Backes is finalist for Selke

Former Minnesota State star and St. Louis Blues captain David Backes was named as one of three finalists for the NHL's Selke Trophy, which goes to the top defensive forward in the league (lately, it's gone to the best two-way forward).

Other finalists include Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins and Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings. Datsyuk is a three-time winner.

Backes, a center, led the Blues in scoring this season with 25 goals and 30 assists. It was his fifth full year in the league. He also averaged a team high 19:59 of ice time per game and was plus-15. He also led St. Louis in hits (226) and had 72 blocked shots and 50 takeaways.

You can see Backes' and Blues coach Ken Hitchcock's reaction to the nomination here.

Backes and the Blues defeated the San Jose Sharks 4 games to 1 in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. They will play the Los Angeles Kings in the second round.

News and notes

Things are pretty quiet around Mankato now that the coaching search is done and Mike Hastings is off on the recruiting for a couple of weeks. But here are a few hockey happenings from around the WCHA ...

Hakstol signs extension
North Dakota coach Dave Hakstol signed a new six-year contract on Thursday. Hakstol just finished his eighth season with UND and has won more games over that span than any other WCHA coach. According to the Grand Forks Herald, Hakstol will earn a base salary of $300,000 and has a chance to earn bonuses and other deferred income that could bump him up to $400,000 per year.

By comparison, Mike Hastings contract with Minnesota State will pay $225,000. I believe that contract does not include any deferred payments that could increase his annual salary. Looking at some past stories about WCHA coaches pay, I believe Hastings' compensation puts him ninth in the WCHA, ahead of St. Cloud State's Bob Motzko, Bemidji State's Tom Serratore and Alaska Anchorage's Dave Shyiak. In the "new" WCHA in 2013-14, Hastings will rank second behind Michigan Tech's Mel Pearson, who makes at least $250,000.

Big Ten picks St. Paul, Detroit
The first Big Ten hockey championship will take place at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, the conference announced on Thursday. The tournament will be played at the X in 2014 and 2016 and will go to Joe Louis Arena in Detroit in 2015 and 2017.

Last month, it was reported that the Big Ten was working with the WCHA to have the latter's tournament in those buildings in opposite years (2014, '16 at the Joe; '15, '17 at the X), and that the NCHC was in negotiations with the Target Center in Minneapolis for its championship weekend. At the time, WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod said that was one option, among others, his league was looking into.

According to Minnesota State athletic director Kevin Buisman, the "new" WCHA is still looking into its championship, but he didn't expect anything to be decided until a June meeting. Buisman said representatives of the future league will not have much time together at next week's coaches convention in Florida and so have scheduled a June get-together. However, representatives do have regular conference calls.

Buisman said there are three main committees at work: championship/scheduling, marketing/broadcast and bylaws/administration.

Blais seeks assistant
Nebraska Omaha coach Dean Blais said he's not in a rush to replace Mike Hastings, telling the Omaha World-Herald that it will be tough to replace a "special" coach like MSU's new man in charge.

"We need a person of Mike Hastings' caliber to replace Mike Hastings," Blais said. "Guys like that are hard to find, but they're out there."

Be sure to click on the link above to see a great picture of Hastings.

Hastings era begins

John Cross/The Free Press

Mike Hastings was back working a press conference in Mankato on Monday, just three days after being introduced as a "candidate" for the Minnesota State men's hockey coaching job. This time, he was the coach.

Hastings covered a gamut of topics related to his hiring and Maverick hockey. Among them:

• He told athletic director Kevin Buisman that if everything worked out he'd have needs and wants. He didn't go into too much detail on those, especially the wants. However, the needs included upgraded facilities and pitched his support for the renovations to the Verizon Wireless Center included in the bonding proposal. He said if that if it didn't pass, "then we've got to find another way to get our facilities taken care of. If we need to do that we're going to have to turn to the people of this area."

• Another need had to do with additional support for the team that takes some pressure off the assistant coaches, whom he wants to concentrate on recruiting and developing players. That support includes academic advising, training and hockey operations. Does this mean a full-time hockey ops person will be hired?

• On those notes, a big theme of the day was about commitment, and it seems MSU is indeed ramping up its commitment to hockey and making it, as Buisman said, the "marquee" sport at the university.

• Speaking of assistants, Hastings said he wants to talk to associate head coach Darren Blue and assistant Todd Knott about their futures in the next six or seven days. Blue has a full season remaining on his contract, while Knott's runs out June 30. Hastings had godo things to say about both men and added that hockey is a small world, not one like football where staffs get wiped out when a new coach comes in. Stay tuned.

• Hastings met with the team around 1 p.m., before the players had their weight-lifting session. The players seemed to like what they heard from them and were relived to have a coach in place. Jean-Paul LaFontaine said "family" seemed to be the theme of the day.

• Hastings will meet with the players individually during the first week of May, which is also finals week. He said he wants to hear their opinions of the program, what they like, what they don't like. He said he will also talking about his expectations and try to get them to buy in.

• Why the first week of May? Well, Hastings left Mankato Monday evening and headed out to where all coaches are this time of year — on the recruiting trail. USHL playoffs are beginning, and Canadian junior leagues in the postseason. He wants to meet with the Mavericks' signed players either face to face or by phone as quickly as possible. Next week, he'll go to Florida for the WCHA meetings and the hockey coaches convention.

You can read more about Hastings in Tuesday's edition of The Free Press. I'll also be working on a more extensive feature on the new coach for a future edition of the paper.

Hastings press conference this morning

Mike Hastings officially will be introduced as the new Minnesota State men's hockey coach during a press conference at 10:15 a.m. on Monday. You can watch it live here.

MSU unveils home schedule

Minnesota State has unveiled its season-ticket brochure and (tentative) home schedule already. A smart move less than a day after naming Mike Hastings as the program's new coach.

The Mavericks will have an exhibition game on Oct. 7 against the University of Lethbridge and then get into the regular season. Their official home opener is Oct. 19-20 against RPI. Here's the home schedule:

Oct. 7, Lethbridge (exhib.)

Oct. 19-20, RPI

Nov. 3, Minnesota*

Nov. 9-10, Denver

Nov. 30-Dec. 1, Bemidji State

Dec. 7-8, Alaska Anchorage

Jan. 4-5, Providence

Jan. 11-12, Wisconsin*

Jan. 26, Minnesota*

Feb. 15-16, Michigan Tech

March 8-9, North Dakota*

* = premium games

Season-ticket packages are $320. Blue Line Club Memberships cost $2,030, $1,015 or $520.

The road schedule has not been released. But I believe MSU opens the regular season at Alabama-Huntsville and also plays in the UConn tournament in late December. The Minnesota weekends are home-and-home series. The Mavericks' other road opponents include Colorado College, Alaska Anchorage, Nebraska Omaha, Minnesota Duluth, Wisconsin, St. Cloud State.

Hastings named Mavericks coach

Pat Christman/The Free Press

About 24 hours after introducing Mike Hastings as a candidate for the Minnesota State hockey job, the university named him its third men's hockey coach in program history. He agreed to a four-year deal that will pay him $225,000 annually with a portion of that funded privately.

Here is the MSU press release about the signing.

You can also read my story in Sunday's edition of The Free Press here.

Meanwhile, here are a few nuggets from Saturday in interviews with Hastings, athletic director Kevin Buisman and MSU President Richard Davenport:

• Davenport said Hastings was the No. 1 candidate going in and that Hastings confirmed that immediately: "After my first one-on-one meeting with him, I made up my mind." ... Buisman also said that Hastings' name consistently and independently came near the top of every list he asked for from trusted hockey people.

• What happened between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning (when the two parties agreed in principle on a contract)? Hastings said there were family things to get in order, like explaining to his children about a possible move. "And I'm sure Mankato was trying to do their due diligence."

• Hastings thinks the pieces are in place for some real improvement at MSU, between the current players, incoming freshmen and what appears to be some newfound commitment to hockey: "I think it's a program that's on the rise; I really do. ... There's a lot there to work with."

• Hastings returned to Omaha on Saturday morning and will come back to Mankato on Sunday afternoon. His first official day of work is Monday, and there will be a press conference at 10:15 a.m. at the Verizon Wireless Center. He has some work to do from the get-go, meeting his team, talking to assistant coaches (and deciding on their future), etc. Then he'll be off to do some recruiting and scouting.

• I couldn't get much for player reaction tonight. But Johnny McInnis, via Twitter, said: "Excited to get to work. I think people understand what we have here as a program and are capable of doing something special. It's time to prove it. As always, it's a great day to be a Maverick." ... I'm looking forward to talking to more players once they meet with their new coach.

• Hastings has had many brushes with greatness in terms of working with coaches. He has spent the last three seasons working for Dean Blais and a year prior to that on the staff with Don Lucia. As a player at St. Cloud State (two years before a lower vertebrae injury ended his playing career), he played one season when Herb Brooks was the coach there. Before he became he Omaha Lancers' coach, he was an assistant on that team, working for Mike Guentzel, now the associate head coach at Minnesota and a person many thought might be a top candidate for the MSU job. He also played junior hockey for Frank Serratore, now the coach at Air Force.

What do you think?

Everything but an offer (updated)

Pat Christman/The Free Press

The Johnson Alumni Room at Minnesota State's Taylor Center was filled with media, boosters, fans, alumni, players and MSU coaches and athletic staff late Friday afternoon. It looked like a coronation was imminent.

As it turned out, it was just an open forum/press conference with a candidate for the Mavericks hockey coaching vacancy, Mike Hastings, the associate head coach at Nebraska Omaha.

Hastings appears to be the leading candidate — Minnesota State athletic director Kevin Buisman said Hastings is the only finalist being announced at this time — but he said he had not been offered the job.

"This has been a process, and it's one that we've had a lot of conversations on," he said. "It's gone incredibly positive, and we're just trying to continue in that process."

Hastings arrived in Mankato at 11:15 p.m. on Thursday night. Besides doing interviews on Friday, he and his family toured schools and neighborhoods. They will stay the night in Mankato, he said.

"I have a family to be concerned about, and (MSU has) a program to be concerned about," he said, "and we just have to continue on that process right now."

Hastings, 46, said he was impressed with Minnesota State and the people he met and certainly wants to be a head coach. He said he thinks there's a "renewed commitment" to hockey at MSU.

Buisman said he didn't think anything would be decided on Friday night and that they would reconvene with President Richard Davenport soon to take the next step in the process.

UPDATE: Read The Free Press story here. Read a story out of the Omaha World-Herald here. Minnesota State shot video of the event; see that here.