICHAEL RUSSO
mrusso@startribune.com

HELSINKI – Wearing a backwards powdered blue Yankees cap, Tuomas Eloholma shows off his red No. 64 “GRANLUND” sweater with the “I.F.K. est. 1897” blue crest on the front.
“I like him very much. He’s a very good player. He’s a very clever player,” Eloholma said of Mikael Granlund, the uber-skilled forward whom the Wild chose with the ninth overall pick in this past June’s NHL entry draft.
“He seems a lot older than he is. He’s just 18. If you don’t know his age, you can think he’s like 30 or he’s played a very long time. But he’s very young. He will be maybe the most talented Finnish player of all-time when he gets older.”
Now, in full disclosure, Eloholma is only 16 years old. He wasn’t born when Hall of Famer Jari Kurri strung 100-point seasons together for the Edmonton Oilers. Teemu Selanne’s 76-goal rookie year with the Winnipeg Jets and Saku Koivu’s dominance of the Finnish Elite League were also before his time.
So Eloholma’s sense of what could be the “most talented Finnish player of all-time” may be a tad warped.
But the kid who’s watched almost every Granlund game the past two years knows there’s something special about his favorite player.
“He’s the No. 1 center on IFK. He’s just 18. It’s very strange,” said Eloholma.
Granlund may have pimples. He looks years away from needing a razor. But there’s a reason Granlund’s face or action shot is on every IFK mural or poster in Helsinki. He’s lighting up the Finnish Elite League, a league full of men and one of Europe’s most competitive.
As a 17-year-old last year, Granlund scored 40 points in 43 games and was named the SM-Liiga’s Rookie of the Year. This season, Granlund is tied for fourth in league scoring with 10 points in eight games – but one point behind league leaders, teammate Ville Peltonen and Lukko’s Perttu Lindgren.
To put Granlund’s production in perspective, let’s take Wild captain Mikko Koivu. He played four years for TPS-Turku. He topped out at 30 points during his fourth season at age 21. At 17, Koivu had no goals and one assist in 21 games. At 18, Koivu scored seven points in 48 games.
“[Granlund’s] doing some pretty special things at an early age,” said Wild GM Chuck Fletcher, who along with owner Craig Leipold, the rest of the front office and entire coaching staff watched Granlund score a goal and three assists in Saturday’s 11-3 rout of Assat.
The Wild won’t label him a star in the making and create unreasonable expectations and pressure. But for the first time since Marian Gaborik in 2000 and Koivu in 2001, there’s a chance the franchise has finally drafted another blue-chip forward.
Granlund’s been taken under the wing by his linemate Peltonen, a living Finnish legend who’s played 382 NHL games for San Jose, Nashville and Florida. Granlund was 3 when Peltonen’s hat trick lifted Finland to its lone world championship. At 37, Peltonen is more than half Granlund’s age, and he’s become a father figure.
“I’m afraid to say so much and tell you how good I think he’s going to be,” said Peltonen. “Let him get where he can get. I’ll just say, Minnesota’s very lucky.”
Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom knows Granlund well. He owns a piece of IFK and used to play in Oulu, Granlund’s hometown.
“He’s a guy who just loves hockey,” said Backstrom, smiling with his eyes open wide. “It’s unreal to see how big his passion is for hockey. He’s got all the tools.”
Granlund’s skill was obvious against Assat. He can fly up the ice, handles the puck smoothly and almost casually creates offense. He wants the puck, he wants to hang onto it and he can anticipate what to do with it.
“He dominates from the center just like centers should do,” said Peltonen. “He surprises his linemates every now and then with his quick passing. It’s a lot of fun to play with him. He makes me feel young again.”
Leipold was thrilled to watch him in person, something the owner normally doesn’t get to do.
“He knows we’re here, and you can tell he’s got his wheels completely in motion and having a lot of fun,” Leipold said. “It’s a great environment to watch a game. I mean, this crowd is a wild, rambunctious crowd. It’s fun to watch. And it’s no secret we’re high on this guy. He’s going to be a big part of our future.”
The Wild will look to sign Granlund this year and bring him to North America next season. The team envisions Granlund eventually being Martin Havlat’s center or even a winger alongside Koivu.
“He’s always here with eyes open and ears open. He wants to get better,” said Peltonen. “Minnesota fans will love him.”

Welp, the world championships are over, Mikko Koivu didn't medal for the first time in 12 international tournaments (an amazing fact Canadian Press' Chris Johnston tweeted today) and Mikael Granlund's got nothing else holding him back from signing with the Wild.

That should happen in the next little while, so hold your horses just a little while longer.

To use Mike Yeo's favorite word, it's a process, and when signing a player from overseas, it's not as simple as "sign here." There's a few hoops to go through to complete the transfer, especially with a lack of transfer agreement right now, so it could take a few days more for the paperwork to be finalized and registered.

But again, the Wild's confident it will be announcing soon that Granlund is signed and Granlund's side has also indicated things are positive.

The Wild also must sign Johan Gustafsson before June 1, which also is in the works. The 2010 sixth-rounder will play next season again in Sweden though.

The Wild tweeted today that the Granlund Watch begins, so you know if the team's tweeting Wild fans to pay attention, it's not anticipating any complications.

What else?

I talked to GM Chuck Fletcher and got some injury updates on players:

1. Guillaume Latendresse (concussion): Feeling much better and frankly probably could have returned at the end of the year, but there was no point. Fletcher and Latendresse will have a conversation in the next few weeks to try to determine his future. He can become a restricted free agent. Like I've written before though, I don't see the Wild tendering him a qualifying offer at $2.5 million after two injury destroyed seasons in a row. It'll either try to negotiate a different type of contract with Latendresse or let him become an unrestricted free agent. "We'll have a good conversation to see where he's at with his health and where he's at with his conditioning, and what he wants to do," Fletcher said. "I want to get a sense of how healthy he thinks he can be next year and where his head's at."

2. Pierre-Marc Bouchard (concussion): Also feeling better, but Fletcher has purposely avoided bothering him each week with "How you feeling?" questions. Fletcher is also supposed to meet with Bouchard over the next week or so. Bouchard has another year left on his contract.

3. Jared Spurgeon (concussion): Cleared a week after the season. Feeling good.

4. Marco Scandella (hand surgery, hernia surgery): He was playing with both for awhile apparently, and should be recovered by late June.

5. Mike Lundin (hernia surgery): Feeling better. I don't see Lundin returning though.

6. Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi (minor knee surgery): Both recovered.

7. Niklas Backstrom (minor ankle surgery): Recovered.

Things are quiet with the team right now. Amateur scouting meetings were held last week as the Wild amps up for the draft. Fletcher, assistant GM Brent Flahr & gang will be heading to the Toronto for the draft combine at the end of the month.

Congrats to Yeo, assistant coaches Darryl Sydor and Darby Hendrickson, equipment trainers Tony DaCosta and Matt Benz, athletic therapists Don Fuller and John Worley and strength and conditioning coach Kirk Olson were accomplishing the Tough Mudder in Wisconsin on Saturday.

I was supposed to head over there and cover, but I've been sick all weekend. Yes, they participated in one of the toughest competitions going, and I couldn't even watch it because I have a cold!

That's why they do what they do and I do what I do, I suppose.

That's it from me for now. I'll be on KFAN live in studio at 9 a.m. Monday.

It seemed to me that Mikko Koivu never left the ice for Finland in today's quarterfinal match against the U.S. in the world championships in Helsinki, but the final ice time tally allegedly was 18:09 for the Wild/Finland captain.

Regardless, he was everywhere, won 13 of 19 faceoffs, had three shots and scored the tying goal with 6:58 left after driving the net and having a centering feed deflect in off his skate. A fired-up Koivu was completely jacked up after the goal was upheld by video review. Hopefully one day soon we'll see that during springtime in Minnesota.

Honestly, the Americans had no answer for Koivu, Jussi Jokinen and Valtteri Filppula.

Former Islanders prospect Jesse Joensuu then scored the winning goal with eight seconds left (his second of the game) to send the Americans home reeling. Not sure why the heck Jeff Petry and Chris Butler were put out there in the final minute by Scott Gordon.

Canada lost earlier in the day to Slovakia.

Koivu and Mikael Granlund (11 minutes today, benched last game in the third) advance to play high-flying Russia, who added Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin, in the semis Saturday. The Russians are a formidable opponent, but Finland, looking to win its second straight gold, has the home-ice advantage.

Wild prospects Johan Larsson (No. 10) and Jonas Brodin (No. 28) are currently playing former Wild superstar Tomas Mojzis and the Czech Republic in another quarterfinal right now on NBC Sports Network.

As for Granlund, remember, he can't sign with the Wild until Finland is eliminated. So we're looking at next week, and again, I've talked to both sides, and talks have been positive.

Remember, the Memorial Cup begins Friday, and Wild prospects Charlie Coyle and Zack Phillips look to lead Saint John to a second consecutive Memorial Cup. They play London on Saturday, and all games are on the NHL Network.

Mike Yeo and many members of the Wild staff take part in Tough Mudder Saturday in Somerset, Wisconsin. If you want to donate to the Wild for Wounded Warriors cause, here is the link.