Wild wont be the same without Brunette

ST. PAUL -- Andrew Brunette played only six seasons in Minnesota, but ask any Wild fan and they will tell you that he is one of their all-time favorite players.Brunette, 37, signed a one-year contract Friday with the Chicago Blackhawks and in all likelihood he has played his last game in a Wild sweater. Brunette played in Minnesota from 2001-04, then returned for a second tour from 2008-11.Most important, he played a starring role on the night where everything changed for the Wild franchise -- April 22, 2003, when Minnesota pulled off one of the biggest upsets in NHL playoff history. Brunette took the puck just inside the Avalanche blue line, skated around a defender and deked Hall of Fame goaltender Patrick Roy into retirement while planting the Game 7 overtime winner in the back of the net.Brunette's goal officially stamped the new franchise as a winner for the first time and seemed to heal the wounds that lingered after the North Stars left town. After having their collective hearts torn out when Norm Green and the North Stars bolted for Dallas in 1994, hockey fans were hungry for a winner when the Wild started in St. Paul in 2001.Andrew Brunette was a dependable, hard-working winger who posted 21 goals and led the team with 69 points in his first season with the team. He quickly earned the nickname "Bruno" and was loved for always being a gentleman and making himself available to the media while constantly getting involved in the community to lend a hand.Brunette earned an ironman reputation by playing in 1,032 NHL games while missing only two due to injury or illness. Bruno was great behind the scenes and always there to mentor young players along the way. In 2009-10, multiple team doctors told Brunette he needed to have season-ending surgery on his badly damaged ACL. With the Wild hopelessly out of the playoff picture, he delayed the surgery until after the season and played on.Having traveled with this team the past four years, I can tell you from personal experience Bruno was always the first one to take the blame when things were going wrong and the last guy to look for recognition when the team was winning. He treated everyone fairly and always made us media-types feel welcome.With Brunette gone, more goodbyes could be in the near future for the Wild. The team already has bought out Cam Barker and traded Brent Burns while watching Brunette and Jose Theodore sign with other teams. John Madden, Antti Miettinen and Chuck Kobasew are unrestricted free agents, and judging by what we have seen in the last two weeks, its safe to expect all three of these players will end up somewhere other than Minnesota. Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher made it clear during the offseason that he wants to get younger and to reward some of the players who achieved success under new coach Mike Yeo in Houston.What that means is players like Colton Gillies, Cody Almond and Casey Wellman have a better than average chance to be on the top four lines next season. On defense, Marco Scandella, Jared Spurgeon and Nate Prosser all figure to get a long look in camp.