I Should Stop Making Predictions

Of course this did not occur. Instead, the Penguins marched to their second-consecutive Eastern Conference Championship. Man, I thought Carolina would have given them more of a series, but Sid the Kid and the gang were too much.

The Detroit Red Wings go for the clincher tonight in Chicago as well. It's looking like a rematch of last year's edition.

In other news:

• Now, THIS is more like it! Also, read the rest of the article for more news on other potential Wild coaching candidates.
• I guess the lure of rotten sugar beets is just too much to take!
• Roman has three new posts to review: one says that the Gophers will have four freshmen on the roster next season, the second has more on Nebraska-Omaha's possible WCHA bid, and the third peeks at the upcoming schedule. I like Lucia's curtailing the freshman class somewhat. It also speaks for Budish's recovery from his knee injury. The Gophers have Taylor Matson coming back from a knee injury and Jacob Cepis eligible around Christmas. With only two early defections (Ryan Stoa and Drew Fisher) and two departing seniors (R.J. Anderson and Justin Bostrom), the Gophers' roster is in good shape. Of course, this could change in a heartbeat depending on where Jordan Schroeder goes in next month's NHL Draft and whether the Islanders look to sign Aaron Ness.
• Speaking of the draft, here are two mock drafts from NHL.com: Adam Kimelman (teaser...the Wild end up with Schroeder at #12; Budish to Calgary at #20) and Brad Holland (Schroeder at #11 to Nashville; Budish to Philadelphia at #21).

New Wild, Wolves GM Digest

Here's a collection of the reactions to Friday's press intoductory press conferences:

Wild - Chuck Fletcher

• Chip Scoggins
• Russo's Rants
• Patrick Reusse
• John Shipley
• ESPN.com's Scott Burnside
• Minnesota Wild Examiner
• My reaction - GREAT HIRE! I have opined here and to friends alike that the Wild need to get with the times and open things up if they are to compete in the Western Conference. Teams like Chicago, Detroit, and St. Louis are going to be perennial contenders because of the up-tempo styles they play, and Fletcher's hire is proof that Craig Leipold wants this to occur. Hiring a new coach, trying to sign Marian Gaborik before July 1, and conducting the NHL Draft will make for a busy next few weeks for Fletcher, but the Wild is on the right track.

Wolves - David Kahn

• Jerry Zgoda
• Jim Souhan
• Don Seeholzer
• Minnesota Timberwolves Examiner
• ESPN.com
• My reaction: Wait and see. Kahn has good experience in the game of basketball, but has not worked in the league since 2004, has not managed a NBA operation since 2002, and is seen as more of a business guy or capologist than a personnel guy. This franchise is dangerously close to gaining apathy status in this town, and they really needed to hit a home run with this hire. In my opinion, they missed out. It's not Glen Taylor's fault (or David Kahn's fault, for that matter) that three others took their names out of consideration, but it's a testament to the Wolves' perception around the league - that Taylor wants to be involved in the control of the franchise.

New T-Wolves Basketball Operations Chief.....

..is not Donald T. Sterling, but David Kahn, former Indiana Pacers GM. Of course, that was as recently as 2002, and a few things have changed since. Of course, for a cursed franchise, it only seems right that three others had turned down the job before Kahn was hired.

Kahn may turn out to be wonderful, but it seems they should have been able to garner someone with a little more recent experience. At first blush, I would have rather the team hired Bill Simmons instead.

Totally un-related to David Kahn, but I just got done reading a great profile of LA Clippers' owner and total lout Donald T. Sterling (pictured above) in ESPN The Magazine. After reading this, decide for yourself if I should be the one who rescues this team from "The Donald!" Henry Abbott has a great follow-up to The Magazine story.

New Wild GM.....

Is Chuck Fletcher.

This is a good hire. He's young (41), has past experience as a GM in Florida (albeit on an interim basis), and came from a good situation in Pittsburgh. He's the son of Hall of Fame GM Cliff Fletcher (Atlanta/Calgary, Toronto, and Phoenix), so he has genetics on his side.

You would have to imagine Fletcher will have carte blanche to remake this front office, which may not bode well for Assistant GM Tom Lynn (another reported finalist) or some of the other personnel heads brought in by former GM Doug Risebrough.

Of course, his biggest hire will be the next head coach. I still believe Peter Laviolette would be the best choice, but Fletcher also has ties with some other experienced NHL coaches (Michel Therrien?) who may be considered, along with former Gopher defenseman Todd Richards, who served as coach for Pittsburgh's AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton - where Fletcher served as GM - before moving to the NHL as an assistant.

Kudos for this organization for hot hiring Pierre McGuire, who was also believed to have been a finalist.

Emptying the Notebook.....

• Inside College Hockey has a preseason Men's Hockey poll for the 2009-10 season, and the Gophers are #4. Is it too early to think of next season as a Gopher fan? Absolutely not!
• Roman has a good breakdown of the Gophers' schedule to start next season. It'll be tough, but hopefully will get the young team battle-tested early-on. Plus, it helps the PairWise!
• In the same piece, he has a bit about the Siouxies having new uniforms next season. We'll see new new ones for the 2010-11 campaign as well. Can "Flickertails" fit diagonally across the front of the jersey, similar to the "New York Rangers" style teams copy so often?
• One final shout-out to Roman here, but if Mike Hastings takes the Nebraska-Omaha job, does this mean Grant Potulny will be a full-time assistant next year? Hastings would be great for the UNO job, and having another Lucia assistant heading another WCHA program would be great (Bob Motzko at SCSU is the other; current Gopher assistant John Hill coached Alaska-Anchorage a few seasons ago). I'm fired up about UNO potentially joining the WCHA along with Bemidji State.
• This is awesome! I grew up listening to Ray Christensen, and I do a completely horrible impression. You could always sense the joy or pain in Ray's voice depending on how the game was going at a particular time. His call when Chip Lohmiller hit is field goal against second-ranked Michigan at the Big House in 1986 will always be with me. I was playing football at a friend's house that day, and my friend's dad came out with a radio as Lohmiller lined up for the field goal. It was a big moment for the program, and Ray made it infamous. His call when Dan Nystrom hit his field goal to beat second-ranked Penn State in 1999 was just as good. Listening to him break down while interviewing Glen Mason after upsetting Ohio State in 2000 made him seem human. I'm sorry that I won't be able to listen to it live - because I'll be at the game.
• New floor for the Barn next year. Pictures here.
• Congrats to Gopher Baseball Coach John Anderson on his 1,000th victory. All victories have come with the Gophers. It's amazing the success this program has had over the years, despite playing in a dump of a stadium.
• ESPN.com profile on Pierre McGuire, who is a finalist for the Wild GM spot. This hiring would be a disaster. He hasn't been part of a team for twelve years and his record before that was spotty - his tenure as Head Coach in Hartford resulted in a 23-37-7 record. Memo to owner Craig Leipold....make the safe pick and hire either Pittsburgh Assistant GM Chuck Fletcher or Anaheim Assistant GM David McNab.
• NHL Playoffs continue Thursday night with Carolina at Pittsburgh. For some reason, I like the Canes tonight.
• Amazing comeback by Orlando on Wednesday night to beat Cleveland in the NBA's Eastern Conference Finals. The loss was Cleveland's first in the 2009 playoffs. Dwight Howard (30 points, 13 rebounds) and LeBron James (49 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists) have solid futures in the NBA, don't you think? It's nice to see them duking it out in the East while the West features Kobe and 'Melo. It's a lot easier to root for Howard and LBJ than those other two.

God Hates the Timberwolves

Despite having the fifth-best chance of scoring the top pick in Tuesday's NBA Draft Lottery, the Timberwolves actually dropped one spot and will draft sixth next month. The Los Angeles Clippers moved up two spots and won the lottery, which is now the "Blake Griffin Sweepstakes." The Wolves "won" the opportunity to get more ping-pong balls than Memphis, despite the two teams having the same record. However, Memphis moved up to #2 and the Wolves dropped down.

As badly as the Wolves feel, think of Sacramento and Washington. The Kings finished with the league's worst record last season and the Wizards the second-worst, and they dropped to fourth and fifth, respectively.

The Star Tribune's Jerry Zgoda has an interesting blog entry about what the T-Wolves should do with the pick.

Remember, the Wolves have three first-round picks this year - #6, 18, and 28.

I think they should find a way to trade up to draft Ricky Rubio, but that doesn't seem like a possibility, given that there are teams ahead of them who desperately need point guards (Memphis at #2, Oklahoma City at #3, and Sacramento #4 all could use him), and the Wolves have little to trade - except Al Jefferson, whom they should not trade.

Here's ESPN.com's Chad Ford's first mock draft with the new order. One word - Ouch! (Especially with B.J. Mullens with the 18th pick).

This is just one episode in the long-standing drama which is the Timberwolves' performance in the Draft Lottery. Tuesday's appearance was the team's 13th, and they've never moved up.

Final thought, this was the Clippers' 20th appearance in the Lottery. There have been 25 Draft Lotteries. How is that possible? Also, they've picked first-overall on two occasions, picking Danny Manning in 1998 and Michael Olowokandi in 1998. I've always secretly aspired to own the LA Clippers one day - seriously. Go Clips!

R.I.P., Wayman Tisdale

Wayman Tisdale died today at 44 after a bout with cancer. He was a great player at Oklahoma, a good player on bad teams in the NBA, and, most recently, a smooth jazz artist.

R.I.P......