Kent Youngblood 

Andrei Nazarov knows why he's here, in the Twin Cities, wearing a Wild sweater. He's the new sheriff in town.

With Matt Johnson no longer in the picture, the Wild needed a proven enforcer. At 6-5, 242 pounds, and with a decade of dropping gloves in NHL rinks, Nazarov was the player the Wild chose this summer.

Nazarov gladly accepts the role. But he'd like to show he can do more with his hands than make a fist. And that's a big reason he wanted to come to Minnesota to play.

"If I have the chance, I think I can do it," said Nazarov, 31, a native of Chelyabinsk, Russia.

He's done it before. A first-round pick by San Jose in 1992, he broke into the NHL full time in 1994. He scored seven goals in his second full season, had 27 points in his third. He had a career-high 32 points (10 goals and 22 assists) for Calgary in the 1998-99 season.

Nazarov isn't about to go out and score 50 goals. But with the Wild, he believes he will have a chance to provide more than just toughness. And it's all about opportunity; after leaving Calgary, Nazarov said he found less of that opportunity at each successive stop -- Boston, Anaheim and finally Phoenix.

"It happens," he said. "Sometimes coaches -- like in Phoenix -- they decide to use me in just one situation."

One role. In its short history, the Wild has shown at least a willingness to let a player grow.

"You look at a player and see what they can do that we need to add value to the team," Wild President and General Manager Doug Risebrough said. "And then, what more can we get them to do? I think it's a positive thing if we can expand that. ... When you get to Nazarov, I saw that this is a guy who has had some production."

All that said, Nazarov will still be asked to show true grit first, touch around the net second.

"We want to say, 'Here's what you can do, here's what we need,' " Risebrough said. "Then it's, 'Now let's see what more we can do.' "