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McNiff's Riffs: Fenton can be 'Family Guy' for now

Much of Minnesota's hockey community's A-List could be found gathered in the lobby of the Xcel Energy center Tuesday, for the formal introduction of Paul Fenton as the new General Manager of the Minnesota Wild.
Paul Fenton has a year's grace period to be a 'nice guy' after being named the new Wild GM. After that, tough decisions will need to be made.

Hockey and wrestling are different from most sports in that their fan base tends to be more like a community.

OK, some might say it’s more like a cult.

For wrestling, the cult (whoops, I mean “community”) only gathers at the state high school tournament or at the NCAA Tourney, and then only when the Gophers are in contention for a national title.... which means not lately.

As for hockey, much of that community’s A-List could be found gathered in the lobby of the Xcel Energy center Tuesday, for the formal introduction of Paul Fenton as the new General Manager of the Minnesota Wild.

RELATED: More McNiff's Riffs

As you might expect, Head Coach Bruce Boudreau and his staff were on-hand to meet the new boss, that only figures as their jobs hang in the balance. Also on-hand (without name-dropping) were three of the Wild’s senior players, former North Stars, former NHL’ers, former Gophers, former Bulldogs, former high school phenoms, current support staff, broadcasters, wanna-be broadcasters and besides the local media contingent, reporters who cover hockey on a year-round, full-time basis. While respectful of Fletcher, the mood at the event was one of optimism despite the fact the new governor of the ‘State of Hockey’ hails from Boston.

Fenton will have to decide whether the Wild's current coaching staff and roster are good enough to win a Stanley Cup, and most think the answer is no. 

From my personal perspective reaction from the Wild’s fan-base to Fenton’s hiring is more “wait and see” than celebratory. At the end of the Wild’s playoff series loss to the Winnipeg Jets many frustrated Wild fans were calling for change, and not just at the top.

Within days long-time General Manager Chuck Fletcher was out, but Wild owner Craig Leipold quickly doused the flames of those hoping for coaching changes or a roster overhaul.

“What I want is a new set of eyes and take a look at where our strengths and our weaknesses are,” said Leipold. “Somebody will come in that doesn’t feel an ownership to certain players, and I want someone to take a look at what we can do to tweak our team.”

Almost immediately the name of Paul Fenton surfaced as a potential candidate to replace Fletcher.

Unlike the fan base, Leipold was familiar with Fenton from his time as an owner in Nashville, and after the second round of interviews in a month-long process, Leipold and team president Matt Majka were sure that Fenton was the man for the job.

“It was just clear that Paul was our guy,” said Leipold.

Since Leipold wouldn’t share what sent Fenton apart, we reference his 20 years in Nashville, first as Predators Director of Player Personnel before serving concurrently as the Preds' Assistant General Manager and GM of the Milwaukee Admirals for the last 12-years.

Said to be a shrewd evaluator of talent, Fenton’s been through roster-building time and time again. But perhaps most telling was Fenton’s response when asked what he brings to the role as Wild GM.

“I want to bring a family atmosphere here. I want us all to be together as a family because when you work together as a family and you have the right intentions I believe you’re going to be able to win here. And that’s the biggest thing I’m going to bring here is inclusiveness and passion that people are going to want to go that extra mile to help us win.”

My guess is with the NHL Draft less than a month away and the coaching staff all under contract for one more year, Fenton has a grace year to get acclimated, evaluate the hockey side of the organization and pretty much be a genial family guy.

But don’t kid yourself... nobody gets anywhere without connections and it’s unrealistic to think that Fenton doesn’t arrive without a “wish list” of coaching candidates, scouting contacts and a desire to put his own stamp on the organization. If an opportunity to tweak presents itself I’m sure Fenton has full authority to act, but if this team doesn’t show marked improvement next season trust me, you’ll see Paul Fenton do more than tweak.

Fletcher was in a hard spot with Tuch

As a hardened Minnesota spots fan I know all too well the collective heartache most of our local teams have dropped on us time and time again.

Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie, Stephen R. Sylvanie
Many Wild fans mourned the loss of center Erik Haula to Las Vegas in the expansion draft, but the throw-in of power wing Alex Tuch may turn out to be a much bigger loss. 

And so when I went to watch the Vegas Golden Knights in the NHL playoffs I expected to lament the loss of Erik Haula, a player who nearly doubled his best season of production as a member of the Minnesota Wild in his one and only season with Las Vegas.

What I did not expect was to be completely floored by Alex Tuch, a former 1st round draft pick of the Wild. Tuch was offered to the Golden Knights as a throw-in if Vegas agreed to take Haula as a restricted free-agent, then sign him to a long-term deal.

At 6 foot 4 and 225 pounds, Tuch is exactly the kind of physical presence the Wild are sorely lacking. Throw in the fact that Tuch has scored 6 goals and added 3 assists in postseason play, and the Wild’s willingness to surrender him seems bewildering at-best.

Upon further review, however, you can understand Chuck Fletcher's conundrum, and see how it happened. The only way Vegas would agree to take a Wild forward rather than a defenseman was to get a highly regarded prospect in return. The Wild’s choices were Tuch, Joel Eriksson Ek, Jordan Greenway and Russian Kirill Kaprizov.

Of those four prize prospects Tuch had shown the least promise or on-ice production. Eriksson Ek and Greenway figure very much into the Wild’s plan for next season, and if you saw Kaprizov play in the recent Olympics it is clear he has more high-end offensive potential than (almost?) every player on the current Wild roster.

We don’t know when (if ever) we’ll see Kaprizov in a Wild sweater as his agent has made clear he will honor a Russian pro contract that ties him up at least through the 2020 season. From what I saw in South Korea, he’s well worth the gamble and the wait.

Fletcher’s plan was to bring back four top defenseman and trade another, which is exactly what he did. The fact that Tuch has come so far so fast, and been such a key component in the Knight’s unlikely run for the cup could only happen to a guy who USED to play in Minnesota.

Don’t hit the panic button with Barr

It didn’t take long to get a taste for life at the top of the NFL food chain. The Minnesota Vikings kicked-off Off-Season Team Activites (OTAs) Tuesday with one noticeable no-show.

Credit: Brad Rempel, Brad Rempel
The no-show status of LB Anthony Barr at Vikings OTAs is a sign of trouble ahead. 

Fifth-year linebacker Anthony Barr was the lone veteran who was not on hand for the first of 10 voluntary off-season practices. It may not be surprising that Barr was absent considering that he doesn’t have a clause in his current contract that pays him for his “voluntary” participation, but it is mildly disappointing, and one can only guess it’s a taste of things to come.

The guess here is that Barr, who’s entering the final year of his contract, was stung by the Vikings choosing to reward fellow linebacker Eric Kendrick with a new contract even though Kendrick was chosen a year after Barr.

The Vikings' 9th overall pick in the 2014 draft, Barr (who’s made the Pro Bowl in each of the last three seasons) is due to make $12.306 million this year. Beyond that, Barr’s future in Minnesota could depend largely on his play this season.

With the money already committed to Kirk Cousins and several of Barr’s defensive teammates, the Vikings are in a difficult position when it comes to retaining Barr and other young stars like wideout Stefon Diggs and Defensive End Danielle Hunter. All are all scheduled to become free-agents at the end of this season.

Barr reportedly talked to head coach Mike Zimmer before the start of OTA’s, and the first real test comes in June when the team holds a 3-day minicamp. If Barr is a no-show for that he could be fined a maximum of nearly $85,000.

The Vikings went all-in on Cousins, hoping he’s the piece that can put them over the top in their pursuit of a Super Bowl. The obvious downside is that with so much money committed to name players already, the Vikings have some very difficult decisions in the days ahead. Barr’s absence in the OTA’s may make that decision a little easier when the time comes.

Obscure Reference Alert

Let me apologize for this one in advance to everyone but the 2 or 3people who will understand the obscure reference I’m about to make.

I was watching the Twins and Tigers on Tuesday night when the Twins brought in a relief pitcher named Matt Magill to pitch the 9th inning of their 6-0 win. Upon hearing Magill’s name my immediate thought was this.

“His name was Magill and he called himself Lil, but everyone knew him as Nancy.”

Goodnight everybody, don’t forget to tip your waiters and waitresses!

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