Here’s the story for tomorrow’s paper, but to clear up one misconception: Although it would be one endless distraction, negotiations with Marian Gaborik can continue throughout the season if it doesn’t get done prior. The “stop” period that calls for negotiations to resume after Jan. 1 is only for guys on one-year deals, hence the reason last season why the Wild couldn’t talk to P-M Bouchard and Nick Schultz until after then.

But Gaborik’s in the end of a multi-year deal.

While it’s still uncertain whether the Wild will be able to work out an extension with its all-time leading scorer, Marian Gaborik’s agent said Monday that last week’s four-hour dinner meeting between Gaborik and Wild management may pay dividends.

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for how they handled that,” agent Ron Salcer said of the meeting between Gaborik, GM Doug Risebrough and assistant GM Tom Lynn in Slovakia.

“I can tell you, after talking to Marian, it made him feel really good the way they shared everything with him about the team and the future. I thought it was a smart move on their behalf. It was a very beneficial thing they did.”

Salcer said at the very least Gaborik plans to fulfill his contract with the Wild this season. Salcer denied a report in the Russian newspaper, Sports-Express, that quoted Spartak Moscow President Nikolai Tischenko as saying he’s had conversations with “Gaborik’s agent” about the star playing for Spartak.

“I don’t know anything about that. I’ve had no conversations [with any team is Russia about Gaborik],” Salcer said. “Marian has a year left on his contract with the Wild, and he’s working hard and feeling good. He says he’s coming to camp in the best shape he’s ever been in.

“After that, we’ll see where things go from there.”

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NAEGELE, BURKE, HOUSLEY AND LINDSAY SELECTED AS RECIPIENTS OF 2008 LESTER PATRICK TROPHY NEW YORK (August 7, 2008) — Minnesota Wild founding owner Bob Naegele, Jr., Anaheim Ducks Executive Vice President and General Manager Brian Burke, 21-year NHL defenseman Phil Housley and Hockey Hall of Fame left wing Ted Lindsay have been named recipients of the 2008 Lester Patrick Trophy for outstanding service to hockey in the United States.

The award, one of the most prestigious in hockey, was presented to the National Hockey League by the New York Rangers in 1966. It honors the memory of Lester Patrick, who spent 50 years in hockey as a player, coach, and general manager, and was a pioneer in the sport’s development. The recipients will be honored at the 2008 Lester Patrick Awards Luncheon Oct. 22 in Minnesota. Further details on the event, including ticket information, will be announced at a later date.

A born and bred Minnesotan who played goal for Minnetonka High School, Naegele became the lead investor of an informal association of hockey enthusiasts whose dream was to see the return of NHL hockey to Minnesota. The group, Minnesota Sports & Entertainment, helped Minnesota hockey fans realize their dream on June 25, 1997, when the NHL announced that St. Paul was awarded an expansion franchise. The Minnesota Wild began competing in the 2000-01 season at the new Xcel Energy Center. With Naegele as majority owner, the Wild became one of the most successful expansion franchises in pro sports. The team has played in front of capacity crowds for every home game in franchise history, a streak that encompasses seven seasons and 319 pre-season, regular-season and playoff games.

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The Wild has acquired former Ontario Hockey League star Corey Locke,  who used to munch the competition with former Wild right wing Matt Foy when the two played together for the Ottawa 67s, from the Montreal Canadiens for defenseman Shawn Belle.

This is a minor-league move. Locke is an RFA and will be on a two-way contract, and between he and Jesse Schultz, it’s safe to say the low-scoring Houston Aeros will score some more next season.

The Wild has also signed former Phoenix Coyotes first-round pick Krys Kolanos. He hasn’t played in the league since 2005-06.

Here are your fifth and sixth centers, folks.

Belle completely fell off the radar last season and did not develop into the player the Wild had hoped it was getting when he was thrown in with Martin Skoula in the Willie Mitchell trade. 

Foy, by the way, has signed with St. Louis.

Locke, 24 (5/8/84), has spent the last four seasons with the American Hockey League’s (AHL) Hamilton Bulldogs, totaling 229 points (85-144=229) in 313 games. He also made his NHL debut with the Montreal Canadiens against the Chicago Blackhawks on Jan. 8, 2008. The 5-foot-9, 171-pound native of Newmarket, Ont., was Montreal’s fourth-round pick (No. 113 overall) in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. He led the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) with 151 points (63-88=151) in 2002-03, and he was named league Most Valuable Player for the first of two times. Locke also won an AHL Calder Cup with Hamilton in 2006-07, racking up 22 points (10-12=22) in 22 playoff games.

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I’ll be back on later on this evening with a blog post regarding this afternoon’s scrimmage, but here’s a bit of news from the Wild.

Matt Shaw has been promoted from video coach to assistant coach. While he’ll continue to have the same responsibilities with video, he gets a title change. It was obvious last season that Shaw had a lot more responsibilities, especially after Mike Ramsey was getting treatment for his eye.  

This was just a natural step — you should hear the respect Jacques Lemaire has for Shaw when he speaks about him. That’s it for now. I’ll be back on later.

By the way, I’ve also gotten some emails from readers about the exhibition schedule. I asked assistant GM Tom Lynn about it the other day and he was still shuffling a couple games, so it’ll be out soon. It’ll be a seven- or eight-game schedule. Also, the first week of camp in Grand Forks will be four to seven days. It’s uncertain right now because the team doesn’t know for sure how long it has to be out of the arena for the reconstruction after the RNC.

The NHL regular-season schedule typically comes out the day after the MLB All-Star Game.

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Worst kept secret in Wild country is finally official. Stop the presses, but …

MINNESOTA WILD SIGNS DEFENSEMAN TOMAS MOJZIS

SAINT PAUL/MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Minnesota Wild President and General Manager Doug Risebrough today announced the National Hockey League (NHL) club has signed defenseman Tomas Mojzis (pronounced MOI-shihsh) to a multi-year contract.

Mojzis, 26 (5/2/82), posted four points (2-2=4) and 38 penalty minutes (PIM) in 28 games with Sibir Novosibirsk of the Russian Continental League in 2007-08. Mojzis has played 13 NHL games with Vancouver and St. Louis, totaling two points (1-1=2) and 12 PIM. He made his NHL debut Feb. 4, 2006, at Edmonton and scored his first NHL goal March 24, 2007, at Detroit. Mojzis was a first-team Canadian Hockey League (CHL) All-Star for the 2002-03 season.

The 6-foot, 195-pound native of Kolin, Czech Republic, was Toronto’s eighth-round pick (246th overall) in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft.

END PRESS RELEASE, BACK TO RUSSO

Two-way contract. He’ll make $500,000 prorated in the NHL, $100,000 in the minors.

Mojzis likely lands on the depth chart right after Erik Reitz and injured Kurtis Foster and right before Shawn Belle and Clayton Stoner. So, first minor-league callup blue-line material.

Although, lots of things change in training camp, like for instance, the 15 stories I wrote about Dominic Moore last fall.

In other news, Todd Bertuzzi is reunited with Mike Keenan in Calgary. My prediction is he’ll score at least one more goal than the one he scored for Keenan in Florida.

Remember, Keenan also brought Big Bert to Vancouver. Reported one-year, $1.95 million, which I bet is precisely what Calgary was offering Owen Nolan.

Now, I want everybody to sit down, take a couple of deep breaths and try not to lose your minds and not hurt yourselves because I’ve been scrolling through the blog posts the last couple of days and I know many of you are not going to be happy with what I’m about to write.

But the Wild might very well be off the active free-agent market after today’s three-year, $7 million contract with right wing Antti Miettinen.

The deal came right after LW Markus Naslund announced he was signing a two-year, $8 million contract with the Rangers.

Now, the Wild might very well be done. That’s what Doug Risebrough indicated to me.

You can have 23 players max on your roster. The Wild now has 21 guys on one-way contracts. That leaves two spots left (although, in reality it’s three because D Kurtis Foster will start the season on injured reserve).

Risebrough wants the other two spots to be filled by kids.

So right now, Risebrough says the team will take a step back and watch for a bit.

I just got off the horn with him and this is what he said.

“We’ll watch how things shape up with [free agents] that haven’t made a decision, but I want to open up at least two spots for younger guys,” Risebrough said. “So if we sign one more player, that two spots becomes one.

“So it would have to be very tempting to take away some spots for some younger players. I think it’s time to find out if some younger players can play here and contribute.”

He’s obviously referring to Colton Gillies and Cal Clutterbuck as the leading candidates for likely one wing spot.

Why don’t I include Benoit Pouliot there? Because Risebrough all but anointed Pouliot on the team (for now).

I pointed out that Mikko Koivu, James Sheppard and Eric Belanger are the only three NHL centers on the team and that’s pretty thin.

Russo: “Don’t you have to still get a center?”

Risebrough: “The spot is Pouliot’s. I feel it’s more prudent right now just to give Pouliot an opportunity and see what he can do.”

He said a fifth center spot would be a two-way contract, meaning likely a veteran NHL/minor-league center ala Serge Payer or Steve Kelly that would start in Houston barring injuries.

It’s fair to say as the roster currently sits, there is a fairly astonishing lack of depth on this team. That’s why deep down I think they’re going to wait a bit, see who’s still out there and then grab one of them. Or, and this is a definite possibility, work the trade market.

But right now, with the alarming lack of scorers on this team, Miettinen better score. One injury to one of the top guys, and hello lottery pick.

As for Miettinen, he does have tons of talent. Won a bunch of awards when he played in the Finnish League. He just hasn’t scored consistently in the NHL, although he had a career-high 15 goals and 34 points last year (but that was playing with Ribeiro and Morrow, so that’s fairly modest).

I talked with somebody I respect greatly for a scouting report:

Fast, works hard, great penalty killer.

“He tries hard. He seems to have a lot of talent. But he played the power play, played a lot on the top line with Ribeiro and Morrow and they couldn’t find a way to get him to be a consistent goal scorer. I think it had a lot to do with confidence. He just seemed to be pressing himself to take advantage of the opportunity.

“He got every opportunity to be a scoring winger and that didn’t work. They just said he’s either going to have to be a fourth-line winger here or he’s not going to play here because they want to punch some kids through now.

“Put it this way, they now only have one right-shot right wing and they still didn’t want to keep him. They’re willing to have a bunch of guys play out of position.

“Now I think he needs a fresh start. He’s got tons of talent. He scored in the Finnish League. Maybe he’ll go there and be a perfect fit and become the next [Mike] Ribeiro. But in Dallas, and I think with him, too, they just decided to part ways.”

He’s a great athlete, this guy says, soft spoken, great defensive forward, solid penalty killer, can create his own shots.

Three times in the last two seasons he had nine shots in a game. But hasn’t performed offensively in the playoffs and has been a healthy scratch in six playoff games in the past two years.

Hey, just so you know, unless something major, major happens with the team, I’ve got the next two days off.

Kent Youngblood has got the controls.

Have a good Fourth everybody! In fact, give yourself a mental day away from hockey. It’ll do you good. I’m certainly going to try to.