The Kid's got game

Geez, somebody just say it already!

Somebody. Anybody. There must be at least one person bold enough to stand up, point at this Slovakian teenager and say, "See him? Number 10 over there? That's him. His name is Marian Gaborik. And that's our superstar. That's the kid who is going to lead us."

Curses! No one will say it.

Is it because he's only 19? Is it because no one would notice if he didn't shave for two months? Is it because he can't order a Bud in a bar? Or a Bud Light, for that matter? Is it because a kid, any kid, who still has pimples can't be expected to lead a group of men?

But, then you watch him play. You strain to detect the string that just HAS TO BE holding the puck to his stick. You see the slapshot that opposing goalies cannot. You try to figure out how rocket fuel can be put into his skates.

And that's when you wonder why no one will just come out and admit that Gaborik is to the Wild what meat is to potatoes.

Will Wild general manager Doug Risebrough say it? Nope. Risebrough uses phrases like "the proof is in the pudding" and "time will tell" and every other expression that essentially means, "No, not me, I'm not going to say that."

Wild coach Jacques Lemaire? Are you kidding? This guy would find fault in Beethoven's Fifth. Besides, he isn't about to say something so extraordinary about a player who has played a total of 71 games in the NHL. He figures Gaborik is under enough pressure already. Why throw another few bricks on his back?

Even Gaborik himself won't bite when the bait passes by him. "I just want to keep getting better and better," he says.

Now here's the funny part. By saying what it has about Gaborik -- which is to say nothing much at all -- the Wild actually has done what it has tried so hard not to do. It has made Gaborik the face of the Wild, the epitome of the franchise.

Time on his side The last thing the big cheeses at the Wild want to do is put pressure on Gaborik to succeed right away. And the same goes for the franchise itself as it enters Year Two. Success will be measured in small doses. Stumbles and tumbles are not only expected, but anticipated. There are nervous whispers that the team could take a slight step back this season. Risebrough talks of long-term goals; Lemaire speaks of patience.

"We must not rush anything," Lemaire said.

After last season, though, that is so hard to do.

Take Gaborik. He scored his age last season as a rookie -- 18 goals in 71 games. Had he played the full-slate of 82 games, he easily would've scored 20 goals. That's more than Mark Messier scored in his rookie season. And more than Brendan Shanahan and Paul Kariya did in theirs.

Take the Wild. It won 25 games, collected 68 points -- both numbers beyond even the most optimistic expectations. Off the ice, forget about it. The NHL scratched its head and wondered why the league ever moved out of the Twin Cities when the Wild sold out every home game and more than 15,000 season tickets.

All of that, though, only raised expectations that the Wild is now spending so much time and effort trying to chop down.

Ups and downs No one really knew what to expect of the Wild last season. In the front of that line was Gaborik. Chosen third overall in the 2000 draft, Gaborik arrived not knowing what was waiting for him with his new team and country. After all, they don't have a Mall of Slovakia in the small town of Trencin.

Gaborik grew up playing hockey and creating art (oil paintings, sculptures, circle drawings) that are now on display in the home where he was raised. The family business was furniture making. Gaborik's dad still makes it by hand and sells it out of a little shop.

"His parents are the most decent, hardest-working people you would ever want to meet," said Allan Walsh, Gaborik's agent. "If you meet them, you can see why Marian is the way he is."

And how is he? According to Walsh, Gaborik is honest, dedicated, responsible.

"He's a man now; he's 19 going on 30," Walsh said.

When he arrived here last summer, though, he was confused, depressed and unsure.

"Last year was hard at times," Gaborik said. "Just getting used to everything was hard -- the language, the food, living on my own. My parents came over for a month or so, and my mom cooked for me. She cooked food from Slovakia. That was nice. But I was on my own, too. And that part wasn't easy."

On a scale of one to 10, Gaborik's English at the start of last season rated somewhere around a six. He understood the basic vocabulary, and, despite an accent that was thicker than a milkshake, he could communicate in most settings. The accent remains, but bump up his English to an eight. "I didn't take any lessons or anything, but I just learned more and more because I was using the language all the time," Gaborik said.

Movies helped, too.

"He's a movie fanatic," Walsh said. "I've never seen somebody who watches as many movies."

As Gaborik's English progressed with time, so did his game. "When he first got here, he was almost trying too hard," Lemaire said.

"In training camp," Walsh said, "I'd watch him and a minute before his shift would come up, he would be standing, leg up on the boards, ready to fly on the ice. Everyone else was sitting, and here he is, halfway over the boards and his shift is still a minute away."

Gaborik played in a senior league in Slovakia, but that's a far cry from the NHL.

"At first, the NHL was much tougher than I expected," Gaborik said. "I had to get used to a smaller ice surface, and different rules like [the two-line offsides] and it was so quick. I was used to having time to make plays, and here, you have no time to make a play. You get the puck and you immediately have to do something. I wasn't ready for that.

"But by the end of training camp, I was ready."

Ready enough that the Wild scrapped a plan to start Gaborik in the minors.

Good move. Gaborik scored the first goal in team history in the Wild's first game. He scored a goal in the Wild's first home game. Two games later, he recorded his first two-goal game. Through the first five games, he had five points and an eye-catching 19 shots on goal.

Eventually, Gaborik's season turned into a raft ride down a river: some ups, some downs, a couple of rocky spots and plenty of fast spots, too.

"I liked playing the game -- that was the best part of last year," Gaborik said. "I enjoyed traveling to cities I had never been to. My favorite cities were Los Angeles and [Denver]. The worst part was not playing, being hurt. So there were tough times last year, but overall, it was good."

Same for the Wild season. The Wild started slow, going 1-5-1 out of the gate. Then came an eight-game unbeaten streak during a 20-17-5-3 run from late October through early February. The season, though, ended with only one victory in the final 14 games.

Easy does it That brings us to now. Gaborik and the Wild entering a second season together with high expectations from the fans, but calm warnings from the team.

Gaborik has become the mirror of the team.

Notice how no one with the Wild is promising a playoff season this year, or next year or the year after.

Notice how the Wild seemingly has gone out of its way not to promote Gaborik. The Wild floods this market with advertising, but Gaborik isn't seen on one billboard around the Twin Cities. The pocket schedules and full-page ads in the newspapers don't mention his name or show his picture.

"I don't think it's by design that we haven't promoted Marian, but at the same time, it's something we wouldn't do right now because I don't think it's fair to him," Risebrough said."

Other teams in other cities have tried to create stars before their time. A former owner in Tampa Bay -- a kook named Art Williams -- once called the Lightning's Vincent Lecavalier "the Michael Jordan of hockey" before Lecavalier played even one NHL game. Three years later, Lecavalier has shown only flashes and fans are getting restless. Ottawa tried to talk former No. 1 pick Alexandre Daigle into the Hall of Fame. Four teams and eight years later, Daigle is playing in beer leagues.

Deep down, Gaborik knows the Wild is building around him. But he refuses to get sucked into the hype.

"I know I can be a good player, but I have so much more to do," Gaborik said. "I have to improve all parts of my game and become consistent. I just can't be good for a short time, then not play well for a time. I don't look at it like I have to be the star or anything like that. I just want to play and help the team win."

Meantime, Risebrough never makes a prediction about the Wild and he refuses to make any about Gaborik.

Lemaire subscribes to the same theory: "I would never say that Marian should score a certain amount of goals. I just want Marian to go out and play his game. Because I know if he plays his game, with his talent, he will score goals.

"But I don't want to pressure him. His time will come. Same as the team. Our time will come if we are patient. It will all happen in time."

And when will that time be?

No one will say.

-- Tom Jones is at [email protected].