The Wild Times is moving!
The current set-up here is causing some difficulties for us, so the Wild Times is moving, just around the corner to MinnesotaWildTimes.Blogspot.com.
Over the next week updates will be posted at both sites, but after that the move will be complete. if you have any questions you can always e-mail us minnesotawildtimes [at] gmail [dot] com.
thanks for reading
-Minnesota Wild Times
New Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold has found himself in a bit of hot water with the league and potentially the law. The reports indicate that he offered large loans to both the Nashville Predators and their new majority owner William Del Biaggio to secure the sale of the Predators and open the door for his purchase of the Wild. The Star Tribune is reporting that Del Biaggio filed for bankruptcy in June, shortly after his purchase of 27% of the Predators. He is now under federal investigation claiming that he defrauded lenders. Leipold and entertainment conglomerate AEG (which owns the Los Angeles Kings).
The AP is reporting that AEG lent Del Biaggio $7 million and Leipold lent him another $10 million, and also lent $10 million to the Predators at large. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is claiming that the NHL had no knowledge of Del Biaggio’s financial troubles or of the large loans he procured from Leipold and AEG.
Currently AEG is taking legal action against Del Biaggio, and Leipold has declined to comment outside of an official statement from the Wild saying that Leipold is disappointed in the manner in which Del Biaggio has conducted his business. Nothing has been confirmed as far as legal action being taken by Leipold, but his evasive statement through the organization alludes that he is exploring his legal possibilities in accordance with federal bankruptcy laws.
The Wild announced last night that they are buying out the rest of Mark Parrish’s contract. With three years left on his five year contract the 31-year-old Minnesota native is now a free agent after quickly clearing waivers. Amid cap concerns with Wild management this moves clears up around $2.5 million for the current season, as the team will likely opt to pay the buy out over a series of six years (as is a standard option in NHL contract buyouts). A few teams have already expressed interest in Parrish via his agent, and will likely get him at a steal as the preseason is about to begin and he cleared waivers securing the need for a Wild buyout.
This move, though it makes sense with the salary concerns, paves the way for their negotiations with forward Marian Gaborik. They likely needed the room to offer Gabby a pay raise, or they may be toying with the idea of signing another C class forward to fill the hole Parrish will leave. Parrish was benched repeatedly last season and was certainly not at the top of his game. After only allowing two years of his contract to expire before deciding they no longer required his services the Wild will have room to fill, which may be taken up by a younger player from Development Camp, as there were many young players there who seem to have made a positive impression on GM Doug Riseborough.
Saturday, July 26th Gm Doug Riseborough announced that the Wild have settled on a deal with forward Pierre-Marc Bouchard. Bouchard was briefly on the trading block, and his future with the Wild was anything but certain. Now, it appears as though the Wild have every intention of keeping him in a Minnesota jersey as long as they can.
The deal is reportedly worth $20.4 million over five years (more than they were paying Rolston). Putting up 63 points last year, with a team record 50 assists, Bouchard has proven that he is an indispensable part of the offense. He even showed up to the playoffs last season (few members of the Wild did…), which likely cemented him as someone they were likely to resign.
It’s been a little while since a post went up. As often happens life gets in the way of writing. So I apologize for the lapse, I was taking a road journey across half of the country. But lots was happening with the Wild while I was absent, and The Wild Times will get you caught up if you haven’t been paying attention.
When training camp opens on Sept. 20 the Wild will not be stationed in Xcel, nor will their preseason games be played in their home. Due to the Sept 1-2 Republican National Convention to be held at the Xcel Energy Center the Wild will be training in Grand Forks, ND. Playing at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks is not a new experience for the Wild, as they have played a preseason game there in four past seasons, but this will be the first time that they are going to be playing an entire preseason away from Xcel.
The Wild and Stephance Veilleux have reached a deal, Saturday night, to keep the winger in Minnesota. Beating out the Monday deadline for arbitration. He has been given a one year deal worth $737,000, a slight cut from the year before. After the 2008-09 season he will be an unrestricted free agent if not signed before the yearly July 1 deadline.
This leaves Pierre-Marc Bouchard as the only unrestricted free agent left on the team. His arbitration hearing is set for July 28th.
Despite being left to the dogs during waivers, Veilleux has been given an interesting opportunity this season. He scored a career high 11 goals last season, as has been an increasingly important presence on the team each year. If he can manage to have an even better year this year he could force the Wild into a slightly better deal, or maybe at least catch another teams attention next year when he is left to free agency.
Wild winger Stephane Veilleux was put on waivers yesterday, as the Wild chose not to claim him, taking the calculated risk that no one would make an offer to him. And no one did. Today he remains Wild property, which doesn’t seem to distress Veilleux too much. He has said that it doesn’t matter he’s glad to still be with the Wild (technically) and looks forward to negotiating. So, despite his efforts to meet the Wild half way by representing himself, the Wild are still playing tough. Assistant GM Tom Lynn has said that Veilleux’s initial demands were “unreasonable” and believes that not being picked up on waivers will lower the going price for Veilleux during arbitration. So, it seems that Veilleux, despite have a career high season last year, may be taking something of a pay cut for the coming season (and likely a one year deal where he is going to have to have an even better season than last year), but it appears as though Veilleux will be back in a Wild uniform for the coming season. That is, unless something unexpected happens, which is probably just as likely as striking an easy deal.
In addition to the signing of former Montreal Canadian Corey Locke the Wild have secured four other players, they announced on Tuesday. RW Danny Irmen, C Bryan Lundbohm, D John Scott, & D Brandon Rogers have all officially been signed according to Wild GM Doug Riseborough.
Irmen, the 23-year-old forward, was a former Gopher and has been playing in the AHL for the past three years. Posting three decent seasons with the Aeros he is looking for a spot on the roster proper, he was a third round draft pick of the Wild’s in 2003.
Lundbohm played with Aeros from ’05-’07, and played with a Danish team last season. At 30 it seems as though this may be his final shot at making the team. At 5’10″ the Minnesota native is not a huge forward, but word is he’s got a solid shot and a nice pair of wheels.
Scott, at 25, could be the reason the Wild felt no need to resign goons like Fedoruk and Simon for the upcoming season. in ’07-’08 season he led the Houston Aeros with 184 PIM in 64 games, though his three goals does put Boogey’s big donut to shame. At 6’8″ 225 lbs. he’s easily one of the biggest guys in the NHL. A lack of hands and scoring ability has never been an exclusion to making the Wild though.
Rogers is the only one in the pack who is being signed to a multi-year deal. At 26 he had a career high 28 pts (4-24) last season with the Aeros. Though he doesn’t seem to be a big scorer, he seems to be more in line with a Veilleux style player, leading the Aeros with a +17 last season.
The Wild roster has got to about full now, all that is left to see, now that Development Camp is over, is who will be on the roster for the start of the season.
