29 Facts About Minnesota Wild

1.

Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

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2.

The Minnesota Wild competes in the National Hockey League as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and play their home games at the Xcel Energy Center.

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3.

Since then, the Minnesota Wild have struggled in the postseason, having advanced to the second round only twice since 2003.

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4.

The Minnesota Wild announced its first major sponsorship agreement with MasterCard from First USA.

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5.

Minnesota Wild announced a 26-year partnership agreement with the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission .

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6.

Minnesota 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.

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7.

En route, there were signs the Minnesota 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 Brunette led the team in scoring with 69 points.

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8.

Along the way, the Minnesota 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.

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9.

Minnesota Wild signed veteran free agents Kim Johnsson, Mark Parrish, Branko Radivojevic and Keith Carney.

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10.

The Minnesota Wild made the playoffs in 2007 for the second time in team history, but were eliminated by the eventual Stanley Cup champions Anaheim Ducks in the opening round.

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11.

However, Minnesota Wild came up short, being eliminated in six games by the Avalanche.

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12.

The Minnesota Wild signed free agents Antti Miettinen and Owen Nolan to multi-year deals.

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13.

Later in the off-season, the Minnesota Wild traded Martin Havlat for Dany Heatley in another blockbuster trade with the Sharks.

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14.

Consequently, the Minnesota Wild moved into the Central Division along with the Jets and Avalanche; the Canadian teams from the Northwest moved back to the Pacific Division.

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15.

The Minnesota Wild started five different goalies during the year and dressed seven.

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16.

The Minnesota Wild won the series four games to three with an overtime goal in Game 7 by Nino Niederreiter.

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17.

In 2015, the Minnesota Wild clinched the first wild card spot in the West by defeating the Chicago Blackhawks.

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18.

In 2016, the Minnesota Wild set a franchise record with the best win record in the first 41 games of the season.

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19.

The Minnesota Wild hired Bruce Boudreau as their new head coach, replacing interim head coach John Torchetti.

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20.

In 2017, the Minnesota Wild set their new franchise record for points, wins and goals for .

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21.

The Minnesota Wild set a franchise-record 12-game win streak that was snapped on New Year's Eve 2016 by the Columbus Blue Jackets, a team on a franchise-record win streak at the time.

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22.

Nevertheless, Minnesota Wild failed to win more than a game in the playoffs, losing in five games to St Louis.

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23.

The Minnesota Wild finished the season with 83-points, finishing last in the division and missing the playoffs for the first time since 2012.

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24.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Minnesota 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.

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25.

The following season, the team removed "Born to Be Minnesota Wild" but kept "Rock and Roll Part 2" through 2004, before the lockout.

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26.

Minnesota Wild serves as the team's Governor at NHL Board of Governors' meetings.

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27.

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.

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28.

The Iowa Minnesota Wild is owned by the parent club, who relocated the franchise from Houston in 2013.

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29.

Note: The Minnesota 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.

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