Minnesota Wild Tickets

The Wild are Minnesota’s second NHL team — the North Stars left “The State of Hockey” after the 1993 season. But Minnesota fans weren’t left without a team for too long. The NHL approved an expansion team for Minnesota in 1997, and the Wild were ready to play by the 2000-01 season.

It didn’t take too long for Minnesota to put a good team together. Marian Gaborik, the team’s first draft pick, became their first star player. In the 2002-03 season, Gaborik scored 30 goals, and the Wild made the playoffs for the first time. In the playoffs, the Wild upset the heavily favored Colorado Avalanche in the first round and then upset the Vancouver Canucks in round two. The Wild ultimately fell to the Mighty Ducks in the Western Conference Final after dropping Game 1 in double overtime. For his role in leading a young team on a deep playoff run, Wild coach Jacques Lemaire won the Jack Adams Award, which is given each year to the NHL’s best coach.

In 2012, the Wild made a major splash in free agency: the signed Zach Parise and Ryan Suter--the two most coveted free agents of that year--to identical 13 year contracts. Parise and Suter helped the Wild become a consistent playoff team.