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
12.
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
