Just got back from Tom Reid’s Hockey City Pub, where Doug Risebrough said farewell during a 30-minute press conference. He then talked on the side with the writers.

It was a classy goodbye where Risebrough thanked everyone from Jac Sperling and Bob Naegele for giving him this opportunity, to his staff inside the Wild, to the players, to the media to most importantly, the fans.

The coolest thing I saw? I’m standing outside the bar and a black SUV rolls up and I hear, "Mike!" It was Derek Boogaard, all drugged up and in discomfort literally after waking up from shoulder surgery. Boogaard’s fiancee drove him down there because he wanted to thank Doug for everything. He asked me if I could find him, and the two shared a few moments in the parking lot.

"You have no idea how much I owe him and Jacques for playing in the NHL," Boogaard said. "I have so much respect for those two guys."

Risebrough said he’s spoken and met with a number of players, even running into Marian Gaborik at the arena. He said after the initial natural discomfort Gaborik felt about talking to a GM that just got fired, the two shared some quality time together.