5- What the heck is a CITY sport that has the STATE for the name of its sport team. I don’t get that at all. Take the name of your CITY for Christ sake!!! It’s like the Carolina Hurricanes (the Raleigh Hurricanes) or the Florida Panthers (the Miami Panthers, there is another STATE hockey team, hello??? Tampa Bay Lightning). And that’s the way it should be for the Wild AS WELL : The St-Paul’s Wild period.
4- They lost their NHL team in 1992 (North Stars) and got it back in 2000 (Wild) despite being an American team from the NORTHERN part. Go figure out. I thought that Gary Bettman was only willing to waste invest NHL fan money through useless and wasteful SOUTHERN NHL team that don’t even give a f*ck about hockey and NHL. Despite being there 10 years in Atlanta and Phoenix, NHL has to GIVE their tickets with Subway combos and even then, stadiums are running a quarter empty (at 7000 people) with 6000 that don’t even know what a hockey puck is.
Just like Colorado (with Rockies departure at the beginning of the 80s), they ended up getting back what they lost. However, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Houston, San Francisco and Hamilton never ever got a chance for an NHL franchise…WHA come back anybody?????
In Quebec, it’s been 15 years and still no answer from the NHL, in Winnipeg it’s been 14 years and still no answer from the NHL, in Hartford, it’s been 13 years and still no answer. How come 8 YEARS goes by and Minnesota gets answered? Probably some brown bag with a lot of money in it has been offered to Bettman and co.
3- In 2004, in Montreal, we lost the Expos and most likely, we’ll NEVER get them back until the MLB realizes just like the NFL that small markets NEED to be protected with a system based on revenu sharing and salary cap.
However, Minnesota Twins (once again the STATE name, not the Mineapolis Twins go figure out), kept their team and they are making the playoff this year (despite the fact that NY Yankees, the richest team of the MLB that keeps on buying championship will wash them away with a few strike outs and home runs, go Rodriguez and Jeter go!!)
Link : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Twins
2- Jacques Lemaire : The Minnesota Wild got boring like hell when they realized with the help of Jacques Lemaire that playing the trap would bring them success. Fortunately in 2003, they did not make the final and got kicked back by JS Giguère who blanked them 3 times in a row for the Mighty Ducks and ended up winning the Calder trophee, the last time the LOSING team of the final got the player who lifted the Calder.
1- Guillaume Latendresse and José Théodore : Players who leave Montreal like John Leclair and Eric Desjardins have the reputation to become way better when they leave Montreal and realize themselves to their fullest potential. Watch out for Latendresse but be reassured, there is no risk with Théodore who is a washed-up goalie anyways since a long long time (since he won the Hart and Vezina the same year in 2003).
