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Joel Eriksson Ek, Minnesota Wild (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

Thoughts on the Minnesota Wild’s Quarter-Century Teams

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Mariah E. Stark | Last updated Jan 23, 2025 11:20 AM ET

A couple of weeks ago, the NHL announced the first and second Quarter-Century teams for the Minnesota Wild, and it’s time to take a look at who they chose. The Wild have only been around for nearly a quarter of a century, so they are one of a handful of teams that have fewer players to choose from compared to the rest of the NHL.

Most of the names on these lists were obvious choices, but could others deserve to be on the list and were overlooked? In this article, we’ll look at the names they chose, who should and shouldn’t have been selected from those names, and then add any names that might have been left off. We’ll start with the chosen names that had to be on that list.

Wild’s Automatic Picks

One of the first names that comes to mind for the Quarter-Century Wild team is Marián Gáborík. Before Kirill Kaprizov, he was one of, if not the top gifted, goal scorer the team has ever seen. While other teams have a handful of names that come to mind for truly gifted goal scorers, the Wild have only seen two. Of course, they had and currently have very talented players; some are just a level above, and Gáborík was one of them. He still sits second on the Wild’s all-time points leaders with 437 points in over 500 games played.

While Gáborík was an easy choice for this team, the next name was likely even easier and will be the top choice for any Wild-themed teams and awards like this for years. Kaprizov has earned this spot on the Quarter-Century team, and he’s only played with them for five seasons. However, over those five seasons, he’s climbed to fifth on the Wild’s all-time points leaders with 380 points in 312 games played and will likely climb into fourth place before the season is over, as he’s only 17 points behind Jared Spurgeon in fourth place.

This article alone could be spent talking about these two players’ achievements, but others on this team deserve attention. The third and final forward on the first team was the first-ever permanent captain of the Wild, Mikko Koivu. Of course, he deserves the third and final spot on the first team. Despite being retired for nearly four seasons, he still holds the top spot for most points in a Wild jersey with 709 points in 1,028 games. Among other things, he’s one of the best players they had and will always be synonymous with the Wild name. He was also the first Wild player to have his jersey retired.

It’s no surprise the Wild’s current captain, Spurgeon, is on the list for defense; he is the top point-producing defenseman all-time and continues to be a strong leader. His 397 points, likely to be over 400, will keep him at the top of the defense list for some time, so he earned his spot on this team. His current teammate, Jonas Brodin, made it on clearly for his defensive skills, not his offense. He is one of the Wild’s best defensemen they’ve had. However, it’s not thanks to his offense; while he’s scored goals, it’s not a huge number, but he still earned that spot on the Quarter-Century team. Thanks to his blocking skills and keeping the puck out of his team’s net.

That leaves the goaltending spot, and while the Wild haven’t had a lot of top goaltenders over the years, Niklas Bäckström is likely the first name that comes to mind for the most successful in Wild history. He came in and stole the show, quickly rising to be the starting goaltender and never looking back. He has the most wins in a Wild jersey with 194 wins in 409 games played, which is also the most a goaltender has played for the Wild currently. He was a shoo-in for the top goaltender spot, as he brought a lot of success to the team over the years.

Wild’s Second Team

Every player on the Wild’s top team earned their spot, but what about the second team? It comprises Andrew Brunette, Joel Eriksson Ek, Zach Parise, Nick Schultz, Ryan Suter, and Devan Dubnyk. These players are again worthy candidates for their position, and by the time he’s finished his career with the Wild, Eriksson Ek may be worthy of the top team, maybe knocking someone else out.

This team is a little harder to pick and choose; while Brunette did a great job in his career with the Wild, it’s surprising that he made the team. Several other forwards could’ve filled that spot due to higher point totals in fewer seasons, but again, Brunette made his mark with the team, especially with his Game 7 overtime-winning goal against the Colorado Avalanche back in 2003. He scored the final goal in Patrick Roy’s career and put his name in franchise history.

Parise and Suter came to the Wild as a pair and will be talked about as a pair. While things didn’t necessarily end the best when they were bought out, they did make their fair share of contributions to the team to be put on this team. It’s also hard to exclude Parise since he’s a favorite in Minnesota.

Nick Schultz is one player who could’ve been considered for the top team as he was a strong defenseman with the Wild but couldn’t quite get the higher point totals, which is likely why he wasn’t considered. He earned his second-team spot, leaving the goaltender Devan Dubnyk. After Bäckström, Dubnyk would be the next name on the list for great Wild goaltenders, and he likely would’ve made it to the top team if he’d played longer than six seasons.

Wild’s Snubbed Names

While all of the first and second team members earned their spots, and there’s a limited number of spots, there will be names left off the list. A couple of those names are players from the team’s early days, like Pierre-Marc Bouchard, who was known for his spin-o-rama move and his speed, or Brent Burns, who was known for his beard and defensive skills. There’s also Brian Rolston, known for his wicked slapshot, which beat nearly every goaltender he faced.

Now, to the more current names, it’s easy to understand why his name was left off the list since he’s so young and only in his third season with the Wild, but Brock Faber should’ve been strongly considered. Despite his age, the things he’s done for the Wild’s defense have stood out, and he’s only likely to get better. Matt Boldy will likely make his way up the charts if he continues to score goals, and possibly Marco Rossi.

However, the one name that will likely not be considered because his career has been short but sweet with the Wild is Marc-André Fleury. While it’s understandable that his name isn’t on the list, he should be given an honorable mention. What he’s done in his short time with the Wild and the fanbase as a whole maybe hasn’t earned a top team spot in terms of points, but character-wise and, his windmill glove save earned him something.

Wild Have Depth

It’s been said over and over recently how lucky the Wild are in terms of their current depth and prospects. When looking back over the seasons to see all the names that could be worthy of a spot on the first or second team, there are quite a few names, which means the Wild have had depth over the years, too, in terms of strong players.

Looking over these names has brought up a lot of memories of fun plays by these players and remembering teams from seasons past. The Wild haven’t been around long, but they’ve had a lot of talent over those years, and it’ll be even more fun to see the amount of talent when they’ve been around another 25 years to make it 50.

Some stats courtesy of Elite Prospects