Stanley Cup Heroes, Part 14: Punching above their Weight

The current Minnesota Wild have a real chance to make a run at the Stanley Cup. At the very least, they could make it back to the 3rd round of the playoffs. Until they do that, they will be chasing the Wild team that came closer than any other. Minnesota calls itself the “State of Hockey”. Well, there was a time when that state didn’t have an NHL team. After the Minnesota North Stars moved to Dallas in 1993, there was a desire to bring back an NHL team in Minnesota. It would be Norm Coleman, former mayor of St. Paul, that would get Minnesota their new team. In 2000, the Minnesota Wild were born. As an expansion team, the Wild were bad, as expected, but they did have some bright spots: Their first ever head coach was Jacques Lemaire. Lemaire had won a Stanley Cup with the Devils in 1995 and was best known for The Trap system that defined the dead-puck era of the late 90s and early 2000s. Lemaire was the master of a strategy that had spread across the NHL by the time the Wild arrived to the league. Along with a great coach, Minnesota had drafted well. Their first ever draft pick in 2000 was Marian Gaborik, who quickly became a young star, scoring 30 goals in his 2nd season, while just 19-years-old. Their 2nd ever draft pick was Nick Shultz. While not a star like Gaborik, Schultz became a reliable defenseman before he could drink and was a regular in Minnesota’s lineup. In 2002, the Wild drafted Pierre-Marc Bouchard. He almost immediately was called up to the NHL team and became a reliable bottom 6 forward. Each of those players played at least 500 games with the Wild and were all apart of the 2002-03 team. Going into that season, they had no expectations. After 2 seasons near the bottom of the NHL, there was no reason to think their 3rd season ever would be any different. Well, thanks to some slick free agent signings, on top of the draft picks I mentioned, the Wild managed to finish 3rd in the stacked Northwest division (4 out of 5 teams made the playoffs) to make the playoffs for the first time ever. Jacques Lemaire won the Jack Adams as coach of the year, his 2nd time winning the award. It was easy to think the Wild were just going to enjoy the ride and bow out early when they were matched up with the Colorado Avalanche in round 1. The Avs had won the Stanley Cup 2 years earlier and still had many of the stars who made that happen. Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Patrick Roy and more. It was even easier to think Minnesota’s first playoff trip would be short when the Avs went up 3-1 in the series. The Wild proceeded to win the next 3 games and complete a massive upset. Each game ended with a final score of 3-2. Games 6 and 7 ended in overtime. The series winner was scored by current Predators head coach Andrew Brunette. In round 2, the Wild faced the chaotic, but talented Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks were led by the players’ MVP Markus Näslund. Once again, the Wild were the underdogs and the doubt grew stronger when they went down 3-1 in the series. For the 2nd consecutive time, Minnesota stormed back and won the next 3 games to win the series. This time they did it with 3 dominant performances with a combined score of 16-5. In their first ever playoff appearance, the Wild had made it all the way to the conference finals. Sadly, they would become another victim of JS Giguère’s legendary playoff run as they would only score 1 goal while getting swept in 4 games (see Get Giggy with it dyk to learn more). Jacques Lemaire’s trap is considered the biggest reason why Minnesota pulled this off, but it would be criminal to ignore some key contributors. Marian Gaborik, in his first ever playoff run, was excellent. The 20-year-old led the Wild in goals and points with 9 and 17 respectively. All of those came in the first 2 rounds (14 games) as he was one of many players shutout in the conference finals. Those numbers were good enough for 3rd in both goals and points, only behind players who played 6 more games than Gaborik. Inaugural free agent signing Wes Walz (who was 37) and the aforementioned Brunette (a 2001 free agent signing) were the only other players with more than 4 goals on the Wild (they had 7 each). Next season, the Wild missed the playoffs. To this day, the Minnesota Wild have never been back to round 3 of the playoffs. The his current Wild team is the best I’ve seen in my 26 years on this Earth. If any Minnesota team is going to get back, it’s them. Until then, the 2003 group will forever be Minnesota’s greatest Stanley Cup heroes. (Photo from left to right: Andrew Brunette, Jim Dowd and Pascal Dupuis)