Sheppard shakes nerves in Wild debut

DETROIT — The Wild delayed debuting James Sheppard on Tuesday night because it wanted to ease his nerves by keeping him away from the 18,000 diehards who filled Xcel Energy Center.

Well, it didn't work.

Sheppard is 19 years old, so naturally, it didn't matter if his first NHL action -- albeit in an exhibition -- came at home or on the road.

The wide-eyed center was admittedly "shaking" before slipping on a Wild sweater for the first time Thursday night and taking the ice during a 3-2 Wild victory over the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena.

"It is kind of cool to see the Detroit rink in real life," Sheppard said after the morning skate. "It looks a lot different on TV."

Shaking his head, Sheppard looked around the muggy visitors' locker room. As Marian Gaborik and Eric Belanger unfastened their gear, Sheppard smiled, saying, "Just to come here and be a part of this and see all these guys on the ice with me is something."

Sheppard, the ninth overall pick in the 2006 NHL draft, handled himself well, at least early, on the "Contender Line" with Petr Kalus, 20, and Matt Foy, 24, who also are fighting for jobs.

Sheppard even got to wear his requested uniform number, 15, once worn in Minnesota by the popular Andrew Brunette. Sheppard wears No. 15 for Cape Breton of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and began wearing it as a 15-year-old midget player because he already had size 15 feet.

Although Sheppard won a few key faceoffs and made subtle plays to set up two early scoring chances, coach Jacques Lemaire limited his ice time to 7 minutes, 43 seconds.

There also was a giant mishap in the third period, which led to Mattias Ritola cutting Detroit's deficit to 3-2.

Sheppard blew his lone chance to play with Gaborik and Pavol Demitra by not understanding he was supposed to switch with Dominic Moore as the line's center.

"He made good plays, but he's got a lot to learn -- a lot to learn," Lemaire said. "He didn't go on there, he was standing up. He's still a young kid, he's shy, he doesn't talk, so the other guys jump on and we had no center. That's how [the Red Wings] scored their second goal."

Sheppard still is scheduled to play in tonight's preseason game at Chicago.

The Wild has been evaluating Sheppard's every move in training camp because General Manager Doug Risebrough is contemplating signing the youngster if he believes Sheppard would develop better in the NHL than in junior. However, Risebrough said he feels the Wild would have to play him 40 games for Sheppard to continue his development.

Prior to Thursday's game, assistant coach Mario Tremblay sensed that Sheppard was tiring.

"He doesn't have the same jump I saw in rookie camp [in July] and the first week [of training camp], but I spoke to him [Wednesday] and he told me it's coming back," Tremblay said. "We haven't seen the best Sheppard yet -- to me.

"But after these two games, we'll have a better judgment of how he's doing here. It's tough. I remember when I was 18 and getting to training camp and looking around. NHL players are bigger, stronger, faster than junior. So for him, it's an adjustment. It takes time."

Sheppard said his only objective was to keep things simple. He knew Thursday's game wouldn't be like his four-goal, four-assist exhibition game last month in which he led Cape Breton to a 10-2 victory over Halifax.

"I think preseason in junior is a little different from this," Sheppard said, laughing."

Michael Russo • mrusso@startribune.com