Wild Select Colton Gillies in Draft

The Minnesota Wild traded up in the 2007 NHL Draft last weekend, but didn’t draft who many experts thought they would. The Wild must have really wanted Colton Gillies, because they gave up both their 19th and 42nd overall pick to acquire Gillies at only three picks ahead at 16th overall. Glen Andresen of Wild.nhl.com was sure the Wild was going to select either Alexei Cherpanov or Angelo Esposito. Andresen was high on Esposito because of his incredible on-ice speed. True to his potential, Esposito put up some outrageous numbers in the QMJHL. The 2006-07 season saw him notch 79 points and the 2005-06 season was even more crazy as he dropped 98 points on 39 goals for the Quebec Remparts. Esposito is only 18 years old at the time of the draft, and time will only tell if the Wild missed out on a furious NHL goal scorer. It’s all about the professional team creating a player’s image however, and the Wild has an opportunity to make Colton Gillies a big Minnesota Wild ticket draw in coming years.

Ticket Scalping and Minnesota Wild

It will be very interesting to see what the Minnesota Wild thinks about ticket scalping now that it is legal in Minnesota. I was downtown St. Paul last week and I noticed that Ticket King is opening an office directly across the street form the Xcel Energy Center. I am sure that they did this because Wild Tickets are such a hot commodity. My hunch is that the Minnesota Wild won't have a problem with people buying and selling Wild Tickets because they sell out all of their games and the only way to get tickets is to deal with a ticket broker.

Boogaard Involved in More Fights

After years of being exclusively in the realm of NFL and NBA players, nightclub fight shenanigans have finally entered into the NHL thanks to Wild left winger Derek Boogaard. Boogaard was charged with assaulting a 20-year-old man last August outside of Regina, Saskatchewan’s sole nightclub. OK, I don’t know if Regina has more than one nightclub, but Boogaard was charged with “causing bodily harm,” apparently throwing punches or something. Anyways, the Boogie Man had his charges “stayed” or dropped by the Crown the other day and he won’t have to go to trial. Thanks Boogie for some off-ice notoriety to strike fear into the hearts of opponents. If you want to see some on-ice Boogie fights, get Wild tickets now, because good news: Boogaard was allegedly last seen picking up pointers from Timberwolves player Ricky Davis at the local Déjà vu.

Wild Goalies Honored Together, Perhaps for Last Time

The two Minnesota Wild goalies who tended the net so well this season were both recently honored at the mini-NHL awards ceremony in Ottawa. Niklas Backstrom and Manny Fernandez received the William M. Jennings Trophy, which is awarded for allowing the fewest goals against during the regular season. The other award was the Roger Crozier Save Grace Award for the league’s best save percentage during the regular season (.929). The goalie tandem that the Wild sent to the awards ceremony might be disbanded soon, as the Wild has just signed Niklas Backstrom to a new contract. The Wild has yet to move on Fernandez, but the goalie still has two years left on a three-year deal at $4.33 million per year against the cap. Fernandez isn’t sure what next season holds for him, but he is happy the way he finished the 2006-07 season. He believes he left on a “good note,” and that other teams are going to have a spot for him if he gets traded. With Backstrom back in the net, the Minnesota Wild are sure to have a great season next year and Minnesota Wild fans won't want to miss one single save! Buy Wild Tickets now!

Wild Dismisses Thelen

Poor A.J. Thelen. The guy just tried to have a fun night out drinking at Michigan State and it amounts to the Minnesota Wild organization giving up on him. I guess hockey is like any other sport in that its players have to be good boys and girls before becoming a pro, otherwise pro scouts think a player has “an attitude.” Isn’t an attitude something everyone has? Can’t you have a good attitude? The word attitude has been negatively stigmatized and athletes are suffering everywhere because of it. Poor A.J. Thelen. Maybe he’ll sign with some other team and score two goals on the Wild on slap-shots from the blue line next year.