Wild come to terms with Corey Locke

The Minnesota Wild announced yesterday, along with a slew of other players, they have officially signed forward Corey Locke, who was acquired through a deal with the Montreal Canadians on July 11. The terms of the contract have not yet been made public, nor have the terms of any of the other signings this week.

Stephane Veilleux wants to stay in Minnesota

Wild winger Stephane Veilleux has been proactive in his attempts to stay in Minnesota. As a restricted free agent he had decided to fire his agent, Paul Corbeil (who takes 4% of his salary), and prepare to negotiate a contract himself. He has said he intends to stay in Minnesota, a team he is proud to play for, and thinks that he can negotiate a way to stay in Minnesota all by himself. (Star Tribune reported on this today)

The Wild have not been overly eager to keep many of their restricted and unrestricted agents around, it appears that Veilleux (who scored a career high 11 goals last season) will do whatever it takes to stay in town. Not a bad thing, a solid winger with a good +/-, who is a standard standby for the checking line.

Jagr

So, nothing has really been going on in the world of the Wild since the end of development camp yesterday evening. Thus I am here to say, really? Jagr is going to Russia? Why? Was there no one in the NHL who was willing to offer him enough money? He is certainly in the twilight of his career, and his pay checks in Russia are going to be coming tax free, since he will be a big draw for their new league. But I still don’t understand how this happened, he had said he wanted to go back to Pittsburgh, I can’t imagine they wouldn’t make him some sort of offer, and he’s got a great shot at a cup playing for them. It just doesn’t make any sense to me, well, I guess it does, but it doesn’t all the same.

Development Camp Update

As the Wild’s summer development camp continues through the weekend players continue to fight for their chance to impress themselves upon the coaches. Riseborough has all but promised that the shaky center situation will be cured by young centers James Shepherd and Benoit Pouliot, who are both participating in this weekend’s development camp. Obviously Mikko Koivu and Eric Belanger are going to be the Wild’s go to centers, but this leaves the question pretty wide open about what the line configurations will be for the coming season with the signing of many forwards including Craig Weller, Andrew Brunette, and Owen Nolan. Furthermore, a few stand out players from the development camp may have a shot at some ice time in the coming months. Petr Kalus and Colton Gillies seem to be at the top of the list of the young guys taking a shot at a permanent position on the roster.

In other news at development camp recent draftee Tyler Cumas and Paul Albers are both injured and not expected to return to the development camp before the scrimmage for the final day of camp on Monday. Cumas has a sprained ankle and Albers is suffering from a bruised right ankle. Both will likely be playing for the Houston Aeros during the 2008-09 season.

Welcome to Minnesota

In the past day the Wild have made two major moves, trading defenseman Shawn Belle to the Montreal Canadians for center Corey Locke. Belle was acquired in a deal that sent Willie Mitchell and a second round draft pick to Dallas for defenseman Martin Skoula and Belle. Belle has spent his time under contract playing for the Houston Aeros, and has largely been a disappointing addition to the team, one that GM Doug Riseborough thought would be a development player who would step up to the Wild in a season or two.

Locke is a strong forward who has been a career minor leaguer. He scored 84 goals and 144 assists over the last four seasons playing for the Hamilton Bulldogs in the AHL. Prior to that he was a two time MVP in the OHL. He was also a former linemate of forward Matt Foy, who has recently signed on with St. Louis.

The wild have also acquired forward Krys Kolanos who spent last season in the AHL scoring 30 goals and 33 assists in 63 games. At 6′2″ 200 lbs. he’s a pretty big forward, with a good shot and a bit of speed. He is looking to secure a spot on the starting crew which is becoming increasingly saturated with young, capable forwards. He was only signed to a one year contract, which seems to indicate that Riseborough would like to see him playing for the Wild and not getting dropped down to the Aeros.

Saying Goodbye

The Wild have had fans saying goodbye to a number of fan favorites this year, most notably the departure of Brian Rolston. (Who still has not been properly replaced)

This week saw the Vancouver Canucks signing Pavol Demitra to a two year, eight million dollar deal. Probably far more than he is currently worth, but we say so long, and will see him over and over this year. Also, Matt Foy has signed on with the St. Louis Blues. Foy was noticeably not present through most of the past year. A player that needed to be let go among the deluge of young signings the Wild have enacted over the past month.

This is the first post here at The Minnesota Wild Times. We will have all sorts of essays and observations on the Minnesota Wild in the coming weeks. We will be following Doug Riseborough’s deconstruction of the division champions, training camp, the pre-season, all the way up until the start of the 2008-09 year. Check back soon for an update from the Wild’s development camp that has been taking place over the course of the last week, as players like James Shepherd, Benoit Puliot, and others try to prep to make the team (hint: Puliot will be on the roster, as will Shepherd).

 

Thanks for checking us out as we kick off the new hub for Minnesota Wild information.