Jun 30, 2009 2:26 pm US/Central
Wild Look To Dive Into Free Agency
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ―
It has not taken general manager Chuck Fletcher long to show Wild fans that this is without a doubt a new era in Minnesota.
He took over in May for Doug Risebrough, who built the Wild from the ground up, and has been changing things up ever since.
In just over a month, Fletcher has hired a coach in Todd Richards who has pledged to do away with the defensive, trap-intensive style employed by Risebrough and the departed Jacques Lemaire.
Last week in the NHL Draft, Fletcher chose a Minnesota-born player -- defenseman Nick Leddy -- with his first-round draft pick, something Risebrough was loathe to do for fear of putting too much pressure on a young skater.
Those are both fine and dandy, but Wild fans will start to find out just how different the two regimes are when free agency opens on Wednesday night.
The Wild have historically been very conservative when it comes to free agency, preferring instead to develop talent from within and supplement that talent with moderately priced veterans.
That was before owner Craig Leipold and his deep pockets purchased the team from thrifty Bob Naegele, and before Fletcher was tabbed to replace Risebrough.
Leipold spent all spring talking about making big moves to get the Wild back into the playoffs. Now Minnesota expects to be the aggressors in the free agent market.
"We'll make a lot of phone calls right away and try to determine what players are looking for and how quickly they're going to proceed," Fletcher said. "The important thing is to have communication immediately with players you have interest in ... find out what players are thinking. We intend to do that."
One player they have already been talking to is star winger Marian Gaborik. The franchise's first-ever draft pick turned down a multiyear contract last season and struggled through an injury-filled 2008-09. Yet despite playing in only 17 games because of hip surgery, Gaborik returned to score 10 goals in the final 11 games of the season.
The scoring surge no doubt helped Gaborik's marketability, and it was initially believed that losing him to another team was a foregone conclusion.
But the Wild have undergone a makeover that would on its surface seem to appeal to the team's only dynamic goal scorer.
While Lemaire's defense-first philosophy often made the high-flying Gaborik feel claustrophobic, Fletcher and Richards have promised to open things up and make the game a lot more attractive to the offensive-minded goal scorer.
Fletcher declined comment when asked about negotiations with Gaborik on Monday.
If that doesn't work and Gaborik decides he still wants a change of scenery, the Wild will still have plenty of options. The Sedin twins in Vancouver, Calgary's Mike Cammalleri and Detroit's Marian Hossa all could be on their radar.
Chief among their needs are a consistent No. 2 center to play behind rising star Mikko Koivu. Saku Koivu could leave Montreal to join his little brother in St. Paul.
Even if Gaborik returns, the Wild could use another top-flight scorer to add some balance to their lines. Their leading scorer last season was 37-year-old Owen Nolan, who played in only 59 games but still led the team with 25 goals.
The Wild also have backup goaltender Josh Harding, who had a 2.21 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage last season, to dangle as trade bait.
Whichever direction they go in, Fletcher said it could take a little while for the market to set.
For the first time, the salary cap will stay roughly the same -- up a paltry $100,000 to $56.8 million next season -- rather than substantially increase. That puts additional pressure on the payrolls for teams near the cap limit with long-term contracts on their books and means there is less money to spend in free agency.
"That either means players are going to have to take less money or there's going to be more players looking for jobs later in the summer," Fletcher said.
(© 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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