Thomas Vanek/Wild overload, plus Wednesday updates

Wednesday morning update: I'll post updated depth chart later on after we see if the Wild makes any more moves today. The Wild has also made another two-way contract signing, adding right wing Joel Rechlicz, 27, of Brookfield, Wisconsin. Minor-league, 6-foot-4, 235-pound bruiser who has played 26 NHL games for the Islanders and Caps. Will start with Iowa, meant to add toughness. Nicknamed the "Wrecker," played some junior hockey in Minnesota. I put his YouTube montage on the bottom of the blog.

Where to start?

Like #PariseWatch and #SuterWatch before, #VanekWatch is officially over.

Thank goodness. One more Vanek question, and my head would have exploded, so just like Thomas Vanek said he was still having trouble coming to terms that he actually signed with the Wild, so was I.

"This is a place that I've spent a lot of time in the past 10 years or so and I think what intrigued it the most was obviously with Zach signing here and Suter signing here, this team is getting really good and is very good," Vanek said. "About a year ago when I made my decision to go to free agency, this was definitely a team that I had in mind. For it to come true today, I've still not come to terms with it. I'm extremely thrilled to be a part of the Wild and of a group like this. I'm just happy."

Can't wait 'til the next #-----Watch!

OK, where to go with this blog, which is a supplement to the newspaper coverage, so please check that out, too, online later tonight on www.startribune.com/wild and of course in print. Here's the main Vanek article and the notebook on Stoner leaving and the depth signings, etc.

The Wild still needs a physical defenseman to replace Clayton Stoner, who hit the mother lode today with a four-year deal worth, wait for it, $3.25 million annually. They wanted Willie Mitchell, but the Florida Panthers wooed the ex-Wild and two-time Cup champ with crazy money $4.25 million a year for two years. Then take into consideration the no state income tax in the great state of Florida, and it's easy see why he sprinted for the humidity.

The Wild also lost gritty forward Cody McCormick, who went back to Buffalo, although there may not be a sprint to replace his role immediately if at all.

So, what to do? What to do, particularly because the list of physical defensemen still available is pretty yucky.

"Well, certainly we'll have to look at it," GM Chuck Fletcher said. "We're probably still looking at a defenseman as well to maybe round out our group. Right now it's been insanity out there. I think this is the biggest spending day, if not the history of the world, the history of the NHL. I mean, it's just been crazy. So my first thought is to just go home and come back tomorrow and maybe the tide will turn and management will get the upper hand and we'll get some better deals. But it's a difficult task to get into this market right now. The prices are high. The terms are long. Thomas may be one of the only players who took a pay cut and a term cut to come anywhere. Everybody else is doubling or tripling their salary, so it's good for the players, but it's maybe not the market we want to be in right now."

More on the spending spree? Fletcher said, "I didn't expect this. Maybe I'm naive. We were consistently under-bidding on a few other players, I'll tell you that. I don't know if other teams were, but the prices caught me a little off guard for maybe what you would consider role players or bottom-of-the-lineup type players. But I definitely think some mistakes have been made today on some players, so I think we'll be a little bit patient and let things sort out."

If I'm Fletcher, after seeing the list of names still out there (go to capgeek.com and click free agents and you can filter through the, uh, yucky physical defensemen; I should be a scout), I'd investigate the trade market first (Johnny Boychuk, perhaps?). But we'll see if he pounces on one of the available free agents tonight, Tuesday or later this week if he finds a value signing.

--He did sign Stu Bickel, the big, tough, Twin Cities suburbanite who played on a local college team. Bickel is signed to a one-year, two-way deal that pays him $600,000 in the NHL or $150,000 in Iowa. He's played NHL games for the Rangers, so he can play some games if the Wild needs him.

The Wild also signed Brett Sutter, one of Darryl's boys. He was the Charlotte captain and is a gritty center who can play NHL games, too. His contract is a two-year, two-way deal.

"Hard-working character guy who plays the way you would expect a Sutter to play," Fletcher said.

The Wild also made the Guillaume Gelinas signing official, making them probably the only organization in history who has had two Guillaumes.

"We didn't know what the numbers would be until today," Fletcher said. "We expressed early on that the term would have to be a little bit shorter, preferably three years, which would work well for what we have coming. Today we got into the numbers, it took a couple hours, but fortunately we were able to arrive at where we are right now. There were other players we spoke with and considered and came close on a couple other players, but at the end of the day, this seemed like the right decision."

Was this your master plan after signing Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, who incidentally each collected $5 million signing bonuses today (final installment of their $25 million signing bonuses paid out in three years)?

"It even started before then with Mikko [Koivu]," Fletcher said. "People forget, at the time, we weren't a very good hockey team and Mikko signed a long-term deal with our team a year prior to becoming a UFA. That was our flag in the ground. I really believe if we had lost Mikko at that point, we would be competing for top-five picks right now. We would be at the bottom and we wouldn't have anybody. Zach and Ryan came in here in part because there was a player like Mikko. I think [Jason] Pominville elected to stay here because of the players that were here prior to him. And now obviously Thomas. It's a great marketplace. We have a great fan base. Ownership has stepped up again and again to that commitment to winning, and I think the players see that. But it takes good players to get good players and we're starting to get some pretty good players here."

On Vanek turning down better offers, Fletcher said, "There's been other players over the years here that had connections to Minnesota or homes here that said they would love to come here and then they went elsewhere (ahem, Paul Martin). So it's not always a slam dunk. I don't know all the particulars, but it's pretty evident that Thomas turned down more money and more term to sign here. So you never know how that's going to play out. Put yourself in his shoes. Somebody offers you seven years and $40, $50 million, it's not easy for anybody to walk away from that no matter how much you have in the bank. We did the best we could. We liked our situation in terms of opportunity for him to play, role for him to play in, we felt we have a very good leadership group here and some players he was familiar with. We knew he liked the marketplace, but at the end of the day, we were coming at him from a three-year contract angle and I think there was some concern in that sense that we may not be able to get him, but I give Thomas credit, he looked at our situation, we worked hard, and we're extremely pleased to be where we are right now.

"This guy has been a premier scorer since he entered the league. He still managed to have 68 points this year despite playing in three cities. What we were looking for as much as anything, we really wanted a right shot, we really wanted somebody who could play with top players and we wanted somebody who could help our power play. We're a team that prides itself on our defensive structure and we feel we can defend, but we only scored 2.4 goals per game. With Thomas, maybe that pushes us closer to 2.6 or 2.7 or whatever the number is. Maybe some nights we have a little more breathing room, maybe he gets a big power-play goal that wins us a game in the third period so we don't have to go into overtime and get to the shootout. Scoring goals is a big part of winning games and he's a game breaker. The things he does well are things that we need."

Dallas, a team on the rise, traded for Jason Spezza and signed Ales Hemsky to a three-year, $12 million deal. St. Louis signed hometown boy Paul Stastny to a four-year, $28 million deal. Chicago signed Brad Richards to a one-year, $2 million deal. Iginla signed a three-year, $16 million deal with Colorado. And remember, last weekend, Nashville acquired James Neal.

"It's pretty daunting looking at the TSN scroll this morning and seeing every single player went to the West," Fletcher said. "It seemed like everybody came to our division. So it's only going to get more difficult to make the playoffs, and we're going to have our hands full to make the playoffs next year and once you get in anything can happen, but it's a battle just to get in and I think we recognize that and I know the coaches recognize that and I think we're excited about the challenge."

On Stoner leaving, Fletcher said, "I had a great conversation with Clayton, and first of all he's very excited to go to Anaheim. They were the best team in the Western Conference during the regular season, so he tripled his salary, got a four-year contract and went to one of the better teams in the West. So he's thrilled. Clayton's a great guy, character guy, and fought a lot battles for this franchise and certainly a very well-liked teammate. Well-liked by management and coaching. I was thrilled for him, to be honest with you, on a personal level. I certainly expressed that to him as well as thanked him for his years of service. He had a tough role, and he did it with class and he did it consistently, so we're certainly very appreciative of what he did for us."

--As for Mr. Vanek, he said, "My top priority was to sign here. Obviously I had some other options that I had to think of, but once we agreed on this term and the money, I thought it was a fair deal for both sides. I'm very happy I'm here.

"The best thing I've done in my career so far was win the NCAA championship with the Gophers. So to be a part of the Wild now and go after the big prize and having a chance to do it in Minnesota is beyond my wildest dreams."

On his maligned postseason, he said, "It certainly wasn't my best one I can tell you that. But I'll take the blame for that. It's not always easy moving around and being away from my family like I have been. But those are not excuses those are just factors that do factor into me. Family is big on me. It was tough at
the end. I thought once I got traded for the second time, it took me a little longer to find a place on the team. But the guys were great and I have nothing but good things to say about that organization. I
thought I was fitting in pretty well. Had a good run. And then once I got moved in the playoffs, it just kind of went away."

On the Wild, "I wanted to join an organization that had a chance to win. That's why I was willing to sign for three years and not worry about going higher. I have a lot of belief in myself that I can play for another seven, eight years at this level. So to play for an organization that's willing to trade for guys, sign guys and wants to win, that's important."

On turning down the Islanders today, "I thought the line I played on there with Johnny Tavares and (Kyle) Okposo was the best line I've been on. But at the end of the day I made my decision to go to this and I'm not going to regret it. Definitely I'm not."

--Thomas, did you wear a Wild hat at the Super Rinks in Blaine Saturday like Twitter said you did? "No, I don't leave my house much."

Well, the rumor exploded on Twitter, and Twitter never lies, Thomas: "You probably started that," he said, laughing.

--Yeo, who was dressed like he was about to head to the beach after the presser, met with Vanek on Sunday.

Your reaction- "Obviously we're very pleased. When it comes to a day like this, I think that what you're really trying to do is you look at the group that you have and you try to address needs. Thomas certainly fills some very big needs for us."

Where do you see him in the lineup- "He's not going to be third line. He's not going to be fourth line and he's not going to play defense, or center, or goalie. Obviously, I think what we've really done, especially over the last couple years here, is upgrade the skill of our top two lines. And with that, I think its important to have interchangeable parts. He's played some right wing, but he's played more on the left side. How we piece our lines together, we're not sure on that for sure. In training camp we're going to try a couple different scenarios and see how they play out. But again, we have the pieces where we can move them around and we have the pieces in the places where they belong. You do something like this and obviously it's going to make your first and second lines stronger, but what you have to take into consideration is by doing this you're also making your third line stronger and I think that's what's really important for us here."

Fit beside lines- "When we talk about addressing needs, there's a lot of things we do very well as a team; the way we defend, the structure that we play with. There's no question that we do have some skill but we don't score goals easily. And we're going to continue to try and look to see what we can do as a group to try to improve that, but when you can add players, personnel-wise, that bring that kind of skill, bring that kind of creativity and that kind of ability, that's going to increase the scoring. It's not just about that player, it's about what they do for the players they're playing with as well. There's been times where we play against a team and there's some players that maybe need five or six chances to score a goal. There's other players that might need two or three, and Thomas is certainly one of those guys who can capitalize on those opportunities."

Sense MN has become a desired destination- "I think so. I think an awful lot of the credit has to go to the players that first off made the commitment to our organization and showed the belief in what we have going on here, but also the work that they've put in. I think that people are recognizing that we're a team that's on the rise with the players that we have, with the young players that we have and the leadership group that we have. A lot of it also goes to the job that Chuck has done and the knowledge and the awareness of everybody outside our organization that we have an owner that will do just about anything it takes to put a winner on. And you add in the fact that this is an amazing place to live with a tremendously passionate fan base, it's not hard to figure out why a lot of people would want to come here."

So much happening in division- "I think what I'm feeling is the same thing that the rest of our division is feeling, and that they're throwing us in that category too. I have a lot of respect for the league. I do believe that we play in the toughest division in the league. It's going to be, you heard Chuck say it, it's going to be tough for us to make the playoffs, and our players have to be aware of that, but at the same time we're capable of an awful lot here. So we should look forward to that challenge. There's positives in that. Obviously you have to play at a high level, you've got tough competition. But that said, I think we saw it at the end of the year, when you start playing at that level consistently, then you're a team that can do an awful lot."

--I talked to Keith Ballard for awhile today and he's rehabbing from sports hernia surgery. Ballard and Vanek had been in touch throughout the process. He answered questions about the Wild for Vanek and did some "arm-twisting."

"It was tough for him," Ballard said. "He had the luxury of coming off a pretty significant [seven-year, $50 million] deal, and I don't think he's looking at this as his last contract either. Last week he told me he didn't just want to come here because this is where he lives. He said several times he thinks we're a legitimate contender and likes our team. That's what you want.

"We have a really good team and we got better today."

-- OK, that's it for me. I'm in the arena's dungeon of a press room all alone at 8 p.m. and I am scared. I'm starting to hear things creaking.

Here's the release on Rechlicz and the You Tube highlights:

Minnesota Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher today announced the National Hockey League (NHL) club has agreed to terms with forward Joel Rechlicz (pronounced REHK-lihj) on a one-year, two-way contract. Rechlicz, 27 (6/14/87), collected two points (1-1=2) and 87 penalty minutes (PIM) in 25 games with the Hershey Bears in the American Hockey League (AHL) in 2013-14. The 6-foot-4, 235-pound native of Brookfield, Wis., has recorded one assist and 105 PIM in 26 career NHL games with the New York Islanders and Washington Capitals. He has notched six points (3-3=6) and 886 PIM in 187 career AHL matches with Albany, Bridgeport, Hershey and Portland. He ranked second in the AHL with 267 PIM in 2011-12 and was named Hershey's AHL Man of the Year for his outstanding contributions to community and charitable organizations.