Michael Russo's Short Takes

The most common question from Wild fans lately has been whether Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher could get his old pal and counterpart in Buffalo, Tim Murray, to trade for goalie Niklas Backstrom.

The Sabres lost goalie Robin Lehner for six to eight weeks because of a high ankle sprain. It still seems unlikely the Sabres would have interest. They're going to start by giving Chad Johnson a chance, and if that doesn't work, there should be younger and cheaper options than Backstrom, and that's even if the Wild retained half his $4 million salary and $3.417 million cap hit.

Teams rules are team rules, so even though it was Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals coach Barry Trotz scratched the star against San Jose after he missed the morning skate. Ovechkin said he set his alarm clock for 8:30 p.m., not 8:30 a.m.

"Coaching is not about equality, but there are certain foundational things [that apply]," Trotz said in a Washington Post report. "We've done a lot of things from a cultural standpoint that makes this team very accountable to each other, and that's why it's very important that certain things apply to everybody."

The Blue Jackets, who many critics expected to have a good season, were 0-5 and Sergei Bobrovsky had a 5.07 goals-against average heading into Saturday's game at Chicago.

"I have zero confidence right now," Bobrovsky said last week.

With expectations high, you can bet former Wild coach Todd Richards' seat is hot. John Tortorella, Randy Carlyle and Ron Wilson are looking for jobs. Similarly, Anaheim is winless in four games heading into Sunday's game vs. the Wild.

"Hockey started, and we're waiting around right now," Ryan Getzlaf said after the Ducks were shut out on home ice by Arizona.