Houston rookies no problem with shift in Wild philosophy

The Wild hooked up with the Houston Aeros as a minor league team in 2001. Two years later, the Wild's parent company, Minnesota Sports Entertainment, purchased the Aeros.

The Wild has been diligent in trying to keep its fans abreast of the Houston prospects. To this end, the Wild has convinced its cable outlet, FSN, to televise an occasional Aeros game.

The hockey man in these parts who seemed the least interested in the Aeros was Jacques Lemaire, the head coach through the Wild's first eight seasons.

Presumably, former General Manager Doug Risebrough was more invested in the development taking place at Houston, but he didn't have much luck convincing Lemaire to give those guys a chance in games that mattered.

The annual total of Houston graduates to break into Lemaire's lineup as regulars was often one -- and zero on occasion.

Beyond that, the Wild's main strategy for breaking in a rookie was to bring a No. 1 draft choice to Minnesota and let Lemaire ease him into the lineup. Marian Gaborik forced his way into the lineup in 2000. Pierre-Marc Bouchard in 2002 and Brent Burns in 2003 did OK as part-time rookies.

That approach backfired more recently. James Sheppard played 10 minutes per game in 78 games in 2007-08 and scored four goals. He followed that up with a lousy second season, and now a third that has him looking like a bust at age 21.

Chuck Fletcher, Risebrough's replacement, has brought a different philosophy. Defenseman Tyler Cuma, last summer's No. 1 draftee, is still in juniors, where he belongs. And Gillies is in Houston, trying to develop through playing time and actual on-ice responsibilities.

Thirty-seven games into the schedule, the Wild has taken a look at a half-dozen players from Houston -- due to injuries, and also to the idea that there are Aeros that deserve a chance to make an impression.

The best of those was made by left winger Robbie Earl, with three goals in nine games. Assistant Mike Ramsey, in charge of defense for both Lemaire and now Todd Richards, also gave a nod to Jaime Sifers for his play in eight games.

Forwards Nathan Smith, Danny Irmen and Andy Hilbert were other Houston imports to get time.

The Houston rookie that remains for the moment is defenseman Clayton Stoner. Apparently, Fletcher and Richards are trying to find out if he has more to contribute than John Scott, the 6-8 gent who broke in late last season.

"If Stoner plays like he has the past three games, you would expect that he has a chance to stay," Ramsey said. "How can you not like him? He's not [Kim] Johnsson or [Marek] Zidlicky when it comes to skating, but he skates well enough and has some talent with the puck."

Ramsey paused, then added: "And he'll fight you, too."

Stoner enlivened the arena with exactly that -- a fight with Edmonton's Ryan Stone -- nine minutes into the game. There were several tussles through the night, and this was the Wild's clearest-cut victory.

It was tough to tell if it was a punch to the gut or a left uppercut that sent Stone to the ice, and Stoner to the penalty box accompanied by a hometown roar.

Stoner was the Wild's third-round draft choice in 2004. He went to rookie camp at Breezy Point in Brainerd, then spent a final season in the Western juniors. He debuted at Houston in 2005, played in 73 games and showed promise.

Stoner did the knocking on Wednesday. He's an Aero with a chance to stay, which is something that doesn't figure to be as rare with this regime as in Jacques' days.