John Madden: Re-sign in Minnesota or retire?

"I feel for the fans," center John Madden said. "Trust me, I don't go home and think everything's all right. I've never missed the playoffs. I don't know if this is going to be my last year, but I'll tell you what, to go out like this, it really stinks."

That was Madden's quote from after Saturday's 6-3 loss to St. Louis. I got a chance to chat with Madden after this morning's practice to learn more about the context of the "if this is going to be my last year" part of the quote.

I figured it was just Madden being emotional after another tough loss and feeling his future was uncertain simply because he knows this league is getting younger and younger. After all, he turns 38 in a little more than a month and it took until August 6 to sign with a team last summer after he won a Stanley Cup, so maybe he was thinking he could get squeezed out this summer like the Owen Nolans of the world.

But it's actually more restrictive than that. In Madden's mind at least right now, his self-given choices are either Minnesota or nothing, although he did throw in a late caveat: "Stranger things have happened, so who knows?"

But ...

Madden and his family have fallen in love with Minnesota and decided awhile ago that this was going to be their last on the move-around-the-continent train. The Madden's plan to settle here.

Madden and his wife, Lauren, have two kids and a half-dozen dogs. Madden said he's not willing to move his family to another city to play next season and he doesn't want to play in another city while being apart from his family.

His 11-year-old son Tyler was part of the 41-0 Edina Squirt A team and Madden doesn't want to take his son away from that type of stuff.

So that obviously limits Madden's choices: Re-sign with the Wild, which he wants to do, or retire.

Of course, as always with situations like this, even if the Wild wants to re-sign Madden, there are things that might happen the remainder of this season and into this offseason that would limit the Wild's ability to bring Madden back.

There's only so many available spots, only so much available cap space.

I'll outline these potential limitations in Tuesday's paper to explain why it's not as simple as, 'Madden wants to come back, so here's a contract."

They include the potential signings of Mikael Granlund, Johan Larsson and Swedish Elite League leading goal scorer Mikko Lehtonen to give them shots at the roster, the potential of Casey Wellman or Cody Almond making the team and the fact that, as I've reported many times in the paper the past two months, the Wild is aggressively pursuing Merrimack sophomore Stephane Da Costa.

If the Merrimack leading scorer and Paris-born forward is in the fold, he'd be a cap hit of up to $3.75 million (which includes his potential performance bonuses). But like I said, more on this tomorrow.

As for today's practice, Mikko Koivu and Chuck Kobasew didn't practice. Coach Todd Richards said it was for maintenance reasons and both would fly with the team this afternoon to St. Louis and should play Tuesday night against the Blues.

Defenseman Cam Barker did practice, is progressing but will not be on the team's plane 30 minutes from now. Thursday is a possibility for a return.

Richards talked about the possibility of mixing up some lines against the Blues. This team has got to get more shots on net. They get the offensive-zone time, but refuse to shoot. Or, the defensemen haven't done a good job getting pucks through. Regarding the refusal to shoot, Richards admitted maybe it's just the "personnel" that the Wild has. In other words, you can cram it in to shoot, shoot, shoot, but certain guys like Marty Havlat and Pierre-Marc Bouchard are pass-first players.

Radio play-by-play legend Bob Kurtz, after missing his first-ever Wild game with a sinus infection, isn't going to St. Louis. Kevin Falness is actually traveling to fill in for Kurtz, which means I lucked out and skipped the perfect road game. Kent's covering a rare away game for me.

As for other stuff, the Aeros continue to be on fire. I keep getting emails, "When do the Wild bring up the kids?" I think I've offered my opinion on here before, but if not, why would they? The bring up the kids when your season is over theory is such a pro sports cliche. Think the kids will be better served here or in Houston, where they have a chance to be part of something special?

Granlund and HIFK just eliminated Jokerit in Game 7 of the first round of the Finnish Elite League playoffs. Granlund, after a huge game yesterday, scored a goal and an assist and reportedly was the game's first star tonight (today here).

Wild prospect Sean Lorenz will play in the Frozen Four here in St. Paul in two weeks. The defenseman and Notre Dame knocked off New Hampshire last night.

Jason Zucker scored the University of Denver's first and only goal in a loss to North Dakota last night. I've gotten a lot of questions about whether the Wild will sign Zucker. Here's my story on that from March 20. The sides will talk, but I get the impression that the Wild is not going to rush the kid. He's in a good spot and I think they would want him to return for at least his sophomore season. He's got a chance to be a real star next year, and he needs to get stronger to play against men.

The Wild plans to try to sign Granlund and Larsson to at least get them to training camp and give them a crack at either the Wild or Houston. Technically, they could play major junior, too.

You've got Casey Wellman in the fold, too, and as I said above, the Wild's really hoping to sign Da Costa.