Minnesota Wild

Photo Credit: https://www.nhl.com/wild/

Preparations of a new franchise

Following the departure of the Minnesota North Stars after the 1992-1993 season(1), 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 the relocation of an existing franchise to the city or award 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 25th, 1997, the National Hockey League (NHL) announced that Minnesota had been awarded an expansion franchise, to begin play in the 2000 – 2001 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 20th, 1997(2). Jac Sperling was named chief executive officer of the Minnesota team(3), 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 Area on January 28th, 1998, with the song “Born to be Wild” by Steppenwolf playing over the arena’s speaker system. The Minnesota Wild announced its first major sponsorship agreement with MasterCard from First USA. It was the earliest the First USA had ever signed an agreement before a team began play (31 months). 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 the Minnesota Wild(4) and the Xcel Energy Center was completed and ready for use.

Early years and (2000 – 2009)
Marian Gaborik Era

The Wild named Jacques Lemaire their first head coach and the team picked Marian Gaborik third overall in the first round of the 2000 NHL Entry Draft. Gaborik scored the first-ever goal for the Wild in their franchise debut on October 6th at Anaheim(5). The Wild played their first-ever home game on October 11th against the Philadelphia Flyers and skated to a 3-3 tie(6). Minnesota native Darby Hendrickson scored the first-ever home goal for the Wild. 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(7). The season ended with Scott Pellerin as the leading scorer with 39 points while Wes Walz, Darby Hendrickson, and Gaborik paced the team with 18 goals each(8)(9).

The Wild got off to a strong start in the 2001 – 2002 season by earning at least one point in its first seven games. However, the Wild finished last place again with a record of 26-35-12-6. En route, there were signs the Wild were improving, as second-year speedster Gaborik had a solid sophomore season with 30 goals, including an invite to the NHL YoungStars Game, and Andrew Burnette led the team in scoring with 69 points(10).

Gaborik spent much of the 2002 – 2003 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 Western Conference Finals before being swept 4-0 by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. 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 of Patrick Roy(11). In the Western Conference semi-finals, the Wild beat the fourth-seeded Vancouver Canucks, again in seven games, and began 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(12).

When the 2003 – 2004 season started, the Wild were short-handed with both Pascal Dupuis and Gaborik 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(13). Along the way, the Wild began to gear up for the future, trading away several of their older players who were part of the franchise from the beginning, including Brad Bombardier and Jim Dowd.

The 2004 – 2005 season was canceled due to an NHL lockout. Former Wild player Sergei Zholtok died from a heart condition in the arms of Minnesotan and former Wild player Darby Hendrickson

Sources:
1.
https://history.vintagemnhockey.com/page/show/815245-minnesota-north-stars-1967-1993-

2.
https://web.archive.org/web/20080408030257/http://fans.nhl.com/members/Ninh/blogs/3925

3.
https://web.archive.org/web/20080108111626/http://wild.nhl.com/team/app"service=page&page=NHLPage&bcid=tea_Sperling

4.
https://web.archive.org/web/20081006195537/http://wild.nhl.com/team/appservice=page&page=NHLPage&bcid=tea_Risebrough

5.
https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/ducks-tame-wild-1.207952

6.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/wild-ties-flyers-in-home-debut/

7.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stars-cant-go-home-again/

8.
https://web.archive.org/web/20220827051529/https://www.nhl.com/stats/skaters ?reportType=season&seasonFrom=20002001&seasonTo= 20002001&gameType=2& playerPlayedFor=franchise.37&filter=games Played,gte,1&sort=goals&page=0&pageSize=50

9.
https://web.archive.org/web/20220827051526/https://www.nhl.com/player/marian-gaborik-8468483#stats

10.
https://web.archive.org/web/20220827063438/https://www.nhl.com/stats/skaters report 
 Type=season&seasonFrom=20012002&seasonTo=20012002&game  Type=2&player      PlayedFor=franchise.37&filter=gamesPlayed,get, 1&sort=points,goals,assists&page=0&pageSize=50

11.
https://web.archive.org/web/20220827063438/https://www.nhl.com/ wild/news/a-goal-to   -remember/c-669215

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https://web.archive.org/web/20220827063439/https://www.nhl.com/wild/news/  2003-bertuzzi-trash-talk-073120/c-317746278

13.
https://web.archive.org/web/20180222165359/https://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/MIN/2004.html

Florida Panthers

Photo Credit: https://sportslogospot.blogspot.com/2011/06/florida-panthers-
inspired-by-predators.html

Early years (1992 – 2000)

Blockbuster Video magnate Wayne Huizenga was awarded an NHL franchise for Miami on December 10^th, 1992, the same day The Walt Disney Company earned the rights to start a team in Anaheim that would become the Mighty Ducks.  At the time, Huizenga owned both the newly founded Florida Marlins of Major League Baseball (MLB) and a share of the National Football League (NFL)’s Miami Dolphins.  The entry fee was $50 million.  Huizenga announced the team would play at the Miami Arena, sharing the building with the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Miami Heat, until a new arena was built.  Offices for the team were only established in June 1993, while Vice President of Business Operations Dean Jordan conceded that “none of the business people, myself included, knew anything about hockey”(1).  The new franchise would be the first professional ice hockey team in Miami since the folding of the Tropical Hockey League in 1939(2).

On April 20^th, 1993, a press conference in Ft. Lauderdale announced that the team would be named the Florida Panthers, with former New York Islanders general manager Bill Torrey as president and Bobby Clarke as general manager.  The team is named for the Florida panther, an endangered species of large cat endemic to the nearby Everglades region(3).  Once the logos and uniforms were unveiled on June 15^th, the team also announced its financial commitment to the panther preservation cause(4).  Huizenga had held the Panthers trademark since 1991 when he purchased it from a group of Tampa investors who sought to create an MLB team in the Tampa Bay area(5). 

The new franchise joined the NHL for participation in the 1993-1994 season, along with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.  The Panthers’ and Ducks’ roster were filled in both the expansion draft and the 1993 NHL Entry Draft in June 1993, hosted by Quebec City;(6,7) that draft produced ten players who would eventually be a part of the 1996 Eastern Conference-winning team(8).

The Panthers’ first major stars were former New York Rangers goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck, rookie Rob Niedermayer and forward Scott Mellanby, who scored 30 goals in Florida’s inaugural season.  Their first game was a 4-4 tie on the road against the Chicago Blackhawks, while their first win was a 20- shutout of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Thunderdome before a then-NHL record crowd of 27,227.  The Panthers had one of the most successful seasons of any expansion team league history, finishing just two points below .500 and narrowing missing out on the final 1994 playoff spot in the East.  Their first-year success was attributed mainly to the trap defense that first-year coach Roger Neilson implemented.  This conservative style was widely criticized by NHL teams; some even suggested that the Panthers were ruining the game (10).  While the team executives expected the audience to consist of mostly “snowbird” Canadians living in Florida, the Floridians soon embraced the Panthers.  Helped by Miami’s other teams having middling performances, the club averaged 94% capacity at the 14,500-seat Miami Arena and sold 8,500 tickets in 100 days.

In August 1994, general manager Clarke left to work for the Philadelphia Flyers; Bryan Murray was brought in from the Detroit Red Wings as his replacement(11).  Another close brush with the playoffs, finishing the lockout-shortened 1994-1995 season again in ninth,(12) Neilson was fired following an argument with Murray regarding Ed Jovanovski, whom the Panthers chose as the number one overall pick at the 1994 NHL Entry Draft.(13)  Doug MacLean, who had been the team’s player development director, was promoted to coach.(13)  The team then acquired Ray Sheppard from the San Jose Sharks and the NHL trade deadline and looked towards the playoffs for the first time.

The Rat Trick and a trip to the 1996 Stanley Cup Finals

A very unusual goal celebration developed in Miami during the 1995-1996 season.  On the night of the Panthers’ 1995-1996 home opener, a rat scurried across the team’s locker room.  Scott Mellanby reacted by “one-timing” the rat against the wall, killing it.  That night, he scored two goals, which Vanbiesbrouck quipped was “a rat trick.”  Two nights later, as the story found its way into the world, a few fans threw rubber rats on the ice in celebration of the goal.  The rubber rat count went from 16 for the third home game to over 2,000 during the playoffs.(14)

In the 1996 playoffs, as the fourth seed in the East, the Panthers faced the Boston Bruins in the first round and won in five games.  Bill Lindsay’s series-clenching goal is still a trademark image for the run the third-year franchise went on.  The Panthers went on to upset the top-seeded Philadelphia Flyers in six games followed by the second-seeded Pittsburgh Penguins in seven (with Tom Fitzgerald scoring what would end up being the game-winning goal) to reach the Stanley Cup Finals against the Colorado Avalanche, another team making its first Finals appearance.(15)  The Avalanche, however, swept the Panthers in four games.  Despite losing in the Finals, the Panthers set a record for the most wins by an expansion team in their first postseason appearance with 12 victories (this record would later be broken by the Vegas Golden Knights during their inaugural season in 2017-2018).  For his team’s surprising success, Bryan Murray was honored as NHL Executive of the Year. (16)

The Panthers began the next season with a 12-game unbeaten streak but faded in the second half of the season after trading second-line center Stu Barnes.  They lost in five games in the first round of the playoffs to the Wayne Gretzky-led New York Rangers.  The team would plummet in the 1997-1998 season.  After a 7-12-4 start, the Panthers first Doug MacLean, replacing his for the season with general manager Bryan Murray.  The change did not aid matters, as Florida posted a franchise-worst 24-43-15 record, including a 15-game winless streak.  This season also marked the end of goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck’s time in Florida; amid that streak, he was shelled by the Chicago Blackhawks and never played another game for the Panthers.  In the following off-season, Vanbiesbrouck signed with the Flyers as a free agent.

1.
https://web.archive.org/web/20131105212732/http://sportsillustrated.cnn                                                .com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1009015/1/index.htm

2.
https://books.google.com/booksid=5g_r5MsuEf4C&dq=%22Tropical+Hockey+League%22&pg=PA124

3.
https://web.archive.org/web/20130704010522/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1993-04-                          20/sports/9302070080_1_stanley-cup-nhl-bob-clarke

4.
https://web.archive.org/web/20140330053705/http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1993-                            06-15/sports/9306150506_1_florida-panthers-panthers-merchandise-bill-torrey

5.
https://web.archive.org/web/20130704011543/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1991-04-01/sports/9101160701_1_huizenga-florida-panthers-national-league-expansion

6 & 7.
https://web.archive.org/web/20150512231315/http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1993-06-27/sports/9306270413_1_sharks-goaltender-ron-hextall (https://web.archive.org/web/20150512231315/http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/993-06-27/sports/9306270413_1_sharks-goaltender-ron-hextall

8.
https://web.archive.org/web/20160623212414/http://www.si.com/vault/1996/06/10/8103361/
rat-pack-floridas-unlikely-run-to-the-cup-finals-has-miami-giddy-over-hockeyand-rabid-
over-rodents

9.
https://web.archive.org/web/20120519010145/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1995-03-06/sports/9503050239_1_neutral-zone-trap-florida-panthers-roger-neilson

10.
https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090626/http://articles.philly.com/1994-08   -02/sports/25842215_1_terry-murray-new-flyers-coach-bryan-murray

11.
https://web.archive.org/web/20140201155114/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1995-05-04/sports/9505040096_1_jagr-s-shot-john-vanbiesbrouck-panthers

12.
https://web.archive.org/web/20140201155110/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1995-06-13/sports/9506120510_1_jovanovski-hockey-team-roger-neilson

13.
https://web.archive.org/web/20170804215455/http://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/25/sports/sports-people-hockey-panthers-promote-from-within-by-hiring-maclean-as-coach.html

14 & 15.
https://web.archive.org/web/20160623212414/http://www.si.com/vault/1996/06/10/8103361/rat-pack-floridas-unlikely-run-to-the-cup-finals-has-miami-giddy-over-hockeyand-rabid-over-rodents

16.
https://web.archive.org/web/20150623212637/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1996-05-07/sports/9605060431_1_coach-doug-maclean-jason-podollan-voting