"The Wild's first step toward signing Marian Gaborik to a contract extension may come this week when general manager Doug Risebrough meets with the star winger in Trencin, Slovakia.

No meeting is set, but Risebrough is flying to Gaborik's homeland today to scout an under-18 tournament in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Gaborik, 26, is entering the final year of a three-year extension that will pay him $7.5 million.

Risebrough hopes to visit Gaborik in Trencin to discuss the future of the team's leading scorer and last remaining original franchise member.

"The player in this case will be a free agent in a year from now, and he should hear what the GM plans for the team and what we're trying to accomplish and how we're trying to accomplish it," Risebrough said Saturday. "I think it's probably fairly obvious, but I want to talk about it face to face."

The Wild went into this offseason knowing Gaborik would be a priority, but the sides have yet to discuss an extension.

"Just timing," said Risebrough, whose last move was to sign left winger Pierre-Marc Bouchard to a five-year extension late last month.

Gaborik led the Wild with a career-high 42 goals among 83 points in 77 games last season, his first full schedule since he played 81 games in 2002-03. Chronic groin injuries had limited his playing time, but the team seemed to find a regimen that will keep Gaborik on the ice.

He had hip surgery in April, but Risebrough said he suspects Gaborik has recovered. "I only hear the bad news," he said, "and I haven't heard anything.

Minnesota is scheduled to begin training camp in Grand Forks, N.D., on Sept. 19. The GM said he hopes Gaborik can be signed long term before then.

"That's the intention, to try to get everything done before the season," he said. "And, again, it starts with a conversation between me and him."

Gaborik's current contract averages $6.33 million a season. Because he would be, barring injury, one of the top players in next July's free-agent class, he'll be looking for a substantial raise.

Under the collective bargaining agreement, the maximum salary a player can earn is equal to 20 percent of the team's salary cap. Under this season's cap of $56.7 million, that would be more than $11.3 million a season.

Risebrough said earlier this summer that anyone who believes the Wild would throw that kind of money at Gaborik "doesn't understand hockey very well."

For comparison purposes, the NHL's reigning most valuable player, Alex Ovechkin, just signed a 13-year deal that averages $9.5 million a season. Runners-up Evgeni Malkin and Jarome Iginla make $8.7 million and $7 million, respectively. "