Pierre-Marc Bouchard signs five-year deal

From Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Pierre-Marc Bouchard and the Wild avoided a Monday arbitration hearing when
Bouchard agreed to a five-year, $20.4 million contract minutes before midnight
tonight. Thank goodness my hangout of choice is right across the street from my home. Although, I think I did re-break my foot hobbling back to write a frantic story.

The $20.4 million is $600,000 smaller than Nick Schultz’s six-year package, which was the largest sum of money in one contract. Of course, next up is Marian Gaborik, and if the Wild can get him inked, that $21 million with be shattered.

Read the entire post from Russo's Rants here.

Nice work by the Wild. There were rumors that Bouchard would sign a one-year deal and be shopped by the club, but in the end, both sides came to a reasonable agreement. Bouchard has to be happy he has a long-term deal at fair dollars and the Wild has to be happy that it has maintained arguably its second most talented offensive player for the next half-decade.

Wild and Bouchard are gearing up for arbitration

From Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Lynn flew to Toronto tonight to get situated, and right now, I’m getting the feeling there’s a large gap between what the Wild is seeking from the arbitrator and what Bouchard’s camp is seeking. Usually, both sides have a good idea what number an arbitrator will decide upon, so they can avoid arbitration and come to an agreement (like last year when the Wild and Bouchard agreed on a one-year, $2.6 million deal before arb or like last week when Stephane Veilleux and the Wild agreed to a one-year, $862,500 contract, including a 125K signing bonus).

In this case, the gap appears to be large enough that the Wild and Bouchard may not come to a compromise. So, there’s a shot it’ll get there.

Read the entire story here.

This could end up being one of the more heated arbitration hearings in some time. It appears both sides have extremely different views on Bouchard's worth to the Wild. To be honest, If Bouchard is a member of the Wild after 2008/09, I'd be surprised.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard could end up being dealt

From Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Another big thing to pay attention to is Pierre-Marc Bouchard. I’m not convinced the Wild wants to commit to him long-term at a price that would be equivalent to taking someone’s unrestricted free-agent status (he’s restricted this summer, but one summer from unrestricted free agency).

In other words, as the below quote from Doug Risebrough on June 13 seems to forecast, there’s no doubt the Wild has offered Bouchard a long-term deal. But if the offer isn’t substantial, I see Bouchard turning it down, the two working out a one-year deal before the July 28 arbitration date and then the Wild looking to continue trying to trade Bouchard for the rest of the summer and/or after Jan. 1.(Here’s Risebrough’s quote from last month: “I’m interested in signing him long-term, but what I’m interested in doing and what he’s interested in doing might not be the same, and my number long-term and his number long-term might not be the same.”)

Read the entire entry from Russo's Rants here.

With the way things are going, it looks like Bouchard will sign a one-year contract and then be traded mid-season.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard elects for Arbitration

TSN is reporting this evening that Minnesota Wild centre Pierre-Marc Bouchard has decided to file for salary arbitration.

Given the steep jump in salaries we are seeing across the board this free-agency season it will be very interesting to see if arbitrators give awards that are in lock-step and commensurae with the new market. A young, high-scoring forward like PMB can probably get offers for upwards of $4.5 million a season right now.

It's also always interesting to see how a player performs the season following arbitration if he stays with his former club. That club will have just devoted its resources to arguing that the player isn't valuable to the team, and sometimes the arbitration process builds ill-will especially when dealing with young players.

Bouchard offered up by Wild in package for Jokinen

From Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

According to two sources, the Wild offered 5-foot-10 Pierre-Marc Bouchard, 24, the slick, playmaking right winger who has scored 179 points the past three seasons.

However, while Panthers scouts like Bouchard's ability and future, the Panthers' management wasn't interested for the same reason Minnesota offered him, Florida sources said.

Read the entire story here.

With many teams chasing after Jokinen, it will probably take more than a package centering around PMB to get it done.

Wild wants to sign Pierre-Marc Bouchard long-term

From Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

As for Bouchard, a restricted free agent, Risebrough said: "I want to sign him long-term, but I don't know what the number is. He's not going to get a one-year offer from me; he's going to get a multiyear offer. ... I'm interested in signing him long-term, but what I'm interested in doing and what he's interested in doing might not be the same, and my number long-term and his number long-term might not be the same."

Read more about the Wild from Russo here.

Risebrough doesn't want to let Bouchard reach free agency after next season, so it appears he will either sign him to a long-term deal in the near future or potentially exlpore the young winger's trade value on the market.

Pre-Game Report

Here are some news and notes heading into tonight's games:

• Pavol Demitra (leg) is in the line up tonight for the Wild.
• Pierre-Marc Bouchard (flu) will return to the team's line up tonight.
• Jean-Sebastien Gigure (head) is out tonight for the Ducks.
• Ryan Getzlaf (shoulder) is also out for Anaheim.
• Erik Ersberg will start in between the pipes tonight for Los Angeles.
• Scott Thornton (upper-body) is out tonight for the Kings.

For Illegal Curve, I'm Richard Pollock.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard Shootout Spin-O-Rama

This is from this afternoons game of Minnesota @ San Jose. The second spin-o-rama goal of the week. It is Pierre Marc Bouchard's turn to shoot and he must score to extend the shootout. He scores on this beautiful spin-o-rama, but the Wild were not able to win as Marleau buried the next shot for the Sharks.

My question is. Is this move legal? There could be some debate as he does carry the puck backwards. Do goalies have much of a chance on this? What is Nabokov supposed to do.

Here is the video, I would like to apologize in advance for the poor quality, blame youtube. I rip them fine off the TV but youtube bungles everything up.:

Road Trip to the State of Hockey

On Sunday I drove the eight hours from Winnipeg to Minneapolis-St. Paul for the sole purpose of watching hockey. I attended the February 17th game of the Minnesota Wild vs. the Nashville Predators, and the February 19th game.

Here are some quick notes from my thoughts on attending my first NHL games in a few years.

• The Xcel Energy Center is a beautiful arena to watch a game in. Every seat provides great sightlines and all of the fans are very into the game.


• Minnesota fans are very loud and love their team. Whenever the Wild scored the arena would erupt, whenever Gaborik had the puck in the offensive zone, everybody stood up in anticipation of a goal or a great play.


• Minnesota truly is the State of Hockey.
  

Wild/Predators game highlights/thoughts:
-This goal by Pierre Marc Bouchard.
While he was entering the zone, it really appeared that he had no room and was going to get backed off the puck. As he moved his stick to the side, you got the sense of, oh right, what is he going to do here. And he slipped through 4 defenders. After that everyone stood up and then erupted as he roofed the goal top shelf. Everyone in the arena knew that they had just seen one fantastic goal.


-I don't understand why overtime is only 5 minutes. Make it longer and take out the shooutout. 4 on 4 is such exciting, fast paced, back and forth hockey. It felt like every time either team had the puck in the offensive zone they could score at any minute. I was hoping to see a shootout but when Marian Gaborik sprinted up the ice to join a 2 on 1 with Pavol Demitra and then buried home the winner. Everyone stood up and gave the Wild a standing ovation, and then the team saluted the crowd, which was a nice touch.

-Thanks to the gentleman who bought us mini donuts and told us to walk over to Tom Reid's after the game. Great for some burgers and beers.

Game 2: Vancouver Canucks @ Minnesota Wild:
The last game I had attended at the Xcel Energy Center was during the 2003 playoffs, I wore my Canucks Markus Naslund jersey and was just hated everywhere I walked. Everyone looks at you different when you walk around the arena, kids came up to me and told me the Canucks sucked, we had beer spilled on us and had people get in our face and threaten to shoot us. Brent Sopel won that game in OT for the Canucks and I made it out alive.

Fast forward to 2008 it was just another regular season game between two rivals. I sat with 3 friends and we all wore various Canucks jerseys. We sang the Canadian anthem proudly and cheered loud when the Canucks scored. Unlike the previous game where there were only two Nasvhille fans in the arena, there were many Canucks fans scattered throughout the building. I even saw a guy in a Winnipeg Jets Evgeny Davydov #11 jersey (mint).

We didn't get much heckling in the arena, with exception to the few people in our hotel shuttle bus. One guy came up to me and goes "nice jersey". To which I replied, thanks and then he kept repeating "nice jersey" while proceeding to unzip his jacket revealing a Wild jersey. I could only reply, "uhhh thanks, you have a nice jersey as well..."

The Canucks won in overtime on a goal from the Sedin twins. Unlike when Gaborik scored in overtime, the bulding was silent and the only people were cheering were the various Canucks fans. We walked out of the building high fiving any Canucks fans in sight. What a great game.

I was lucky enough to see two great games at the Xcel Energy Center, would love to go back anytime. Check out my photos from the games on flickr, here

Fantasy Watch: Buy/Sell

BUY

F Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks
Marleau has been awful this year, but appears to be turning a corner in the New Year, scoring in four of his last five games. He has also been producing on San Jose's power-play unit, registering four assists in his last five games. Although this could just be a tease, a player with Marleau's talent is worth to take a gamble on. You don't lose the ability to become an 80 point player in the NHL overnight, and even though Marleau won't put up anything close the 78 points he did last year, the forward could still be in for a pleasant second half.

F Cory Stillman, Carolina Hurricanes
Stillman started the season on fire, scoring 31 points in his first 23 games but has struggled to keep up that astonishing pace and is currently enduring his worst month of the season. With only two points in his last eight games, Stillman's value has plummeted and may be in the trading block in your league. His recent scoring slump does bring a cause for concern, but with a potent Carolina lineup featuring three other 40+ point players, Stillman's slump should end in no time. If you can get Stillman for below market value, then do so now as he could heat up at any moment.

SELL

F Todd Bertuzzi, Anaheim Ducks
After enduring two unsuccessful stints with both Florida and Detroit, no one was sure how Bertuzzi would perform in his first year with the Ducks. Scoring only two points in his first seven games with Anaheim, Bertuzzi's miserable start was put to an end early after suffering yet another concussion. Unsure if Bertuzzi would ever step foot back on the ice, owners acted quickly and dropped the forward in favor of other options. Returning over a month later, Bertuzzi got off to another slow start but has since picked it up, scoring 13 points in his last 10 games. Due to his rugged style of play, Bertuzzi puts himself at an extreme risk of another serious injury that could end his season prematurely. With his value as high as it might be all season, it's advised to ship Bertuzzi off for other options.

F Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Minnesota Wild
Bouchard has been extremely streaky this year, often going several games without registering a point only to bounce back and post the odd multi point game, making owners shrug off his inconsistency.
After scoring only three points in his last seven games, Bouchard bounced back and posted his first four point night, much to the dismay of owners who probably had him on their bench after his awful week beforehand. My advice? Trade Bouchard to another team, avoid his scoreless nights and the headaches that come with debating whether or not to start him for the week.


For Illegal Curve, I'm Jonny Remis