Captain Jared Spurgeon stole the multi-point thunder from the NHL’s best player as of late, recording a pair of assists in a tight, defensively sound 2-1 overtime victory for the Wild. Spurgeon also made the play of the game, leading to the overtime winner.

After Marco Rossi fanned on a shot in the slot in overtime, Toronto’s Max Domi pushed the puck up the ice, leading to a foot race with Spurgeon. The Wild defenseman, who turns 35 years old at the end of the month, showed off his wheels and got to the puck at the Wild blue line. Spurgeon turned and fired the puck through the neutral zone up to Rossi and Matt Boldy for a 2-on-0 opportunity.

“Even if he kept that puck, there’s no doubt Spurge is catching him,” Boldy said. “Just the type of guy he is, the type of player he is.

“Just how smart he is. Right on the tape.”

Rossi tapped the puck over to Boldy, who didn’t miss on the breakaway, roofing the puck to send the Xcel Energy Center crowd into a frenzy as the Wild improved to 8-1-2 this season.

Wild teammates credit defenseman Jared Spurgeon with being a smart player on the ice. Spurgeon assisted on both Wild goals in the victory over Toronto on Nov. 3. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

“Once I moved out to Bolds and saw him give it back to Marco, I just figured get back to where I’m most comfortable, and I was fortunate I was able to keep my speed and get that puck,” Spurgeon said. “Bolds had a great place there in the middle, and obviously a great move on the breakaway to end it.”

Spurgeon assisted on both goals, doubling his points total this season in his five games played. It was his first multi-point game since March 27, 2023, against Seattle. Sunday marked Spurgeon’s 41st career multi-assist game, ranking him third in franchise history behind Mikko Koivu (93) and Ryan Suter (56), according to Minnesota Wild PR.

“He’s so smart on the ice,” forward Frederick Gaudreau said of Spurgeon, after the Wild’s Oct. 31 practice. “Makes always the right plays, always in your face.”

The captain returns
But Spurgeon is still getting back into the swing of the season. He missed the first six games on the team’s lengthy seven-game road trip in October, meeting up with the team about halfway through the trip before finally suiting up again for the Oct. 29 game in Pittsburgh. He played nearly 20 minutes in that game, where the focus was mostly on goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury’s likely final regular-season game in his old stomping grounds.

“He did great,” Wild coach John Hynes said after the Oct. 31 practice, of Spurgeon’s game against the Penguins. “He was out in full practice today. He was in for treatments yesterday, and everything was good. So, all good on that front.”

Spurgeon was a plus-one with a shot on goal in 18:50 of ice time in the 5-3 victory over Tampa Bay on Nov. 1.

The captain is back after playing a career-low 16 games last season, his time limited due to shoulder, hip and back injuries. He skated in the first two home games to open this season before sitting out again.

Not being on the ice for most of the road trip left Spurgeon in an unfortunate but familiar, spot: Watching his teammates play. But there was an upside on this trip, compared to when he sat out for most of last season when the Wild finished with a 39-34-9 record and missed the playoffs for the first time since the 2018-19 season.

“It’s a lot easier to watch them when they’re winning,” Spurgeon said.

While he said it was tough missing some games early on this season, he also leans on the support of the management, trainers and teammates to get him through.

Jared Spurgeon on April 8, 2023 in a game against the St. Louis Blues, the last time the defenseman scored a goal. He played in only 16 games last season. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Though the Wild coaching change – Dean Evason fired and John Hynes hired – was nearly a calendar year ago, Spurgeon entered training camp this season getting used to the new structure Hynes put in place. With being out last season, not playing right away and not being part of those meetings, Spurgeon said it took a little while through training camp and the first couple of games to get used to the new systems in play.

Respect of his teammates
Turning the page to a new season, Spurgeon, who’s been on the Wild since the 2010-11 season, was most excited to get back to playing the game. He’s also happy to be back around his teammates a lot more.

“You’re in it in a different circumstance last year,” Spurgeon said. “But you’re still in the dressing room every game. Every game day when they’re at home, I was here. Every practice as well. You’re still around, but you’re not in it to know what’s going on or get the feel for it as much.”

No doubt Spurgeon is happy to be back in the dressing room postgame, taking off his gear after a hard-fought win like Sunday’s against Toronto. His speedy effort on the backcheck in overtime earned him some kudos from his teammates in the form of the oversized “HARD” chain necklace the team awards a player after each game.

“He’s such a big part of our team,” Gaudreau said. “Last year was tough without him. You could tell there’s so much poise and stability that he brings that you rarely find that in players. So much experience.

“He’s not a guy you can just replace. We like to have him in the lineup, of course.”

The post O Spurgeon! My Captain! appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

It’s been a good first 10 games of the 2024-25 campaign for the Wild. Here are five rules recapping their latest win:

1. The number of the night was seven.

Things started on a good note when St. Paul’s own, and Major League Baseball Hall of Fame catcher, Joe Mauer helped lead the “Let’s Play Hockey!” call alongside his twin daughters. Mauer, sports fans know, wore the jersey number 7 during his entire baseball career as a Minnesota Twin. That retired number seven is now hanging over Target Field.

Perhaps it was fitting when another Minnesota kid, Brock Faber, scored a goal early in the third period to break a 1-1 tie. Faber also wears No. 7.

“There seemed to be a little bit of a screen,” Faber said. “I just tried to put it on net, really.”

But the most eye-popping stats of the night having to do with the number seven came from – who else? – Kirill Kaprizov as he continues his hot start to the season. He scored a pair of goals and added a crafty assist for a three-point night. The tallies bumped his points streak to seven consecutive games. He also has recorded multiple points in seven consecutive games this season, which is a new franchise record.

Oh, and the Wild have seven victories, too.

2. NHL scoring leader – that’s right – Kirill Kaprizov lived up to his “Kirill the thrill” nickname.

Kaprizov’s first goal Friday gave the Wild the lead for good a few minutes into the third period for a 3-2 game. He followed later with an empty-netter.

Kaprizov leads the NHL in scoring with seven goals and 14 assists for 21 points in the season’s first 10 games. It’s unprecedented for the Wild to have such a dominating points producer. A fact not lost on his teammate, and Minnesota native, Faber.

“I’m from Minnesota, you know,” Faber told the media after Friday’s game. “Obviously, you guys all see how good he is on the ice, how well he’s playing. Such a complete game.”

With his latest efforts Friday, Kaprizov is the first player in Wild history to become the fastest to reach 20 points in a season. The game was also the 35th of his career scoring three points, which passes Mikko Koivu for the most in franchise history, according to NHL Stats.

Only three active players have scored at least 21 points through 10 games in a season: Kaprizov, and Edmonton Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl (23 points in 2021-22 and 21 points in 2022-23) and Connor McDavid (22 points in 2022-23 and 2021-22).

Marco Rossi recorded an assist and two shots on goal in Friday’s game against Tampa Bay. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

3. Watch out for… multiple pucks?

A bit of an odd sequence about halfway through the game: There were two pucks on the ice during play. Marco Rossi went into the Tampa Bay zone on a breakaway and fired the puck on net. As he skated around the back of the net, he picked up a puck that was sitting behind the cage and put it into the goal on a wraparound. But that wasn’t the puck he had on his stick a few seconds before. The puck was being played up the ice.

It was a confusing moment as some fans in the arena cheered seeing a puck in the goal. Officials went over to the penalty boxes to look at the play. There was no goal awarded on the play, rightfully so.

Wild coach John Hynes hadn’t seen anything like that before.

“Never. Never,” Hynes said. “It’s funny because when the puck went in… I didn’t know what everyone was cheering about, because I was following the real puck.

4. Special teams could haunt. But they didn’t.

All three Tampa Bay goals came with an extra attacker on the ice. The Wild got caught with a too many men penalty late in the first period, which led to the Lightning’s first power-play goal with 45 seconds left in the period. Goalie Filip Gustavsson made a sprawling save initially, but the puck popped right out to Brayden Point for his seventh (there’s that number again) goal of the season and a 1-0 lead at intermission.

The Lightning tied the game in the third period with another power-play goal, going 2-for-4 with the man advantage on the night. Tampa Bay pulled goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy with a few minutes left in regulation and capitalized with the extra skater to make it a 4-3 game with 2 minutes, 26 seconds left in the game.

The Wild power play, meanwhile, went 0-for-2 on Friday.

“I think the positive side of that is, again, we won a game where we didn’t win the special teams battle,” Hynes said. “But our objective every night is to make sure that we do win the special teams battle. Because that, lots of times, could turn a game.”

It was the first time this season that the Wild’s penalty kill surrendered two goals in a game. Coming into the game, the Wild were 5-for-17 on the kill, ranking 28th in the NHL at 70.6%.

5. Jake Guentzel cashed in on the #OneOfUs narrative.

The Woodbury/Hill-Murray product had a nice homecoming visit when he tied the game 2-2 with nine seconds left in a Lightning power play. With 13:37 left in the third period. The first-line left-winger is among the team’s scoring leaders with five goals and seven assists so far this season.

Guentzel now has 15 points (6-9—15) in 14 career games against the Wild.

The post Rink Rule: Lightning vs. Wild appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Well, happy that he made it through a big NHL milestone, not happy with the result of the Winnipeg Jets sweeping the home-and-home weekend with the Minnesota Wild. The Jets skated to a 3-2 win on Sunday afternoon at Xcel Energy Center, handing Fleury a loss in his 972nd start and 1,000th career NHL game.

“I wish it was a win,” Fleury said. “Disappointing. I thought the guys played great tonight. Battled hard.

“Obviously, very flattered by the reception from the crowd, from my teammates. It means a lot.”

The Minnesota Wild and fans recognize Marc-Andre Fleury’s 1,000 NHL games milestone during a timeout on the ice on Dec. 31, 2023. (MHM Photo / Heather Rule)

That reception started with treatment usually reserved for rookies. When the Wild came out for pregame warmups in their throwback green-and-yellow sweaters, Fleury led the team out of the tunnel. Except no one followed him. The 39-year-old goaltender took a brief lap around the Wild zone before the rest of his teammates hit the ice behind him.

“Yeah, they got me,” Fleury said. “Usually I’m the one that let the young guys go.”

Better late than never? Fleury wasn’t even sure the rookie laps were a thing when he came into the league 20 years ago.

The Wild acquired Fleury during a flurry of moves near the NHL trade deadline of the 2021-22 season. General manager Bill Guerin was busy with moves that included picking up current Wild defenseman Jake Middleton from San Jose. Guerin grabbed Fleury from the Chicago Blackhawks. At the time, Fleury stepped into St. Paul having already amassed a 511-297-85 record, 2.57 goals-against average, .913 save percentage in 928 career NHL games. Fleury is also a four-time All-Star (2011, 2015, 2018, 2019).

Fleury’s first few times in the Wild dressing room left some of his new teammates, especially the younger ones, starstruck.

“I remember when I first came up in the league, you wanted to score on Marc-Andre Fleury,” said Marcus Foligno in March 2022. “To have him on your team, it’s exciting.”

Fleury’s won his Wild debut in net, a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Xcel Energy Center on March 26, 2022. Fleury made 23 saves. Perhaps that was business as usual, but what wasn’t so ordinary was fans tossing flowers onto the ice to show support for their new goaltender. Fleury said at the time that it made him feel like a figure skater.

Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury has 550 career NHL victories, one away from tying Patrick Roy. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Since then, Fleury’s play hasn’t wilted too much in goal. He wrapped up 2023 becoming the 10th Wild player to play his 1,000th NHL game in a Wild sweater, reaching the milestone a few days early following the injury to his counterpart Filip Gustavsson on Saturday in Winnipeg. Fleury will likely see the net for a while now, as the Wild announced on Monday that Gustavsson was placed on injured reserve. Through 1,000 games, Fleury is 550-321-93 with 73 shutouts.

On New Year’s Eve, Fleury received a loud cheer when his name was announced as part of the starting lineup. Then at the first TV timeout in the first period, the videoboard showed graphics recognizing his 1,000 games complete with an in-arena announcement of the milestone. Fans rose to their feet for a thunderous ovation as Fleury skated out of his crease in acknowledgment.

He made some strong saves in goal, including a windmill motion for one and a couple of solid pad saves later that got the crowd roaring yet again. The Wild took 1-0 and 2-1 leads but ultimately fell 3-2 with a third-period Jets comeback, spoiling the weekend and Fleury’s pre-New Year celebration as he was denied a victory.

“Tonight again, so many people cheering for my time out there,” Fleury said. “I got some goosebumps and some butterflies. I don’t think no other job in the world can give you that.”

His teammates can’t speak highly enough about the veteran and what he means to the team.

Fellow Quebec native Frederick Gaudreau said he was emotional thinking about the thousand games for his goaltender and teammate.

“The thing that’s crazy about this thing, it’s not so much about the thousand games, it’s about how he’s done it,” Gaudreau said. “He’s the best teammate I’ve ever had. Still having fun.

“I feel very grateful that I’ve been able to share a locker room with him for a few years already.”

Ryan Hartman and Marc-Andre Fleury embrace during a home game Dec. 3, 2023. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Having the Flower in net for his 1,000th game made it a little extra special for the rest of the Wild as well. Foligno called the milestone “unbelievable,” and noted how much easier it can be as a skating player to hit 1,000 games rather than a goaltender.

“We’re so proud to have him here as a teammate, and as good as a player he is on ice, off ice he’s even better,” Foligno said after Sunday’s game. “We’re lucky to have him in our room, and it’s great to be a part of something so special in a player’s career.”

Forward Ryan Hartman also noted how amazing it is that only four goaltenders have reached the milestone, and Fleury is one of them. Martin Brodeur (1,266 games), Roberto Luongo (1,044) and Patrick Roy (1,029) are the other three goaltenders.

“To have the chance to play in front of him is special,” Hartman said. “We obviously wanted to win that one for him.”

The Wild plan to honor Fleury’s milestone during a future home game this season. Some of the recent 1,000 games Wild players were Alex Goligoski, Zach Parise, Mikko Koivu, Ryan Suter and Eric Staal.

The post Flower’s 1,000th Game appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

The post The Sieve & The Scribe: Ep.10 (Audio) appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Minnesota had the tables turned on them Sunday night when former Wild players Mikael Granlund, Luke Kunin and their Nashville Predators teammates returned to Minnesota to pin a second-straight loss on the Wild, putting a damper on an emotional night in which long-time captain Mikko Koivu’s No. 9 was retired. 

Nashville captain Roman Josi scored twice, including a critical power-play goal 1:05 into the third period, and goaltender David Rittich turned away 26 of 28 Minnesota shots to lift the Predators to a 6-2 win before a purely coincidental 19,009 at Xcel Energy Center. Matt Boldy and Jordan Greenway each tallied for the Wild while Minnesota goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen allowed four goals on 23 shots. 

“This is as special a night as possible and it kind of sucks,” Minnesota defenseman Matt Dumba said. “But we’ll put it behind us, have a good night with with our old teammates and celebrate Mikky.”

Mikko Koivu poses in front of his number retirement banner with his mother, Tuire, his father, Jukka, and his children Kasper, Sofie and Oskar on Sunday night at Xcel Energy Center. (MN Wild/photo by Bruce Kluckhohn)

In a moving pre-game ceremony hosted by Bally Sports North’s Wild play-by-play voice Anthony LaPanta, Koivu’s parents and children were on hand along with his brother, Saku, and niece, Ilona. Niklas Backstrom and Kyle Brodziak were among several former teammates in the building but they represented the group on the ice while Wild owner Craig Leipold and GM Bill Guerin rounded out the dignitaries. 

Wild fans watched via the scoreboard video screen as the guest of honor emerged through the wooden doors of the team dressing room, walk the short hallway to the bench and onto the ice as he had done so many times before in uniform. The roar of the crowd crescendoed with each stride until it peaked as he appeared in the arena, acknowledging the fans’ love with waves as he made his way to his seat.

Leipold spoke first and relayed the story of Koivu receiving the captaincy for the first time while Guerin presented Koivu with a custom Rolex engraved watch. Backstrom and Brodziak presented framed montage of images representing Koivu’s career in Minnesota before current Wild captains Jared Spurgeon, Matt Dumba and Marcus Foligno bestowed a new set of custom-fitted golf clubs upon Koivu.

In a touching speech, interrupted several times by cheers and random shouts of “we love you” from from fans, Koivu could hardly have left anyone out as he thanked his family, teammates, coaches, GMs, support personnel, Leipold and, most of all, the fans of ‘The State of Hockey.’

“Having my jersey number retired by the Minnesota Wild is a greater honor than I know how to say … in English or in Finnish,” Koivu said in his speech.

Nashville’s Mikael Granlund and Minnesota’s Jared Spurgeon await the ceremonial puck drop by former teammate Mikko Koivu prior to Sunday night’s game at Xcel Energy Center. (MN Wild/photo by Bruce Kluckhohn)

All fans in attendance received commemorative “Koivu 9” replica banners and Wild players donned special Koivu #9 jerseys for on-ice warmups. 

Koivu dropped the puck for the ceremonial opening faceoff flanked by former teammates Mikael Granlund, now a Nashville Predators assistant captain, and Spurgeon, the chosen heir to Koivu’s Wild captaincy.

Selected in the first round (No. 6 overall) in the 2001 NHL Draft, Koivu scored his first NHL goal Nov. 6, 2005 against Jean-Sebastian Giguere and the Anaheim Ducks. Koivu was named the team’s first full-time team captain on Oct. 20, 2009 and followed that up a day later with a goal, an assist and the shootout winner to beat the Colorado Avalanche. 

Mikko Koivu surveys the landscape during a break in an Oct. 6, 2018 game against the Vegas Golden Knights at Xcel Energy Center. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Koivu became first player to skate 1000 games in a Minnesota Wild sweater on Dec. 1, 2019 when he tallied the decisive goal in a shootout win over the Dallas Stars at Xcel Energy Center. In 1,035 games over 16 NHL seasons (2005-2021), Koivu recorded 711 points (206-505–711) with 594 OIM and a plus-68 rating.  His 1028 games played, 504 assists, 709 points, 2,270 shots and 252 power-play points all rank first in franchise history. 

Koivu finished his career with a brief seven-game stint as a Columbus Bluejacket to begin the 2020-21 season where he registered his final goal and assist. 

The Wild got off to an adrenaline-fueled start, notching the game’s first five shots, but Filip Forsberg netted Nashvilles’s first shot of the game at the 8:24 mark of the first period for a 1-0 Predators lead. Less than five minutes later, however, Wild rookie Matt Boldy pounced on a loose puck along the goal line to Rittich’s left and buried his 12th of the season from a sharp angle with assists from Freddy Gaudreau and Kevin Fiala. 

Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon battles Nashville’s Mattias Ekholm as Predators forward Eeli Tolvanen lurks behind. (MN Wild/photo by Bruce Kluckhohn)

The 1-1 score held up until near the midpoint of the second period when Josi skated straight up the slot, completely unimpeded, and slipped a backhand shot between Kahkonen’s glove and the top of his left pad at 8:44. But Minnesota answered back at 11:10 with Jordan Greenway’s fifth goal of the year on a power move to the net from the left circle, beating Rittich inside the far post. 

Unfortunately for the the evening’s festivities, it took just 50 seconds for Nashville’s fourth line to answer when Philip Tomasino jumped on a juicy Kahkonen rebound to score into a wide-open net for his ninth of the season.

Evason twice pulled Kahkonen for an extra attacker but that only resulted in an empty-net goals by Forsberg at 17:42 and Nick Cousins at 19:31.

Greenway said, win or lose, the ceremony was a great recognition of what Koivu meant to the franchise.

“Obviously, we would have liked to get the win for him, it would have made the night that much better,” Greenway said. “But when it comes down to it, that’s a once in a lifetime thing you’re able to be a part of and it’s inspirational … Even with a loss, it’s incredible and something that will definitely be celebrated.”

The post A Legacy Lauded appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Mikko Koivu, seen here in a Sept. 29, 2019 preseason game vs the Winnipeg Jets, will have his No. 9 retired in a pregame ceremony ahead of the Wild’s March 13 game against the Nashville Predators. (MH Photo / Rick Olson)

That franchise, the North Stars, retired two numbers in the 26 seasons they were based in Minnesota. The first was Bill Masterton’s No. 19. The number was issued only once again (briefly to Chuck Arnason in 1978, according to Hockey Reference) after Masterton suffered what proved to be a fatal head injury during the North Stars’ first season in 1967-68. The official jersey retirement didn’t happen until 19 years later.

The other player had to wait 15-plus years before being honored. That’s quite a difference from Koivu, whose last game with the Wild was played in August 2020 in the NHL’s play-in tournament in the Edmonton bubble. Koivu was a solid defensive center during his 15 seasons with the Wild but he was never considered flashy.

That wasn’t the case with right winger Bill Goldsworthy, whose No. 8 was put in the Met Center rafters on Feb. 15, 1992, after seven other players had worn it. That makes Goldsworthy the last player for a Minnesota NHL team to be considered worthy of one of the ultimate honors in sports.

“I remember how emotional he got,” when he found out they were going to retire his number, said Bill’s son, Sean, who is now the coach of the Minnetonka boys’ High School hockey team. “From that old era of tough love and being stoic. I’d very seldom seen him in tears, but I do remember that when told me, ‘There’s nothing that can make me more proud to be a part of this than to feel I was that important to the franchise.”

Indeed, he was.

Cover of the game program for Goldsworthy’s number retirement ceremony. (Photo courtesy of Vintage Minnesota Hockey)

Goldsworthy was the first star player in North Stars’ history, both because of his ability to score goals and how he celebrated them. Goldsworthy had only six goals over three seasons in 33 games with the Boston Bruins before he was taken by the expansion North Stars as the NHL went from six to 12 teams in 1967. He had 14 goals in each of his first two seasons in Minnesota, but then took off in his third year. He had 36 goals in 75 games in 1969-70 and followed that with goal totals of 34, 31,27 48, 37 and 24.

Goldsworthy combined his goal-scoring ability with a celebration in which he would raise his left leg and pump his right arm. “I don’t know when it started exactly,” said Lou Nanne, who was a teammate of Goldsworthy’s for nine-plus seasons in Minnesota. “He really started doing it in the second year. Then people began talking about it.”

The “Goldy Shuffle” was unique because signature hockey celebrations were not the norm in the late 1960s. If the Met Center crowd was at first confused about the shuffle, they soon began to expect it. “He was a really charismatic hockey player, Nanne said. “He’s the kind of player that you liked to have on your team because you knew he was going to sell tickets for you.”

Tom Reid, who also played with Goldsworthy on the North Stars, remembers him for his ability to score goals and also for his quick temper. The stats support both things. Goldsworthy had 267 goals in 670 games with the North Stars and accumulated 711 penalty minutes, including 110, in 1968-69. Goldsworthy still ranks sixth in all-time goals in the Minnesota/Dallas franchise record book.

“He had an eye for the back of the net,” said Reid, now the Wild radio analyst. “Bill had a terrific wrist shot and a quick release. But he was one of those guys who could snap in a hurry if something were to happen.”

Such as?

The banners of Bill Goldworthy and Bill Masterton hanging high over the Met Center ice. (Photo courtesy of Vintage Minnesota Hockey)

“One game Bill came off the ice,” Nanne recalled, “I was right there. There was a half minute to go in the period and (coach Wren) Blair was going through his usual antics of yelling at Goldy. Goldy didn’t break stride, coming toward the bench, and going full speed he drilled Wren with a right. He dropped him with his glove on. We all piled on (to break it up). We go up in the locker room after the period and Wren says to Bill, ‘Come in my office and we’ll finish this.’ As as soon Bill entered, Wren said, ‘Sit down.’ He knew Goldy would have killed him.”

Because this was hockey in the late 1960s, Goldsworthy was not only not suspended for punching his coach and general manager, but he ended up starting the next period after initially thinking Blair had benched him. “Wren had told Goldy to sit on the bench,” to begin the period, “so Goldy didn’t come out on the ice,” Nanne said. “The referee said, “Wren, get somebody out here.’ Goldy came out and the crowd started cheering.”

Goldsworthy, who added 18 goals and 37 points in 40 playoff games with the North Stars, was traded to the New York Rangers in November 1976 after appearing in 16 games that season. He played two seasons in New York before finishing his career in the World Hockey Association with Indianapolis and then Edmonton in 1978-79.

Goldsworthy would later work for the North Stars before joining the San Jose Sharks as a scout. He also had some minor league coaching jobs. But Goldsworthy’s proudest moment in hockey likely came the night his jersey was retired.

“That whole weekend I remember watching him emotionally manage things and breaking down multiple times behind the scenes,” said Sean Goldsworthy, who was in his 20s at the time. “He needed moments to digest the intensity of the emotions. Getting the franchise from expansion and into legitimacy. Getting out of the Original Six (with Boston) and getting respect in the league. Those years were critical for Minnesota and the NHL. … To see those players re-engage in their relationships and brotherhood (was special).”

Bill Goldworthy, holding his banner, acknowledges the cheers of North Stars fans at his Feb. 15, 1992 number retirement ceremony at Met Center. (Photo courtesy of Vintage Minnesota Hockey)

Sadly, Goldsworthy passed away in 1996 at the age of 51 after battling AIDS. Goldsworthy, who had battled alcoholism at different points in his life, discussed the situation with the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 1995. “There was a period of three to five years after my divorce when I was really into the bottle and I wasn’t careful about my sexual relationships,” he told the paper. “And there were a few times when I was a scout for San Jose, after I started to drink again, that I wasn’t as careful about sex as I should have been.”

Goldsworthy’s friends and the hockey community rallied around him. Reid recalled a fundraiser for Goldsworthy that was held in the Twin Cities and included “everybody who was anybody in hockey in this area.”

Goldsworthy wasn’t the last former North Stars great to have his jersey retired. Neal Broten’s No. 7 was retired by the Dallas Stars in February 1998 and Mike Modano’s No. 9 in March 2014. Modano, of course, only played a few seasons in Minnesota before becoming a dominant player in Dallas.

In a classy gesture the Stars franchise paid for members of the Goldsworthy  and Masterton families to be in Dallas for Modano’s jersey retirement. It was there that Sean had a meaningful conversation with Broten, who had grown up in Roseau, Minn., watching Bill play for the North Stars.

(Photo courtesy of Vintage Minnesota Hockey)

“Neal told me how much he thought of my dad and I reciprocated that to Neal,” Sean said. “I told him that, ‘My dad taught me the game of hockey by watching you.’ To watch Neal emotionally accept that gratitude was really cool.”

As for what playing with the North Stars meant to Bill Goldsworthy, Sean has no trouble recalling his father’s words.

“I remember him saying, ‘There’s nothing more special than playing in Minnesota,'” Sean said. “It was so dear to his heart and nothing meant more to him professionally than to have his jersey retired by the Minnesota North Stars. Thinking back to J.P. Parise, Tom Reid and Lou Nanne, who became surrogate fathers to me when my dad passed. They had a brotherhood that was unmatched, even in today’s game. They raised their families together and played together for a decade. To be recognized by the franchise he put his heart into and loved, he finally felt at peace.”

The post A Worthy Honor appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Ryan Suter, Mikko Koivu and Zach Parise (MHM Photos, Rick Olson)

It was on July 13 that Bill Guerin decided that no matter how much star power Parise and Suter might have brought to the Wild upon arrival, the general manager had seen enough to know he wanted a team molded in his image and that meant completing the turnover that had been started by his predecessor, Paul Fenton.

There were plenty who questioned Guerin’s decision to buy out both players. The move on the 37-year-old Parise was expected, given the winger’s decline in play and ice time during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. The decision to jettison the 36-year-old Suter was a shocker. He remained a productive and steady defenseman. Buying out the final four years of both contracts will result in significant salary cap hits from 2022-23 through 2024-25, but Guerin did not have any doubt when he held a press conference to discuss the moves.

We now know why.

Guerin has four Stanley Cup rings — two as a player and two as an executive with the Pittsburgh Penguins — for a reason. He wasn’t just hoping for better luck when he told longtime captain Mikko Koivu he wouldn’t be returning and traded popular goalie Devan Dubnyk to San Jose after the Wild was bounced from the qualifying round of the return-to-play postseason in 2019. He also began making his case to owner Craig Leipold about why he needed to jettison Parise and Suter months before he did it.

Wild coach Dean Evason (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

What Guerin has built isn’t just a better team, but also a collection of players who play like a team. The lack of lip service and amount of production is a 180 from what Wild followers had grown used to hearing and seeing. It was no accident that coach Dean Evason and many of his players spent the early portion of the season talking about how important everyone’s voice (young and old) is in the locker room.

This simply wasn’t the case with the old Wild. Parise and Suter have to take some of the blame but there was plenty to go around. Koivu was the captain, the coaches (Mike Yeo and Bruce Boudreau, especially), general manager Chuck Fletcher and a few others need to take responsibility. Of course, winning would have solved those issues and that’s what the Wild didn’t do nearly enough during the nine seasons Parise and Suter spent in Minnesota.

The Wild made eight playoff appearances, if you count the qualifying round berth in 2020, and won only two series (the last in 2015) and went 19-36.

It remains to be seen how the new Wild fares in the playoffs, but there is definitely a different feel around the team. The presence of a true superstar in winger Kirill Kaprivoz, a fifth-round pick by Fletcher in 2015, makes a huge difference. So does the work of Evason, who was hired on an interim basis to replace Boudreau in February 2020, was named the permanent coach before the return-to-play that summer and now is in line for a significant pay increase after this season when his contract is set to expire.

Evason had been coach of the Nashville Predators’ AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals, when Fenton hired him to be on Boudreau’s coaching staff in June 2018. Evason appeared to be head coach in waiting with Fenton running the show but his dismissal in July 2019 changed things and Guerin was expected to bring in his own people. But Guerin saw something in Evason that he liked.

It has worked to near perfection. The Wild’s eight-game winning streak ended with a 2-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night but Minnesota leads the Central Division with 39 points. That point total is near the top of the NHL and the Wild’s 102 goals put them second in the league to Colorado (106 goals) entering Sunday’s game in Vegas.

Kaprizov got off to a slow start but has been brilliant since and, with apologies to Marian Gaborik, has established himself as the most-dynamic player in the Wild’s 20-plus seasons. Kaprizov’s stats are impressive enough but watch the moves, the speed, his ability to work on his edges and you have a special player. There is another thing about Kaprizov’s game. That’s the non-stop motor he often shows. He’s a star who embraces backchecking as much as he does getting into the offensive zone.

Kirill Kaprizov (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

That’s a credit to Kaprizov’s work ethic as well as the tone that Evason has helped set from behind the bench. The Wild locker room should have a sign above its door that says, “Nonsense will not be tolerated.” In that room, of course, nonsense is necessary. It’s a long season and fun on and off the ice is a big part of success. But so is complete buy in and dedication from everyone the moment the puck is dropped. Evason insists on it and what helps is so does his leadership group. It might be a cliché but it’s no accident that Evason often talks about what’s expected of any player who wears the Wild jersey.

Watch Marcus Foligno play a shift and then tell me one of his teammates can get away with taking their shift off. Evason’s willingness to scratch Parise last season — especially after he made the mistake of extending a shift in the regular season against the Golden Knights — sent an important message. The days of anyone getting preferential treatment were over and, if a player thought running to the owner or GM would solve the issue, they were sadly mistaken. No player was going to run the show, no matter how much he was being paid.

Guerin, who served as captain of the Islanders at one point during his 18-year NHL career, informed the Wild just how different expectations would be on the opening day of training camp. In addressing the players in a clip that was shown on a team-produced show, Guerin asked captain Jared Spurgeon what the season was all about. “Hard work and having fun?” Spurgeon says.

“No, (expletive) that,” Guerin shot back. “This is about (expletive) winning.”

Well-placed sources say there was nothing set up about the moment. Spurgeon gave an honest answer and Guerin’s response was exactly what you would expect from a guy with four Stanley Cup rings. At the moment, the exchange was a breath of fresh air. In retrospect, it might signify the moment the Wild went from being a franchise with big expectations, but no idea of how to achieve them, to having a mission that means the days of playing favorites are a thing of the past.

The post Mission: Possible appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

“We want to have fun, but we’re still working,” said Wild head coach Dean Evason. “We haven’t had a lot of practice time. It was work today, but it was also clearly fun to be outside and to have the fans. As we’ve talked about, our fans have been absolutely incredible all year.”

Those incredible Wild fans who showed up for the outdoor practice two seasons ago have seen this Wild roster go through some major changes.

It’s amazing how much has happened since the Wild last hosted an outdoor, open-to-the-public practice on Jan. 2, 2020. The most obvious item, of course, is the global pandemic that changed everything before that season was over.

But looking at the Wild team specifically, so much is different. In January 2020, Bruce Boudreau was still the Wild’s head coach. Though he was fired on Valentine’s Day that year. There was also a ton of buzz at the ROC (Recreation Outdoor Center) at the time with the official announcement of the NHL Winter Classic coming to Target Field. That game was originally scheduled for Jan. 1, 2021 before the pandemic canceled those plans.

Following the announcement and practice in early 2020, the media talked with Boudreau and a few players to get their thoughts on the exciting news of playing outdoors. Zach Parise said the Winter Classic coming to Minnesota was “a little overdue.” Ryan Suter reflected on the Wild’s Stadium Series game in 2016 against the Chicago Blackhawks. Eric Staal, 35 years old at the time, looked forward to the Winter Classic having never played in an outdoor NHL game.

That trio no longer wears Wild sweaters. Neither do Devan Dubnyk, Mikko Koivu or Jason Zucker, who played in the Stadium Series game. Only captain Jared Spurgeon and alternate captain Matt Dumba remain from that 2016 squad that played in the Stadium Series. Dumba scored the game’s first goal in a 6-1 Wild win at then-TCF Bank Stadium at the University of Minnesota.

The loss for guys like Staal, Suter and Minnesota-native Parise looking to play that Winter Classic is the gain of Minnesota products Nick 

Bjugstad and Alex Goligoski. Bjugstad grew up playing hockey for Blaine High School while defenseman Goligoski represents the North out of Grand Rapids.

“It’s kind of crazy that we get to play an outdoor game in Minnesota with my hometown team,” Bjugstad said. “I’m sure that’ll sink in probably a few days before. That excitement’s there.”

For now, Bjugstad and his teammates got a taste of outdoor hockey at the ROC. It was a typical Wild practice, until the end when players tossed souvenir pucks into the stands for eager fans. The players talked about how perfect the weather would be if they could copy/paste this for Jan. 1. Conditions were so perfect that bundling up in layers wasn’t necessary, according to alternate captain, Marcus Foligno.

“We know it will probably be a little bit colder than today,” Foligno said. “We were all thinking about it (the Winter Classic) out there for sure.

“Obviously being in a bigger stadium. It’s the same thing, you step on that outdoor pond and you feel all the good jitters when you were young again. It brought back a lot of good memories today.”

Some players even stopped to greet fans or sign autographs on their way off the ice. A few players, like Goligoski and Jon Merrill, went back onto the ice afterward with their kids skating around and shooting at the net. Kirill Kaprizov didn’t come off the ice because he was busy passing a puck back and forth with a youngster donning a Goligoski jersey.  

With so many road games and a tiring travel schedule lately, the outdoor practice was a welcome break.

“When you step on the ice in front of the fans in this kind of scenario, you get that childhood feeling again,” Foligno said. “A lot of fun, a lot of smiles on guys’ faces today. We’re all looking forward to that Jan. 1 game.”

The rescheduled Winter Classic against the St. Louis Blues at Target Field will also mark the first time the event will be played in primetime. It’s the 14th anniversary of the first NHL Winter Classic in Buffalo.

While Evason, Bjugstad and Foligno all agreed that weather conditions were just about perfect for outdoor hockey during Saturday’s practice, Minnesotan Bjugstad acknowledged it might be a different deal in January.

“You feel it out,” Bjugstad said. “Like I said, we’ve all had the cold feet, the cold fingers. I’m sure the adrenaline will just kick in, and it’ll be a game to remember.”

The post Outdoor Appetizer appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

The big question of the day – why now?

“Listen, you’re never going to make everybody happy, and people are always going to question,” Guerin said. “I just feel like the timing is right to do it now. That’s just the way I felt.”

They’ll finish out the rest of the season with assistant coach Dean Evason moving into an interim head coach role, one that already started at the team’s Friday practice at TRIA Rink. The move comes the morning after the Wild blew a two-goal lead in the third period before losing 4-3 in a shootout to the New York Rangers. Overall, the Wild are 27-23-7 with 61 points, only three out of a playoff spot.

Dean Evason and Bruce Boudreau on the Wild bench during a January game against Vancouver. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

“The one thing I really do like about Dean is his passion, his fire for the game,” Guerin said. “I am hoping that that translates to the players. I think these guys really like Dean a lot.”

The Wild will conduct a full search for the next head coach at the end of the season, Guerin told the media on Friday at TRIA Rink, a couple of hours after news broke that Boudreau was relieved of his coaching duties. Evason’s name will be part of the overall search, Guerin said.

The timing of it all seemed to surprise a lot of people, including Evason and some Wild players. Evason called Friday a “very emotional morning for everybody.”

“You never know the timing of these things unless you’re on the inside, you don’t know what transpired to get to this point,” Evason said. “I can’t speculate on what happened, but certainly we were all very surprised.”

Defensemen Ryan Suter and Jared Spurgeon used the word “shock” to describe their reaction. Goaltender Alex Stalock called it a “wakeup call” and said he will “wear it myself now,” referencing blowing the two-goal lead in Thursday’s game.

“We were surprised,” said captain Mikko Koivu. “Didn’t expect that this morning when you come to the rink. That’s the biggest reaction for all of us.

“But I think it’s also a message that it’s not enough right now. We can get into the playoffs, and that’s why the change is made, but I think that’s also a pretty clear message to the players that now it’s up to us to get whatever changes Dean and his staff will have and do our job to play into that.”

Guerin briefly addressed the team prior to Friday’s practice. He let them know what’s expected of them and offered clarity on the situation. Like he mentioned earlier in the week when he traded fan-favorite Jason Zucker to Pittsburgh, Guerin said he expects his players to show up for the next game – a 4 p.m. contest hosting San Jose on Saturday – and that he expects a push toward the playoffs.

Professional sports are a business, and that’s a sentiment Guerin has brought up this week amid the personnel changes within the team. He addressed it again when asked about the player reactions to Boudreau’s firing.

“If the players are hurt by this, then maybe they’re not the players that we should have here,” Guerin said. “This is the business we’re in. It’s always a sad time when you do this, but this is the business.”

Boudreau finishes his Wild tenure with a 158-110-35 record, leading them to the playoffs his first two seasons in Minnesota. This was his fourth season as the Wild’s head coach, and he was 16 games away from coaching his 1,000th game in the NHL. Guerin did not comment when asked about the conversation he had with Boudreau when he fired him.

“We have a lot of respect for Bruce,” Suter said. “He was a great guy and a great coach. It’s sad to see him go.”

Despite the coaching change, Guerin made it clear that the Wild players need to be better as well. There have been inconsistencies in the results this season, according to Guerin. The Wild have certainly been a mid-pack squad, rebounding from a 1-6 start to the season. The Wild were actually playing better recently, going 7-3-1 in their last 11 games, but there are things that still need to be better, according to Guerin.

“There has to be accountability, and people are going to be held accountable,” Guerin said. “Players are absolutely included in that first and foremost.”

Still, this move does not change the team’s push to make the playoffs, at least from Guerin’s perspective. He said he expects this team to compete for a playoff spot.

It will be up to the players to focus on that goal, with Evason helping along the way.

“I think they’re pretty honed in right now,” Evason said. “I think when something like this happens, it catches everyone’s attention. Hopefully, they all individually feel a bit responsible to what happened. We all should. We all should be motivated to go forward and try to do the right things to get to where we want to be.”

New Wild head coach Dean Evason. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

While the news might be shocking and unfortunate to see an established NHL coach like Boudreau be let go (the eighth one in the NHL this season), the move also creates an opportunity for Evason. His goal has always been to be a coach at the highest level, the NHL, he said Friday.

“Regardless of the situation and how you get here, this is something that I’ve strived for,” Evason said. “And I’ve got the opportunity, and I’m going to try to do it the way that I’ve learned how to be a head coach through so many different head coaches that I’ve had.”

Evason was hired as a Wild assistant coach in June 2018 under then-general manager Paul Fenton. Previously, he was the head coach for the Milwaukee Admirals in the AHL for six seasons. He scored 139 goals and 372 points in 803 NHL games across 13 seasons with Washington, Hartford Whalers, San Jose, Dallas and Calgary from 1983-96.

He said he’s going to try to lead as a head coach of the Wild while also relying on his coaching staff of Bob Woods, Darby Hendrickson (who will now move behind the bench full-time during games) and Bob Mason. He’ll look to draw on his past experiences as a player and coach to try and do the right things, Evason said.

“He’s developed great relationships with just about everybody in this room,” said goaltender Devan Dubnyk. “So that will be an easy transition that way and make it easier for us going forward.”

Evason also said he wants the group to be accountable and aggressive.

“If we make aggressive mistakes, you can live with them,” Evason said. “If you make passive mistakes, they’re hard to live with.

“Sometimes you’ve got to give a guy a kick in the pants, and sometimes you’ve got to pat him on the back. That’s our job as the leadership group of the team, the coaches, to figure out which ones need the boot and which ones need the pat.”

The post Bye Bye Bruce appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

“You’re shooting off your back leg again,” Guerin said, in a serious tone to forward Luke Kunin.

As Kunin started to explain, Guerin assured him that he was kidding. Guerin also offered up a “how you doing, buddy?” to another player who walked by a few minutes later. He greeted Jonas Brodin with a “Hey, Brods.”

Guerin made sure to stop a passing Alex Stalock by putting the empty paper cup he’d been holding in Stalock’s goaltending glove with a playful, “Hey, can you hold this for a sec?”

Sometimes it’s that positive attitude at the rink every day that can definitely change the feeling of a team, even one that went through a tough spell on the ice in the fall, according to defenseman Jared Spurgeon.

“He’s a guy that likes to joke around,” Spurgeon said.

As recently as 2010, Guerin was playing in the NHL. Now, he’s the fourth general manager in Minnesota Wild history. He said he tries to remember the feelings of a player and what it’s like in his front office roles. 

“You don’t want to beat up on them too much, and you don’t want to cut them too much slack,” Guerin said.

Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold welcomes Bill Guerin as the new general manager for the team at a press conference at Xcel Energy Center on August 22, 2019 (Minnesota Wild/Bruce Kluckhohn)

Guerin was named the Wild’s general manager in August after Paul Fenton was fired. The four-time Stanley Cup winner (twice as a player) also interviewed for the position last year. There was no doubt for Guerin that this was where he wanted to be, in such an incredible hockey market. He sees amazing potential and ownership in Craig Leipold that Guerin called “fantastic.”

Guerin, who turned 49 in November, played 18 seasons in the NHL with eight teams. He’s one of eight U.S.-born players in the NHL to reach the 400 goals and 400 assists marks, finishing with 429 goals and 856 points in 1,263 career games.

His passion didn’t start and end with playing the game. It spilled over to all the everyday happenings with hockey clubs, building a team and putting a staff together. He spent the past eight seasons in the Pittsburgh front office, the last five as an assistant general manager.

“There’s so much more to it than you think of when you’re a player,” Guerin said. “When I started, I was fortunate to learn a lot of different departments and really see firsthand how it was done.”

He jumped right from his hockey jersey into a suit. Taking that next step up without the “assistant” tag to his new title in Minnesota, Guerin acknowledges there are a lot of other things to be responsible for as the general manager.

It’s about communication with ownership and staff, knowing what’s going on in the rest of the league and helping to support the business side of hockey.

“You just have so much more under your umbrella that you have to be aware of,” Guerin said. “I think every day is a little fire to put out.”

Maybe it wasn’t a fire, but Guerin already made a splash before the 2019-20 campaign even got started. On Sept. 14, he signed Spurgeon to a seven-year contract extension.  Guerin called the decision a “no-brainer” knowing how important Spurgeon’s been to the organization and then coming here to see how valuable Spurgeon is to what Guerin is trying to build in Minnesota.

“Just the way he let us know where he envisioned this team going was big for me,” Spurgeon said. “He has a vision of that.”

It’s been quiet so far on the trade front for Guerin, which could change as the All-Star Weekend and bye week hit. One of Guerin’s main focuses so far this season with his new team was getting to know everybody, evaluate everyone from players to the coaching staff, trainers and folks in hockey operations “and see what makes them tick,” Guerin said.

His time spent around the team will go in waves, he said, though this fall he was at every game as he got a feel for the team. But there will come a time where he’ll need a break from the team, and vice versa.

“If you watch your team too much, you either fall in love with them or hate them too much,” Guerin said. “There’s a fine balance there.”

Spurgeon sees the fact that Guerin isn’t too far removed from his playing days as an asset. He’s a GM that understands what players are going through and is someone to bounce ideas off of, Spurgeon said.

“If you do need to talk… you know it’s not someone who’s never played the game,” Spurgeon said. “At the same time, he demands a lot, and I think that’s a good thing to have.”

Guerin’s biggest challenge early on this season wasn’t necessarily in his control. It was not getting frustrated when the Wild started 0-4 overall and won just one of the first nine road games while taking up residence in the Central Division basement. Though the Wild rebounded some this season, they found themselves back in last place in the division and well out of a playoff spot just before the All-Star Break.

Make no mistake, Guerin said in November that he believes in this Wild group. He wants them to keep the attitudes positive, and they’ve done that, he said. The players have done what’s been asked of them, including their effort and commitment, Guerin said.

“They’ve all been very receptive,” Guerin said.

Guerin addressed the team prior to the season’s start, which seemed to go over well among the players. Listening to him excited a lot of people, said defenseman Matt Dumba. It was important for Guerin because he said he wanted to deliver a clear message of what he wants to start building in Minnesota.

“He definitely wants the best for all of us,” said Dumba, near the end of training camp. “He wants to instill that winning culture, that attitude.”

It was an easy transition with Guerin, even before the season got going, according to captain Mikko Koivu, who expected Guerin to have more of an impact on the team and individuals once the season got going.

“I think we’re excited to have him as our leader,” Koivu said.

The roots run deep for Guerin in Minnesota. Sure, he’s a native of Massachusetts and played for eight non-Minnesota NHL teams. But Guerin was drafted by the New Jersey Devils at Met Center in 1989. He even played a couple of games against the North Stars in 1993 before they moved to Dallas, where he played from 2002-06.

He remembers scoring a goal against the North Stars and Grand Rapids native Jon Casey.  It came during the first period of a 4-2 Devils loss to the North Starts on Jan. 28, 1993 during Guerin’s first full season in the NHL.

“In the old Met,” Guerin said. “And I loved it. I loved walking down the stairs to the ice. They had great ice. Great building.”

Mike Modano also scored in that game, for the North Stars. The hockey careers of Modano, now an executive advisor with the Wild, and Guerin have intertwined for years and eventually come full-circle here, too. They’ve been friends since they were 18 years old, Guerin said, were teammates in Dallas and on three Olympics and two World Cup teams.

Guerin wants the fans to know that there’s a great organization here and that some patience might be required as he does everything in his power to put together a great team.

“They’ve earned my respect,” Guerin said, of the Wild players. “They need me to be patient. They need me to be a solid foundation for them as well.”

Though patience might be the key as he continues to learn about his new team, Guerin said it’s not too early to have goals and a checklist in place. There’s a plan, he said, working with his team of assistant general manager Tom Kurvers, director of hockey analytics Mat Sells and director of hockey operations Chris O’Hearn.

“We’re executing it day-by-day,” Guerin said. “It’s not always just what’s in front of us. There are a lot of different things going on.”

The post The Man With The Plan appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.