July, the contract month.

Ah July, the time when contracts are signed or traded from team to team in 3 of the 4 major sports leagues. July features the baseball trade deadline, and the first of the month introduces the NBA and NHL free agency period. It's certainly one of the more fascinating times of the year. Wanting to get in on the action, I'll be signing a lease for a new apartment tomorrow. I'll have plenty of time to obsess about the baseball trade deadline, and the NBA is both uninteresting (Jason Kopono is the biggest name to switch teams) now and during the season, so let's turn our attention t0 the NHL, where things have been going crazy since the signing period began at 11 this morning.
Actually, here in Minnesota, the excitement began at 1201 AM, ET, when Doug Risebrough traded his scalding hot water for Boston's unfinished hot cocoa. (Did everyone get those references when I made them?)Yes, Manny Fernandez is now a Bruin, marking the first time in a while that a rumored Minnesota-Boston trade came to fruition in any sport. The Wild acquired young Petr Kalus and a 4th round draft pick. (Hmm, a Minnesota athlete with a Spanish last name from an area where French is widely spoken goes to Boston. This is David Ortiz all over again (The Dominican shares Hispaniola with French speaking Haiti. Look it up!) (Quadruple parenthesees!))! At least he won't be hitting homers any time soon) Most importantly, they freed up 4.33 million dollars in cap space, which will help them in their quest for a new, quality center, i.e. Jason Blake.

Wait. Jason Blake went to the Maple Leafs. Well, let's see what plan B is. Resign Todd White and Wes Walz? Aw, heck. Todd White is a Thrasher, the first player to be signed. Things aren't quite going the way I had expected. At least the Wild have plenty of space left to find someone to patch the team's weaknesses. Right now, the best available player that would fit with the team is, in my opinion, Dainius Zubrus, who would make a good 2nd line forward, and provide a little bit of grit in order to play with some more finesse players. Oh, or a good center in the face off circle, like Yanic Perrault. Wait. What? Chicago? Well, shoot.

There's no doubt that the Wild have room to improve, (they were 6th in conference last year, not Stanley Cup Champs) and while developing your kids in Houston is nice, when you get this close and have the opportunity to add a needed piece right now, you have to buckle down and do it.

Of course, looking at the signings thus far, part of the problem may be that the top tier stars are getting deals for up 8 years, like in Daniel Briere's case, and the Wild are only interested in locking down players for a year at a time. Clearly, that's not working, and with the way the salary cap went up this year (6 million dollars) the Wild have to imagine that they can afford to add some salary for the next couple of years. So let's pony up the cash, Doug! I mean, for someone other than Martin Skoula. And please don't bring back Pascal Dupuis. Wait. You can't. Thank goodness.

(TSN and Barry Melrose Rocks have been invaluable today.)