The Winnipeg Jets have signed captain Blake Wheeler to a $41.25 million, five-year contract extension. General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff announced the signing Tuesday. Wheeler is a Plymouth native, who attended Breck, and is a former Golden Gopher star. The 32-year-old Wheeler led the Jets with a career-high 91 points last season. He had 23 goals, […]
Wild Add Local Product
(St. Paul, MN) — The Minnesota Wild have signed right wing Matt Read to a one-year, two-way contract. The deal, which was done on Monday, will pay Read $650,000 in the NHL and $200,000 in the AHL. Read has played his first seven NHL seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, totaling 87 goals, 100 assists and […]
Wild extend Zucker
When Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold turned over the team more than two months ago to general manager Paul Fenton, he was adamant the roster was strong enough to resist a rebuild. Enhancements to the fringe and commitments to the core have been the story of Fenton’s first summer with the Wild, who agreed to […]
Wild add new assistant GM
The Minnesota Wild have hired Tom Kurvers as assistant general manager. The Wild announced Kurvers’ hiring on Tuesday. He joins the team after spending the last 10 seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning, where he was senior adviser to Tampa Bay’s general manager the last seven years. Before joining the Lightning, Kurvers spent 11 seasons […]
NHL offseason heating up a bit
The first big free agent re-signing with his own team is just the beginning of the frenzy that’s to come around the NHL. Defenseman John Carlson signed a $64 million, eight-year deal with the Stanley Cup-champion Washington Capitals. His agent and the representatives for other pending unrestricted free agents were able to start talking to […]
Wild have new GM
Paul Fenton was hired as general manager of the Minnesota Wild on Monday, after 20 seasons in the front office with the division rival Nashville Predators. The 58-year-old Fenton spent the last 12 seasons as assistant GM for the Predators. He helped David Poile, the winningest general manager in NHL history, shape the roster that […]
Preview: World Hockey Championships
The hockey world championships have been overshadowed by the Olympic tournament since the 1998 Nagano Games, the first to feature NHL players. Not this year. The NHL’s decision to skip the Pyeongchang Olympics had an impact. Amid tepid interest in South Korea, the games were often played in half-empty arenas. It will be a different […]
Fletcher out as Wild general manager
When Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold entered the team’s new practice facility a couple of weeks ago, the organizational motto was staring him in the face. So was the advice he should make a change in the front office, despite his fondness of general manager Chuck Fletcher. ”It’s the first thing you see when you […]
Wild trying to keep season alive tonight
Nobody needs to tell Winnipeg Jets fans what happened the last time their team had a 3-1 lead in a playoff series. After Dave Ellett scored in double overtime in Game 4 of their first-round matchup against the Edmonton Oilers in 1990, Jets 1.0 went on to lose three consecutive games, continuing their decade-long heartbreak […]
Jets’ Morrissey suspended for tomorrow’s Game Five
Winnipeg Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey was suspended for one game by the NHL on Wednesday for cross-checking Minnesota Wild forward Eric Staal. The cross-check to Staal’s neck happened in the first period of Winnipeg’s 2-0 victory Tuesday night. Morrissey had a hearing with the league’s department of player safety Wednesday. No penalty was called on […]