By Jamie MacDonald | Wild.com | Aug. 20, 2008 | 7:00 a.m. EDT

After returning from some fishing near his residence in Alberta on Tuesday afternoon, Wild President and General Manager Doug Risebrough put himself on the hook for nearly 20 minutes with the Twin Cities media.

Risebrough, who along with Assistant General Manager/Hockey Operations Tom Lynn, is barely days removed from having spoken publicly about their extended dinner with Marian Gaborik at a Trencin, Slovakia restaurant, but he understands fan interest in the winger’s future with the club, and was willing to address it again from North America. We shouldn’t, however, get used to an IV drip of constant updates.

While there were some genuine, light-shedding moments, there was a clear subtext: The club will not adopt a play-by-play, day-by-day, round-the-clock, Michael-Phelps-in-Beijing, wall-to-wall coverage policy to any negotiations.

What we do know, however, is that the next step is likely to come in the form of a proposal to Gaborik.

"We’ll probably do that in the next little bit," Risebrough said. "True to the fashion by which we kind of operate, we won’t be talking about it."

During the Tuesday conference call, Risebrough first addressed the nature of the Aug. 11 dinner, one that lasted at least four hours and, Risebrough admitted, could have lasted longer had his transatlantic flight landed a few days instead of a few hours in advance of the sit-down.

Termed "very positive" by Lynn last week, the conversation focused not on talk of a contract, but rather on the Wild's approach to managing the franchise. Considering Gaborik's inextricable link in the telling of the Wild tale, the club’s leading scorer is understandably curious about its future, and appears to remain especially so as he enters 2008-09 in the final season of a three-year deal.

"I think the difference is that the contract he’s going to enter into, from a long-term standpoint, [is one where] all players want to know what’s going on that way [with the franchise],” said Risebrough. “So it was just more, 'Where is the team going short and long term?'”

Risebrough, in return, showed a willingness to be forthcoming with the hows and whys behind the team's transactions or, in some cases, lack thereof.

"You have to be ready to react to circumstances that are going to improve you, long-term," Risebrough told Gaborik. "And Marian understood that because, ultimately, a lot of these decisions are long-term decisions for him now, too."

There were specific examples given, such as offering the statistical analysis revealing Gaborik to be among the NHL's very top scorers when measured relative to his playing time. Risebrough also brought up the fact that the Wild system has helped develop Mikko Koivu, Brent Burns and Pierre-Marc Bouchard as top “core players.” And there were references to moves made and not made, all of which were placed in the context of the climate in which those decisions were made, ranging from players available to cap space.

Risebrough's effort was based on trying to give Gaborik a greater sense of the moving parts that thumb their nose at anything near ideal but do govern how a professional franchise operates.

"It’s always been that way with [Gaborik]," Risebrough said. "I’ve always been honest with him. It’s plain and simple. He wants [to hear the information], there’s no doubt about that, and, ultimately, it’s needed, especially when you’re going to sign a player to that length of contract."

Risebrough declined to elaborate on what "that length" might be, only that, in addition to preferring to conclude negotiations prior to the season's beginning, "We don’t generally talk about these things, so that’s why we’re not [announcing] anything specific."

Still, Risebrough, who alluded to the fact that a contract may run beyond those of the current core players, is well aware that both parties have a lot invested in any long-term partnership.

“He’ll still be signed while some of those contracts will be up, so he wanted to kind of know what the plans are,” said Risebrough.

Gaborik has scored 206 goals and 414 points in his 485 career games, including a career and franchise high of 42 last season. Though bitten by the injury bug in some seasons, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft played 77 games in 2007-08, and earned the team's captaincy for the month of March and April. Gaborik was also a team-high plus-17 during his 83-point campaign. In three seasons since 2005-06, he has scored 38, 30 and 42 goals and scored on an average of 15.1, 15.3 and 15.1 of his shots, and he is poised to score his 500th point at the age of 27.

Were Gaborik older, Risebrough's approach may be different.

“There’s no better way to be able to commit money and term to a player that you’ve developed like this guy for a long-term contract," he said, pointing out a player even in his early 30s comes with a price tag of a different sort. "As I’ve said, I think it’s better that you are able to sign these types of players to long-term contracts when they’re in their prime."

QUOTE SHEET

I don’t think he’s been let down. He wanted to know why certain decisions were made. ... I don’t think he’s let down as he is trying to understand clearly what we’re trying to do. And, again, a lot of it becomes what’s available. Last year there wasn’t as much cap room. I created more cap room this way because of [Mark] Parrish’s buyout. How it’s spent between now and then, we’ll wait and see. -- Risebrough on whether Gaborik may have been "let down" by Trade Deadline roster moves

It’s where he fits amongst the group, and it also tells you that he’s offensively producing with the Minnesota Wild and in the Western Conference. It kind of dispels a lot of those rumors about not scoring or [that] it could be easier scoring somewhere else. -- Risebrough on two reasons for revealing where Gaborik ranks among scoring leaders in per-game average

There’s not a lot of depth there, but, again, if the young players continue to develop and makes steps, we won’t be worrying about it at all. -- Risebrough on the team's depth at center

I’m looking at dealing with it right now, as I think it would be prudent to try and … get him under contract before the start of the season, and that’s all I’m dealing with right now. -- Risebrough on the idea of trading Gaborik

We would have been in a lot different circumstances today, and not better circumstances. -- Risebrough on a trade he left on the table that would have included Koivu