Update on Madden signing
1. 1-year, $1 million with a chance to make $250,000 in games played/playoff bonuses. $1.25 million cap hit. This is the first 35-and-older bonus-laden contract in Wild history.
2. Correx on below. Madden was a Selke finalist three times, not two.
3. I had a long interview with Chuck Fletcher on a variety of subjects -- Madden, Modano, how this affects Sheppard/Wellman and really everybody as far as internal competition, Bouchard, the eventual hiring of assistant coach Rick Wilson and the state of the team as a whole. Give me an hour or more to transcribe, and then you'll have some good reading ahead of you on startribune.com/russo.
In a bombshell just by the nature of unexpected, the Wild signed veteran center John Madden to a one-year deal today. Off the top of my head, because I'm not home right now, Madden is a 3-time Cup winner with the Devils and most recently Blackhawks. He's won at least one Selke and I think was runner-up twice. This obviously makes it much more difficult for Casey Wellman now, but in my opinion is a much better fit than Mike Modano. Madden is a warrior, penalty killer and defensive forward who's long played the checking role. I just didn't buy that it would be easy to transition Modano to the fourth line. Madden is vacationing in Hawaii now. More later.
