See You Down the Road

From the Strib...

Sunday Insider: See you down the road



Keeping Colton Gillies in Houston for a full season is the best thing the Wild can do for its former first-round draft pick.

By Michael Russo, Star Tribune
Last update: November 28, 2009 - 5:09 PM

When Colton Gillies got the news that he didn't make the Wild out of training camp, the 20-year-old had to fight back tears.

"I was devastated," said Gillies, the 16th pick in 2007 who played 45 games with the Wild as a rookie last season. "It kind of felt like everything I did in the summer, and I worked so hard and I had all these goals, was for nothing.

"But once I actually got down here to Houston, I started to embrace it. I'm really enjoying myself and know it's for the best."

This is a development year for Gillies. As the Wild has shown throughout its slew of injuries, Gillies is in Houston to stay.

"I told him after camp, 'Don't sit by the phone whenever there's an injury and wait for a callup,'" Wild GM Chuck Fletcher said. "We don't want to just bring him up for a game here or two games there and send him down. We think mentally that would be even harder on him.

"The goal has been for him to go down there, get a lot of ice time, play special teams and play in a lot more situations than he could here at this stage of his career. When he comes back, we want him to have a real good chance to be here for the rest of his career."

Out of respect for former Wild GM Doug Risebrough and 21-year-old James Sheppard, nobody inside the Wild will say this: The Wild doesn't want Gillies following the path of Sheppard.

Like Gillies, Sheppard, the ninth overall pick in 2006, arrived in the NHL out of junior in 2007 at age 19. The Wild felt he'd develop better under Jacques Lemaire than in Cape Breton, and because he wasn't 20, he couldn't be sent to Houston.

But he could have been sent there last season, and the Wild opted against it. Now, the Wild can't send Sheppard to the minors because he passed the 160-game threshold that triggered waiver requirements. Amazingly, if he was scratched one game last season, that wouldn't have been the case.

It's tragic that Sheppard never got to spend one day in the minors. Since 2006-07, he has played almost no power play and seen limited minutes at the NHL level. The Wild took a promising talent and turned him into a checker.

"I remember talking to my dad about how junior wasn't tough enough but the NHL was too tough," Sheppard admitted. "But at the time, I was too young. If I would have been able [to play in Houston], I think it might have helped."

The American Hockey League isn't a punishment. At the start of the NHL season, 570 players -- or 84 percent of all NHLers -- spent time in the AHL, including more than 200 former first- and second-round draft picks.

"This includes everyone from Jason Spezza to Marty Brodeur to Jay Bouwmeester to Zdeno Chara to Patrice Bergeron to Billy Guerin to Brent Seabrook to Mikko Koivu," said Jim Mill, the Wild's assistant to the GM, the Aeros' GM and the former executive vice president of hockey operations in the AHL.

"Unless you're talking about the best of the best like Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin or Evgeni Malkin, it's hard to find too many successful players in the NHL that didn't play in the AHL."

Gillies understands now he will be a better player for this experience.

"I wouldn't trade last year for anything," Gillies said. "At least I know where I am, what I need to do and how far I need to come. I still have a ways to go. It's like I told Jim Mill last week: 'I don't even think I'm ready to be called up. You will know when I'm ready. I'll be playing a lot better than I am right now.'"

TaLoN wrote:

"I told him after camp, 'Don't sit by the phone whenever there's an injury and wait for a callup,'" Wild GM Chuck Fletcher said. "We don't want to just bring him up for a game here or two games there and send him down. We think mentally that would be even harder on him.

That's why CF understands development better than DR. Ups/downs are for the older guys like Earl, Irmen, Smith, etc. That first call-up on Pouliot back in 06-07 hurt his development IMO, he was doing well in Houston before that call-up and disappeared after. Gillies was supposed to be a "four-year project", but he made the NHL one year after being drafted.... Pierre McGuire said the same kind of thing earlier this year, an extra year of junior never hurts, but when you rush a guy you could stunt his development. Putting him in Houston was a smart and easy decision.

glad he is understanding of it all. and damn glad to see that our management knows now what is good for the players development.

Just goes to show what a Class A Moron DR really was.

true true. shep should go after DR, lol.

i really hope Colton takes advantage of his time and gets everything he needs to become a great NHL player.

And thants why i'm happy with CF, i really hope Gillies develops well we need all the help we can get.

Imagine if shepp was in juniors and AHL before this, he could be quite awesome right now.

In any case the DR era is over, and so far CF has done a great job given he was left with in shoulder deep shit with no shovel.

00Xtremeninja wrote:

true true. shep should go after DR, lol.

i really hope Colton takes advantage of his time and gets everything he needs to become a great NHL player.

I think it pisses me off even more after reading this...

Quote :

But he could have been sent there last season, and the Wild opted against it. Now, the Wild can't send Sheppard to the minors because he passed the 160-game threshold that triggered waiver requirements. Amazingly, if he was scratched one game last season, that wouldn't have been the case.

If they would have scratched him ONE FRICKING GAME he'd be in Houston right now! WHAT did Sheppard ever do to even deserve to PLAY in ONE FRICKING GAME thus far in his career!?!?! Surely he more than deserved to be scratched at some point!

Fuck man shepp is playing elsewhere, there is no other choice for him, keeping him here is doing a disservice to him he shouldn't be forced to be a checker.

the most shocking thing was how DR was surprised when he was told he's being let go, are you fucking kidding him this is the kind of shit fucking up our 1st round picks and ensuring they fail.

yeah i read that twice and had to change my shorts with how much i shit myself. 1 game........ugh

Is it any wonder why no team even sniffed in his direction after we shit-canned him, aside from the rumored Florida gig. But I meant real NHL teams. I didn't know about the 160 game threshold, but I would assume(probably foolishly) DR did. There was a day when DR was actually somewhat competant as Wild GM, what happened? Ego? Or was he just riding Lemaire gum crusted coat tails until he lost the team? Looks like Sheppard will at least be a hat trick on busted 1st round picks by our former GM. A natch at that. Probably the only hatter Shep will ever be a part of in his NHL career. I suppose now that Pouliot's gone, I need a new kid to internet bully. Shep get your head in that virtual toilet bowl.

Don't blame DR for Shep's problems. The kid spent a year in Darby's basement. It's not shocking that it put a halt on his development.

OldTimeHockey wrote:

Don't blame DR for Shep's problems. The kid spent a year in Darby's basement. It's not shocking that it put a halt on his development.

but if DR sent him down when he should have Shepp wouldn't be in a fucking basement he'd be in a place where he could grow and develop. so yes its 100% DR's fault.

btw where is that fucker?

forthewild wrote:

OldTimeHockey wrote:

Don't blame DR for Shep's problems. The kid spent a year in Darby's basement. It's not shocking that it put a halt on his development.

but if DR sent him down when he should have Shepp wouldn't be in a fucking basement he'd be in a place where he could grow and develop. so yes its 100% DR's fault.

btw where is that fucker?

Who are you referring to? Doug? Darby? Shep?

Doug is somewhere on the unemployment line, Fall Down still works for Fox Sports Net, and Shep UNfortunately is still pretending to be an NHL player.