Brent Burns: "I don't have head issues"

Good afternoon from frosty Minneapolis, where sadly I have to leave tomorrow for a trip to Phoenix, Los Angeles and Anaheim.

Hey, somebody's got to do it -- just not Kent Youngblood, who pointed out to me today that he's gotten an inordinate amount of Detroit and St. Louis trips from me since I arrived in this great state.

My reaction? "Yeah, I know."

Guess what? "Russo Radio" is tonight at 6 on 1500 ESPN, so tune in or you're uncool.

This morning was an off-ice workout day down at the X as the ice stayed vacant. Former Army Ranger J.B. Spisso, whose web site can be found here, also arrived to give the troops a motivational lesson and pep talk. He was so loud, he could be heard from 7th and Kellogg. Lots of, Hoooah's, coming from inside the locker room.

Spisso has consulted with several NHL teams and met with the Wild for the first time in training camp. He also worked with the prospects over the summer and has visited the Houston Aeros.

Wild will practice in Minnesota on Wednesday morning before heading to the airport for a flight to Phoenix, where it's supposed to be a high of 77 with an overnight low of 47.

That Mikko Koivu/Mikko Koivu line story I was telling you about will now run in Thursday's paper. Koivu, like Andrew Brunette yesterday, was real good on his play and his line's play. Really good stuff from Koivu on his game and frustration level, which he says is starting to improve. Once you peel off the onion and break through his pointy eyes when he's just a little ticked off with you, Koivu's a fascinating subject.

Maybe the story will help get the bottom of the question I get most these days (or second most), "What's up with Koivu?"

As for a Brent Burns update, he left the team charity dinner last night early with a headache. He lost four teeth, has a fat lip, a stiff neck and has headaches since the Greg Zanon helmet to his face last Friday, but yet Burns says he's fine, plans to practice Wednesday and be on the road trip.

I got him going with the "head issues," stuff, which was a good thing because there was a revelation this morning that I've wanted to write for about eight months and hadn't been able to.

The Wild and Burns don't think he had a concussion last year when he missed 29 games from Nov. 20-Jan. 18.

So it drives him loco when people bring up his "head issues." He feels he's had one concussion in his life, the one in the 2008-09 season that he believes lasted so long because he played with it for awhile.

Regardless, he took a head shot here and has been feeling symptoms since, but Burns is convinced he's OK and will be good enough for the road trip.

More on Burns' interesting, always entertaining stuff in Wednesday's paper.

Lastly, I mentioned world juniors on yesterday's blog, so if you didn't see it, take a gander. But Jason Zucker indeed made USA Hockey's preliminary roster for the world junior championships. Also, Zucker was named WCHA Freshman of the Week, largely because of Glen Andresen's UMD Bulldogs.