Modano and Gagne Return Home

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Written on 10/15/2010 by Jim Cerny

I found it quite interesting that Philadelphia and its fans gave a warmer reception to ex-Flyer Simon Gagne upon his return to The City of Brotherly Love last night with his new team, the Tampa Bay Lightning, than the Dallas organization gave Mike Modano (photo) upon his return with his new club, the Detroit Red Wings, also last night.

Gagne, who was a salary cap casualty this summer being shipped to Tampa after ten seasons with the Flyers, received a long ovation during his first shift and then a sustained standing ovation at the conclusion of a moving video highlighting his career was shown on the scoreboard during a play stoppage.

Modano, the 40 year-old sure-bet Hall of Famer who spent the first 20 seasons of his career with the Stars---both in Minnesota and then in Dallas---decided to continue his career this season after signing with rival Detroit during the summer. Last night the fans treated him with love, but the Stars organization simply chose to put his picture on the scoreboard with a simple "Thank You Mike" message.

Perhaps the Stars organization, including GM Joe Nieuwendyk---a former teammate and good friend of Modano's---felt that proper tributes took place in Modano's final home game in Dallas last April and that both sides have moved on. If so, that was a mistake because the fans turned out to salute Modano last night, and the organization should have done so, as well.

Modano said afterwards that he is relieved to get on with the rest of the season now. With one goal and a -2 plus/minus so far, Modano still is looking to find his footing with the Red Wings.

Same goes for Gagne, the reluctant Bolt, who is pointless and a -4 in three games for Tampa Bay.

Here are two excellent takes on Modano's return to Dallas and Gagne's return to Philly.

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A few other NHL observations:

The Islanders are fun to watch: No Mark Streit...no Kyle Okposo...no John Tavares...no James Wisniewski...No Problem! This hungry and gritty team does not quit and they play an entertaining in-your-face style, plus these kids are growing up and learning to score. There may be a lot of 5-4 games in their future, but who says that's a bad thing? Rally from two down to force overtime against Dallas. Rally from 4-3 down late in third to beat the Rangers 6-4. Lead Washington for a long stretch of the game only to lose 2-1 on the road without four of their best players. It's early, but these guys really may be a pain in the ass to play against this year.

Minnesota Turns Up The Power: The Wild picked up their first win of the season last night, using four man-up goals to power past Edmonton 4-2. I tuned in on Center Ice mainly to get a look at Edmonton's talented kids---Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall, Magnus Paajarvi---and instead had my eyes fixed on Minnesota's captain Mikko Koivu all night. His play was inspirational, leading his club back from a 2-1 hole to the 4-2 victory, not just scoring the tying and winning goals, but there was a look in his eyes that all great leaders have. The Wild needed someone to be a difference maker, and Koivu made sure that it would be him.

Hey! What Is This, the NFL or NBA?: A bit of a rough week publicity-wise for the NHL. Isles d-man James Wisniewski graphically shows Sean Avery what he can do with his, um, stick in full view of fans and TV cameras to become a YouTube sensation. Stars forward Mike Ribiero and his wife are arrested for an incident outside a Dallas bar. Thank goodness news broke that Brett Favre took pictures of his crotch and sent them to a Jets employee a couple of years ago, and that Sports Illustrated's cover story is about an agent decsribing how he illegally paid off college football players, or else people might start confusing the NHL with the NFL or NBA!

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Fresh Start for the Wild

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Written on 11/18/2009 by Jim Cerny


A quarter of the way through their "fresh start" of a season---as newly-minted captain Mikko Koivu (photo left) calls it---the Minnesota Wild are still trying to find their identity, while at the same time attempting to remain out of the basement in the Western Conference.

Within a matter of months this past spring, the Wild lost the three pillars of their organization, signaling a major change in the course the franchise would take in the following years.

Doug Risebrough, who was GM of the Wild even before there was a team on the ice, was the first to go.

He was followed by Jacques Lemaire, the only head coach in franchise history.

And then Marian Gaborik---the Wild's first-ever draft pick and the organization's all-time leading scorer---was allowed to slip away as an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

The three long-time faces of the organization, all gone within a matter of months.

"A fresh start is the right way to describe it," Koivu told me a couple of weeks ago. "There are a lot of new things on and off the ice. Now we are trying to build it all again. But it is strange not to see those guys around here anymore."

Strange indeed. Over the past nine years no three people were more visable representatives of the Wild than Risebrough, Lemaire, or Gaborik. It is one thing to lose one or two of those men. But all three? Almost unheard of. But that is the path ownership chose months ago.

"It's tough to not be around those guys who have always been here," stated Koivu, who has a team-best 18 points in 20 games this year. "You get used to a certain way, and certain people. But it is part of the game, and it's something that every team goes through. It's fresh, and a whole lot different."

What Koivu didn't say---and wouldn't answer---was whether fresh and different equal better. So far the Wild---under new coach Todd Richards and GM Chuck Fltecher---are tied for 13th place in the west with 16 points. They are 7-11-2 and have allowed the fifth most goals in the conference (63), something unheard of when the defensive-minded Lemaire was the coach.

And while Gaborik thrives in New York with the Rangers---his 15 goals are tied for the league lead, while his 27 points are second most---his replacement in Minnesota, free agent pick up Martin Havlat---has struggled mightily with just two goals and eight points in 18 games.

It was Gaborik that most Wild observers believed would have been the first to leave the State of Hockey. A world-class talent---albeit one limited by injury for much of his career---Gaborik had been through several contract battles and stalemates with the Wild. And he was no fan of Lemaire's stifling system either.

It was not a huge surprise that Minnesota let Gaborik walk without even a token contract offer.

Well, at least it was not a big surprise to most observers. Long-time Wild forward Andrew Brunette told me that he thought up until the final days that his good friend was going to return to Minnesota.

"I thought something would get done the whole time," said Brunette, a 22-goal scorer a year ago who has seven so far this season. "I called him the night before free agency started and he said 'I'm going to go', which was a little disappointing. I know how it was with the old regime and (Gaborik) with the contracts, but I really thought with the change (in management), and with how well he played at the end of last year, that he would stay."

Brunette added, "I mean, you move on. It's part of the business. But maybe I am partial. I just know how good he is. I really thought something would get done."

Though the results aren't there just yet---and it must be difficult for the Wild faithful to see Gaborik's success on Broadway and Lemaire's so-far triumphant return to New Jersey---the Wild organization did the right thing. Nine years is a long-time for the same voice as head coach. And Brunette feels maybe Gaborik needed the change as much as the organization did.

"As hard as it is for me to say this, for his career and for him, he might have been a little stagnant here at times, he might have needed a change," stated Brunette.

Speaking of change, the new regime in Minnesota is going to have to change the recent trend of draft-day failures from that of the old guard. After selecting Gaborik, Koivu, center Pierre-Marc Bouchard, and defenseman Brent Burns with their first picks from 2000-2003, the Wild have not chosen one stud in the first round since. And forget studs. Right now the word is "duds", as in 2005 first rounder Benoit Pouliot (2-2-4 in 14 games, five goals a year ago) and 2006 first-round selection James Sheppard (0-1-1 in 18 games, five goals last season).

And other than the rugged Cal Clutterbuck in 2006, the Wild have not drafted a regular contributor in the later rounds since early in franchise history.

Add to the mix the disappointing play of veterans Petr Sykora (2-1-3 in 10 games) and Havlat, and, well, you can understand the problems that face Fletcher and Richards.

"It will get better," predicted Koivu.

The question, though, is when?

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Gaborik a No-Go in Return to Minny Tonight

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Written on 10/30/2009 by Jim Cerny


Let it not be said that Marian Gaborik did not hit the ice in his return to Minnesota for the first time as a member of the New York Rangers.

He skated. He laughed with teammates. He fired shots on goal.

I was there. I saw it all.

Unfortunately there were 18,064 empty seats at the Xcel Energy Center at the time Gaborik was on the ice. And it was seven hours or so before game time.

No, Marian Gaborik will not be playing this evening when the Rangers face the Wild. A right knee injury suffered during last Monday's 5-2 win over Phoenix at Madison Square Garden will keep him out of the lineup, just as it did for Wednesday's ugly 3-1 loss on Long Island.

This morning marked the first time that Gaborik skated since Monday. He said that the knee felt better once it warmed up, but he wasn't sure when he'd be able to return to the Rangers lineup.

Gaborik is very disappointed that he will not be able to play against his former team tonight. He was the face of the Wild organization for its first eight years, and he is the club's all-time leader in goals (219) and points (437).

"It's very disappointing," Gaborik stated this morning, while standing in the odd surroundings of the visitors' dressing room at the Xcel and not the Wild's more familiar room. "I tried to push myself in order to have a good feel, but it's just  not there. I don't think I'd be a piece to the puzzle tonight. If it had been any other game, I wouldn't even think about (playing), but, obviously, this was a special game."

That Gaborik---who is off to a tremendous start this season with ten goals (tied for 2nd most in the NHL) and 18 points (3rd most)---is unable to play in his return to Minnesota is more than ironic, of course. Since the lockout, he missed 121 of the Wild's 328 games due to injury. Most of the games missed were because of nagging groin and hip issues which are unrelated to this knee injury, and were supposedly corrected by surgery that limited him to 17 games a year ago.

Many fans in Minnesota hold a certain bitterness towards Gaborik, labeling him soft and injury-prone, preferring to remember his numerous games missed as opposed to the five 30-goal seasons. It is part of what made his return here to The State of Hockey today so intriguing. That, and the fact that Minnessotoans did  not take kindly to his "money grab" this summer, leaving for the bright lights and greenbacks of Broadway.

"He'd get booed for sure, no doubt about it," Wild forward Cal Clutterbuck stated this morning.

"That's not my comment," laughed diplomatic Wild captain Mikko Koivu when Clutterbuck, seated at the next locker, provided his opinion. "I don't know what would happen. It's tough to say."

Aaron Voros, a popular former member of the Wild who is in his second year with the Rangers, praised the fans in Minnesota as being extremely intelligent hockey people. And he is not so sure they would boo his good friend Gaborik if he was able to play this evening.

"I'd be surprised if they booed him," said Voros. "He brought a lot to this organization. He spent eight years playing through injuries, scoring goals. He was probably the most recognizable face of the franchise for eight years. I think for them to boo him would be really unfortunate."

Gaborik was able to catch up with some of his former teammates upon arriving last night. In fact he took in dinner with long-time teammate Andrew Brunette, among others.

"The weather when you get off the plane doesn't change much," Gaborik joked about the grey skies and rain that greeted the Rangers when they arrived yesterday in Minneapolis/St. Paul. "It's special to come back into this building. And I've seen a few guys, nice to see them, obviously. We talked about old times. I had a lot of fun with them."

"I'm probably partial because I played with him a long time, and I know how good he is, but I always thought something would get done the whole time," Brunette explained of Gaborik's not re-signing with the Wild. "It was a little disappointing. But you move on. It's part of the deal, right?"

Ironically, the Rangers last visit to the Xcel Energy Center was on December 20, 2007. The Wild won that game 6-3. Marian Gaborik scored five goals and recorded six points in a masterful performance that evening.

"That was a fun night to be on the other end," noted Voros, who played alongside Gaborik for Minnesota in that game.

No such luck in seeing another virtuoso Gaborik performance this evening, though.

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Seperate from Marian Gaborik not being able to play tonight, the Rangers will also be without forwards Sean Avery and Christopher Higgins, who both were nicked up in Wednesday's loss to the Islanders. In case you are counting, that is three of the Rangers top six forwards out of the lineup tonight.

Rugged Dane Byers has been recalled from Hartford in the American Hockey League and will play this evening. PA Parenteau, who was recalled from Hartford on Tuesday and scored his first NHL goal the next night, will also play, as will Donald Brashear, who has been in and out of the lineup due to injury.

"This is a chance for some guys to get more ice time and show what they can do," said Brashear. "It's a long season, you have challenges that come up like this."

"We'd like to keep our lineup healthy all the way through," Rangers coach John Tortorella said this morning. "But it's not going to happen. There's always another side to it. Do we want to remain healthy? Yes. But now this helps me see what we have in the minors."

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The latest addition of Rangers Radio is available on the New York Rangers official web site. No guest this week, but Steve Gelbs and I tackle the latest news, and share some interesting anecdotes along the way.

Remember that each episode of Rangers Radio can be downloaded and remains up on the Rangers web site for future listening pleasure!

Next week, Hockey Hall of Famer Andy Bathgate will be our guest, and will answer your questions!

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