I hate the fact that NHL makes rule changes just to make changes. I know they say the changes are recommended by the general managers and approved by the competition committee, but some of the changes are a bit off mark.

Change #1: a change to Rule 76.2 will place the first faceoff of a power play in the defending zone of the team that committed the foul. WHAT? I thought a team was supposed to earn the territory, not be handed the zone. The refs are lousy at calling accurate penalties 99% of the time and now we are going to give the favorable team an extra man AND an offensive face off. Crazy. I know the NHL wants to increase scoring, but earning the goals the old fashioned way will increase fan support. Remember the skate, skate, pass, pass, shoot? Apparently, skating is not a priority to the NHL.

Change #2: a change to Rule 85.5 states that if a puck is shot off the goal frame, goal post or crossbar, the subsequent faceoff will remain in the end zone where the puck went out of play. OK. WHATEVER.

Change #3: a change to Rule 81.1 states that "any contact between opposing players while pursuing the puck on an icing must be for the sole purpose of playing the puck and not for eliminating the opponent from playing the puck." The amended rule further states that "unnecessary or dangerous contact could result in penalties being assessed to the offending player." HALF-A$$ and you know it. This rule change came as a direct result of the Wild's own Kurtis Foster leg injury. San Jose rookie Torrey Mitchell chased down Foster on a potential icing call, made contact and Foster slammed into the boards breaking his leg, badly. It was a season ending injury, but could have easily been a career ending injury. This rule change is a false attempt to save lives. The NHL knows they need to do something to cover their butts in case it happens again, but they aren't willing to go to a no-touch icing.

It was a busy weekend for the Minnesota Wild and the NHL. Sure it was the beginning of summer, but it was also the NHL Entry Draft in Ottawa and what an interesting couple of days it was.

Minnesota Wild general manager Dougie and his cronies spent Friday night working out deals to move around in the draft selection. Either they wanted to go earlier than their original 24th pick or they wanted to get something in return and just go later. In the end, the Wild powers that be swapped first-round picks with New Jersey and threw in next year's third-round pick to move up to the 23rd spot...LONG DRAMATIC PAUSE...

The Minnesota Wild selected Tyler Cuma as their first round draft pick, No. 23 overall. Cuma is a tough defenseman. He weighs in at 6-2 and 180 pounds. I think he could use some Minnesota home cooking to beef him up a bit, but overall he has a positive attitude and aspires to be a top hitting physical force in the NHL. Cuma is happy to be drafted into the Hockey Wilderness (see my Tyler Cuma fanshots for his quote) now let's just see how he holds up in camp. I won't be rushing out to buy my Tyler Cuma jersey anytime soon and I won't be scratching my head if he doesn't show up starting on the Minnesota Wild roster, but he is as good a choice as any. Welcome to Minnesota Tyler Cuma. Welcome to the Hockey WILDerness!

Wes Walz, what will he do next? After taking his break with the Minnesota Wild at the beginning of last season and then officially retiring from the NHL, Walz has been laying low. I half expected him to show up announcing alongside Darby Hendrickson at the Minnesota State High School games, but he was a no show.

Now the word on the street is that Wes Walz would consider a coaching job in Tampa Bay. Has Wes even coached anything other than his kids little league team? Probably not. But he is good hockey player and a strong leader. I am a little worried his mental OCD could get in the way, but I suppose if he wore the same tie every game and had all of his notes left justified, things would be fine. I guess time will tell where Wes Walz will end up.

Before the start of every Minnesota Wild home game, the fans sing the Wild anthem , the lights go crazy on the ice, there is smoke and horns and then a little kid skates onto the ice and plants the Minnesota Wild state of hockey flag at center ice. It is an awesome moment for the fans and I always thought how cool it would be to be that kid skating on the Xcel Energy Center ice in front of 18,000 fans. Well, I see on the Minnesota Wild’s website this week there is information on how to sign-up to be that special flagbearer kid.

The catch? You pretty much have to be a Minnesota Wild season ticket holders kid. Sure, there are the regular rules about age limits and knowing how to skate, but there is one eligibility requirement that I think is extremely cheap – you  (and I quote)“must be able to provide own tickets for appointed game (including ticket for participating child)”  

What?!?! You apply for a once in a lifetime opportunity to carry the Minnesota Wild flag to center ice and you have to buy your own Minnesota Wild ticket?  That seems insane. What if the game you got selected for was sold out? You would have to forfeit your spot. That just seems sad. I guess you could always buy tickets from a ticket broker like Ticket King , but it seems cheesy that the Wild couldn’t provide two tickets – one for the child and one for a guardian. Come on, Minnesota Wild, where is your community spirit and sense of giving?

I got an email from Josh Rachbach at www.brainspraymedia.com awhile back pimping out this “So Into The Wild” youtube film they put together. If you have five minutes to waste today, take a look at it. I admit I watched it, I am not sure I “got” it, but I found the mispronunciation of Marian Gaborik’s name rather funny and then there is a funny pot pie moment as well.

Here is the email from Josh explaining the film.

Hello - 

 

How are you? Excellent. We're a small group of filmmakers from LA who have featured The Wild and Gaborik in a parody of last years Sean Penn film "Into the Wild," meaning, into the Minnesota Wild. The short film features a man obsessed with Marian Gaborik and a fictional contest that will land him a motorcycle ride with the star captain.

If you've seen the film we think you'll love the parody, and we thought your audience might enjoy the short. It's kind of a cross between Coen Brothers and Juno, and clean for all audiences. Hot dog.

Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U22HPOxCixA

PS - The Gaborik pronunciation was done on purpose. We are Wild fans after all.....

The Minnesota Wild are really perplexing me with their latest off-season moves, signing Erik Reitz, signing Marc-Andre Bergeron . I know they are trying to build a new roster while still maintaining the budget, but I wish the Wild were spending more time figuring out how to close the deal with Brian Rolston and either extend or release Marian Gaborik. That is the kind of Minnesota Wild news that I would like to report and comment on - moves that are going to make a real difference next year.

One of my friends sat by James Sheppard at the Kanye West show at the Target Center last night – no joke. She is a total hockey nerd and was so geeked up about it, she texted me at 9:30 last night to fill me in. I think she took a picture of him as well, but her cell phone camera image was not very good. I asked her if she slipped him her number, but she said no, he didn’t look like he wanted to be bothered. She was definitely “bothered” if you know what I mean.

The Minnesota Wild signed minor leaguer Erik Reitz for a one year deal worth $500,000. This really isn't' all that newsworthy, it's not like Erik Reitz is so skilled he is going to be able to take some of the heat off of Gabby or anything, but the Wild are publicizing that Reitz will play on the NHL level next year. ("We wouldn't have signed him to a one-year deal unless we intended he would play for the Wild next season," assistant general manager Tom Lynn said). So who will the Minnesota Wild be shuffling down to Houston then? My guess is Martin Skoula. See ya later Skoula, I won't miss you, but I am not exactly joining the Erik Reitz welcome wagon either.

Let's hope the Minnesota Wild can make this blog a little more exciting with better contract signings in the future...the near future?!

There is one other thing that irritates me about the before mentioned photo banner and about attending Minnesota Wild games in general – when you look around the arena, there is no unity. The Minnesota Wild has changed their primary colors twice in the past 7 years, so the “home crowd” doesn’t look very home-ish and certainly not intimidating. If you go to a Minnesota Vikings game, there is purple everywhere; a Minnesota Twins game, blue jerseys galore.

Why is it that the Minnesota Wild felt the need to go from green to red in its short seven years of existence? Was it just to collect more money from fans who needed to buy new Minnesota Wild jerseys or were they concerned they didn’t get it right the first time with the green? I love my green jersey and I was bitter when the Wild decided to go red this season and by the looks of the home crowd, they didn’t get the masses to go red either. Sure there is some red, but there are also plenty of green and white and other random colors. 

The Pittsburgh Penguins got it right in the NHL playoffs with the white t-shirt look and if you go to a Detroit Red Wings game, it’s all red and white and it has been since 1932. The sea of red is intimidating; the speckled Xcel Energy Center is boring.

Think about that while you are sipping coffee and reading the Sunday Sports page.

I think it is funny that on the Minnesota Wild official website they put up a “Thank You Team of 18,000” banner – you know as a salute to the loyal Minnesota Wild fans. I just think the timing of the web banner is funny since they also announced they are raising ticket prices. So, are they thanking us fans for the opportunity to take more of our money? Probably.  I would link to the Wild site and the banner I am referring to, but the Wild would probably threaten to sue me…(this slam in reference to the fight over my previous domain name) so I guess you will have to find it on your own.