Minnesota Wild

History

Preparations of a new franchise

Following the departure of the Minnesota North Stars after the 1992–93 season, the state of Minnesota was without an NHL team for seven seasons. Saint Paul mayor (and future U.S. Senator) Norm Coleman began a campaign to either recruit an existing franchise to the city or an expansion franchise to a Minnesota-based ownership group. These efforts came close to success in the mid-1990s when Minnesota interests purchased the original Winnipeg Jets intending to relocate the franchise to Minnesota; however, arena negotiations at the Target Center fell through, and the Jets instead relocated to Phoenix, Arizona.

Following the failed attempt to relocate the Jets, the NHL announced its intention to expand from 26 to 30 teams. Businessman and Minnetonka native Bob Naegele, Jr. became the lead investor for an application to the NHL for an expansion franchise and, ultimately, the first majority owner. On June 25, 1997, the National Hockey League (NHL) announced that Minnesota had been awarded an expansion franchise, to begin play in the 2000–01 season. The six finalist team names for the new NHL franchise (Blue Ox, Freeze, Northern Lights, Voyageurs, White Bears, and Wild), were announced on November 20, 1997. Jac Sperling was named chief executive officer of the Minnesota team, Doug Risebrough was named general manager, Tod Leiweke was named president, and Martha Fuller was named chief financial officer.

The team was officially named the Wild at an unveiling at the Aldrich Arena in suburban Maplewood on January 22, 1998, with the song "Born to Be Wild" by Steppenwolf playing over the arena's speaker system. The State of Minnesota adopted legislation in April 1998 to loan $65 million to the City of Saint Paul to fund 50% of the estimated $130 million project costs for the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul. The legislation also provided that only $48 million of the loan needed to be repaid if the team met the requirements to have an agreement in place during the lease term with the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission. The City of Saint Paul issued an additional $65 million in bonds, with roughly 90% of the debt service on the bonds and the repayment of the state loan coming from scheduled rent and payment instead of taxes from the Minnesota Wild. Deconstruction of the Saint Paul Civic Center began soon after. Designs were announced for the Xcel Energy Center and a groundbreaking ceremony for the Xcel Energy Center was hosted in Saint Paul.

The Minnesota Wild announced a 26-year partnership agreement with the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission (MASC). The Minnesota Wild-MASC partnership is the first partnership of its kind between a private professional sports team and a public amateur sports organization. Doug Risebrough was named executive vice president/general manager of Minnesota Wild and the Xcel Energy Center, later Grand Casino Arena, was completed and ready for use.

Early years (2000–2009)

The Wild named Jacques Lemaire their first head coach and the team picked Marián Gáborík third overall in the first round of the 2000 NHL entry draft. Gáborík scored the first-ever goal for the Wild in their franchise debut on October 6 at Anaheim. The Wild played their first-ever home game on October 11 against the Philadelphia Flyers and skated to a 3–3 tie. Minnesota native Darby Hendrickson scored the first-ever home goal for the Wild. Before the game, it was announced the team would retire the number 1 jersey, their first number retirement, with no Wild player ever wearing it, to honor all Minnesota fans, who the team claimed were the true "number one" to them. The most notable game of the year was the first visit of the Dallas Stars, who had formerly played in Minnesota as the Minnesota North Stars. The Wild rode an emotional sellout crowd of over 18,000 to a 6–0 shutout in Dallas' first regular season game in Minnesota since a neutral-site game in 1993. The season ended with Scott Pellerin as the leading scorer with 39 points while Wes Walz, Darby Hendrickson and Gáborík paced the team with 18 goals each.

The Wild got off to a strong start in the 2001–02 season by earning at least one point in their first seven games. However, the Wild finished in last place again with a record of 26–35–12–6. En route, there were signs the Wild were improving, as second-year speedster Gáborík had a solid sophomore season with 30 goals, including an invite to the NHL YoungStars Game, and Andrew Brunette led the team in scoring with 69 points.

Gáborík spent much of the 2002–03 season vying for the league scoring crown before slumping in the second half, and the Wild, in their first-ever playoff appearance, made it to the conference finals before being swept 4–0 by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, scoring only one goal against a red hot Jean-Sébastien Giguère. Previously, the Wild had beaten the favored and third-seeded Colorado Avalanche in the first round in seven games, coming back from a 3–1 series deficit and winning both game 6 and 7 in overtime. Brunette scored the series-clinching goal, the last on Patrick Roy. In the conference semifinals, the Wild beat the fourth-seeded Vancouver Canucks, again in seven games, and again after being down 3–1 in a series. In the process, the Wild became the first team in playoff history to capture a seven-game series twice after facing elimination during game 5.

When the 2003–04 season started, the Wild were short-handed with both Pascal Dupuis and Gáborík holding out. After struggling in the first month, the Wild finally got their two young star left-wingers signed, but both struggled to get back into game shape as the Wild struggled through much of November. In a deep hole, the Wild did not make it to the playoffs, despite finishing the season strong, with wins in five of their last six games as they finished last in the competitive Northwest Division with a record of 30–29–20–3. Along the way, the Wild began to gear up for the future, trading away several of their older players who were a part of the franchise from the beginning, including Brad Bombardir and Jim Dowd.

Chuck Fletcher era (2009–2018)

In the 2009 off-season, Marian Gáborík signed with the New York Rangers during the summer as a free agent. Team owner Craig Leipold hired former Pittsburgh Penguins assistant general manager Chuck Fletcher as general manager. Later that summer, Fletcher selected Todd Richards as head coach. Martin Havlát was signed via free agency after playing the previous three seasons for the Chicago Blackhawks in order to lessen the blow of Gáborík's departure. During the first month of the 2009–10 season, the team announced their first-ever full-time captain, Mikko Koivu. In 2009, Leipold named Matt Majka as chief operating officer of the team.

The 2009–10 and the 2010–11 seasons ended in disappointment for the Wild as they missed the playoffs in both seasons. In the 2010 NHL entry draft, the Wild held the ninth overall pick and used it to select Finnish forward Mikael Granlund. The Wild opened the 2010–11 season with two games at the Hartwall Areena in Helsinki against the Carolina Hurricanes. Following the 2010–11 season, the team fired head coach Todd Richards due to the team failing to reach the playoffs in his two seasons as head coach with a 77–71–16 record. Mike Yeo, who coached the Wild's AHL affiliate Houston Aeros to a Western Conference title in 2011, was named the new head coach.

During the 2011 NHL entry draft (which the team hosted), the Wild used their tenth overall pick to select Jonas Brodin. The club also created a stir when they traded star defenseman Brent Burns and a second-round pick in 2012 to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Devin Setoguchi, Charlie Coyle and the 28th overall pick in the 2011 draft, which they used to select Zack Phillips. Later in the off-season, the Wild traded Martin Havlát for Dany Heatley in another blockbuster trade with the Sharks. In November, the team set a franchise record for most wins in one month with 11. Despite a hot start to the season that saw them sitting atop the NHL standings in early December, multiple injuries to key players for extended periods effectively eliminated the team from playoff contention for the fourth consecutive year.

During the 2012 off-season, the team was able to sign top prospect Mikael Granlund to a three-year, entry-level contract. During the 2012 NHL entry draft, the team selected Matt Dumba with the seventh overall pick. In the same off-season, the Wild also signed unrestricted free agent winger Zach Parise, a Twin Cities native, and defenseman Ryan Suter to identical 13-year, US$98 million contracts. However, the team's busy off-season was overshadowed by the 2012–13 NHL lockout, which ended in January 2013.

Rebuilding and the Kirill Kaprizov era (2018–present)

On May 21, 2018, Paul Fenton was hired as the third general manager in franchise history. During the 2018–19 season, the Wild struggled to keep up in the ultra-competitive Central Division as they had in previous seasons. Despite a renaissance year from Parise, many key players like Eric Staal and Jason Zucker regressed offensively from the season prior. Many reported that there was dysfunction in the organization, caused by a rift between Fenton, Boudreau and various players, ultimately leading the trading of several core players, such as Mikael Granlund, Charlie Coyle and Nino Niederreiter. The Wild finished the season with 83-points, finishing last in the division and missing the playoffs for the first time since 2012.

In the 2019 off-season, the Wild signed free agent Mats Zuccarello to a five-year contract. On July 30, 2019, Fenton was fired as general manager, just 14 months after being hired to that position. On August 21, 2019, the Wild hired Bill Guerin as the fourth general manager in franchise history. On February 14, 2020, head coach Bruce Boudreau was fired, with Dean Evason named as the interim head coach. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wild participated in the best-of-five qualifying round of the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs, but were eliminated in four games at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks. This would be the last time they would have Mikko Koivu on their team.

Kirill Kaprizov played his first NHL game with the Wild in January 2021, scoring the overtime winner against the Los Angeles Kings during his debut. It was a strong rookie season for Kaprizov, as he tallied 51 points in the 56-game season, and eventually won the Calder Memorial Trophy for rookie of the year in the league. The Wild would face off against the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round. Despite coming back from a 3–1 series deficit, Minnesota would lose game seven to Vegas by a score of 6–2. This would be their first ever game seven loss in franchise history.

On September 21, 2021, Kaprizov signed a five-year, $45 million contract with the Wild. As a result of the contract, he became the highest-paid sophomore player in NHL history. During the 2022–22, the team set franchise season highs in points (113) and wins (53). Kaprizov set franchise records in points (108), goals (47), and assists (61), becoming the first Wild player to also set 100 points or higher. They faced the division rival St. Louis Blues in the first round, but despite having home ice advantage and the services of recently acquired goaltender Marc-André Fleury, blew a 2–1 series lead and were eliminated in six games, losing their seventh consecutive playoff series. In the following off-season, forward Kevin Fiala was traded to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for the draft rights to defenseman Brock Faber, while other notable players such as Nick Bjugstad and Nicolas Deslauriers were lost in free agency.

Team information

Jerseys

For its first seven years in the NHL, the Wild wore a uniform of either a green or white jersey with red and gold stripes and the primary logo on the front of the jersey. The shoulder patch was a circle with "Minnesota Wild" read in distinctive lettering from both words. The name and numbering on the green jersey would be gold with red outlining while on the white jersey it was red with gold outlining. In 2003–04, with the NHL reversing the convention regarding the home and road jersey colors, the green jersey became the home jersey while the white one became the road jersey.

In the 2007–08 season, when all jerseys were converted to the new Reebok Edge uniform system, the white jersey was retained and the home jersey replaced with a new one that has a small imprint of the team's primary logo inside a white circle, which is surrounded by the words "Minnesota Wild" in a larger ring against a green background. The rest of the jersey is predominantly red, with additional swatches of green on the sleeves outlined with wheat. The away jersey uses a larger version of the primary logo without the concentric circles on a predominantly white jersey; in 2013, the lettering was updated to match the home and alternate sweaters, at the same time updating the sweater's look to a more traditional design. On August 30, 2009, the team unveiled another third/alternate jersey, which is predominantly green with wheat accents. It says "Minnesota Wild" in script writing across the chest.

On April 4, 2017, the Wild honored the Minnesota North Stars by wearing North Stars jerseys for warm-ups, despite the North Stars history belonging to the Dallas Stars. Martin Hanzal warmed up with number 91, as the North Stars retired number 19 in honor of Bill Masterton.

On June 20, 2017, the Wild introduced a new home uniform, as the NHL switched from Reebok to Adidas – a green jersey with their main logo, and a wheat-colored stripe through the center of the jersey. On the arms is a wheat-colored stripe with a smaller red stripe near the top of it. The Wild kept its away jersey design the same. The Wild, along with the rest of the NHL, did not have an alternate jersey for the 2017–18 season.

On September 23, 2023, the Wild unveiled an alternate green jersey based on the "Reverse Retro" look they wore the previous season (see below). This set added a right shoulder patch featuring a recolored "State of Hockey" alternate logo and captaincy patches shaped after the Minnesota state outline. This was the first time that Wild had an official alternate jersey since 2017.

Goal horn and songs

The team has had a goal horn each season since its inception. The Wild are one of the few teams to not blast their goal horn whenever they score in a shootout.

The team's first goal songs were "Born to Be Wild" and "Rock and Roll Part 2", which were used in the inaugural 2000–01 season. The following season, the team removed "Born to Be Wild" but kept "Rock and Roll Part 2" through 2004, before the lockout. After the lockout in 2005, the Wild used a cover of "Rock and Roll Part 1" for the 2005–06 season. For the 2006–07 season, the team changed its goal song to "Crowd Chant" by Joe Satriani shortly after its release. After pop legend and Minneapolis native Prince died in April 2016, the team held a tribute to him at game 6 of the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs game against the Dallas Stars, and adopted "Let's Go Crazy" as their goal song. After a fan poll, the team permanently used "Let's Go Crazy" with the goal horn starting in the 2016–17 season. The Wild kept "Crowd Chant" as their win song. For the 2018–19 season, the team brought back "Crowd Chant" as its goal song and "Let's Go Crazy" became the win song, followed by the singing of the team fight song "The State of Hockey". For the pandemic-shortened season, the team used "Jump Around" by House of Pain as their goal song. In the 2021-22 season, the Wild used "Shout" by The Isley Brothers as their goal song. "Let's Go Crazy" remains the win song.

Logo

The logo depicts both a forest landscape and the silhouette of a wild animal. The "eye" of the "wild animal" is the north star, in tribute to the departed Minnesota North Stars as well as the state's motto L'Étoile du Nord, meaning "The Star of the North". The mouth of the animal represents the Mississippi River, which starts in Minnesota. According to The Good Point, questions surrounding the identity of the animal depicted have sparked debate amongst logo enthusiasts, earning accolades for its unique complexity in North American professional sports.

Mascot

In 2008, "Nordy" was introduced as the official mascot of the team.

Ownership

The franchise was originally owned by a limited partnership formed by former majority owner Bob Naegele, Jr. of Naegele Sports, LLC in 1997. On January 10, 2008, it was announced the franchise was being sold to former Nashville Predators owner Craig Leipold. The NHL's Board of Governors officially approved Leipold's purchase of Minnesota Sports & Entertainment (MSE) on April 10, 2008. Leipold, a resident of Racine, Wisconsin, completed the sale of the Nashville Predators to a local ownership group on December 7, 2007, a team he owned since the expansion franchise was awarded to Nashville in 1997.

Leipold is the majority owner and principal investor in MSE, a regional sports and entertainment leader that includes the NHL's Minnesota Wild, its AHL affiliate the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League, Wildside Caterers and 317 on Rice Park. He also serves as the team's Governor at NHL Board of Governors' meetings. After his purchase of MSE, Mr. Leipold sold the Georgia Swarm to John Arlotta. Along with the Wild, the group has year-round management rights of the Grand Casino Arena, and currently has a contract to manage the adjoining Saint Paul RiverCentre and Roy Wilkins Auditorium; in addition, the partnership also owns and operates 317 on Rice Park, a historic former Minnesota club.

Community involvement

The Minnesota Wild stay involved in the community through the philanthropic activities of the Minnesota Wild Foundation and its operations to support the game of hockey with events such as Hockey Day Minnesota. It has been celebrated every year since 2007. The Wild are 13-2-1 on Hockey Day Minnesota. Started in 2017, the Wild unveiled a new tradition called This Is Our Ice which encourages Wild fans to bring water from local ponds, lakes and rinks and add it to the Grand Casino Arena ice. Fans can bring water to any regular season home game and add it to the collection station which will then be added to the ice for the season.

Minor league affiliates

Minnesota currently has two minor league affiliates: the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League (AHL) and the Jacksonville Icemen of the ECHL. The Iowa Wild is owned by the parent club, who relocated the franchise from Houston in 2013.

Season-by-season record

This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the Wild. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Minnesota Wild seasons

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

Players and personnel

Current roster

Updated July 9, 2026

Team captains

Note: The Wild rotated the captaincy for their first nine seasons on a monthly basis among several of its players each season, with some players serving multiple times under Jacques Lemaire. After Todd Richards became head coach for the start of the 2009–10 season, Mikko Koivu, who was the last rotating captain and has had the captaincy three different times in the 2008–09 season, became the franchise's first permanent captain on October 20, 2009.

Rotating, 2000–2009

Permanent, 2009–present

Mikko Koivu, 2009–2020

Jared Spurgeon, 2021–present

Retired numbers

The NHL retired Wayne Gretzky's No. 99 for all its member teams at the 2000 NHL All-Star Game.

Hall of Famers

As of 2024, no member of the Minnesota Wild has been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, although the team has been coached by a member of the Hall with Jacques Lemaire (inducted as a player in 1985).

Franchise records

Scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers in franchise history. Figures are updated after each completed NHL regular season.

* – current Wild player

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game

Goaltending leaders

These are the top-ten goaltenders in franchise history by wins. Figures are updated after each completed NHL regular season.

* – current Wild player

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T/O = Ties/Overtime losses; GA = Goal against; GAA = Goals against average; SA = Shots against; SV% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts

Individual records

Most games played with franchise: 1,028, Mikko Koivu (2005–20)

Most goals in a season: 47, Kirill Kaprizov (2021–22)

Most assists in a season: 61, Kirill Kaprizov (2021–22)

Most points in a season: 108, Kirill Kaprizov (2021–22)

Most penalty minutes in a season: 201, Matt Johnson (2002–03)

Most points in a season, defenseman: 51, Ryan Suter (2015–16, 2017–18)

Most points in a season, rookie: 51, Kirill Kaprizov (2020–21)

Most goals in a game: 5, Marián Gáborík (December 20, 2007, vs. New York Rangers)

Fastest 3 goals: 11:12, Zach Parise (2015–16)

Most wins: 194, Niklas Bäckström

Most wins in a season: 40, Devan Dubnyk (2016–17)

Most shutouts in a season: 8, Niklas Bäckström (2008–09),

Best +/- in a season: +41, Alex Goligoski (2021–22)

Most time on ice per game in a season: 29:25, Ryan Suter, (2013–14)

Most consecutive starts for goaltender: 38, Devan Dubnyk, (January 15, 2015 – April 7, 2015)

Most consecutive shutouts: 3, Devan Dubnyk