Cynical folks from about 40 other states and a handful of Canadian provinces like to poke fun at the self-proclaimed State of Hockey, noting that for all of Minnesota’s hockey talent and culture, the Stanley Cup has never been won here.
To the contrary, the NHL’s most revered trophy almost always makes a summer stop in Minnesota, when a triumphant player from Eden Prairie or White Bear Lake or Grand Rapids brings the chalice to their home rink for a day.
That will almost certainly be the case again in 2025, as there are Minnesotans sprinkled all over the rosters of the eight remaining playoff teams. But as it has been every year since the NHL first came to Minnesota in 1967, it won’t be the North Stars or the Wild taking possession of the Stanley Cup for the summer.
That leaves Wild fans, players and team management plenty to ponder between now and the September start of training camp. As they cleaned out their lockers and had exit interviews with coach John Hynes last week, here were five topics on the mind of Minnesota’s NHL club.
High expectations for David Jiricek
When Wild general manager Bill Guerin said that he feels the team is pretty well set in goal and on defense and will focus more on forwards when free agency begins, he wasn’t just thinking about the expected emergence of Zeev Buium on the Wild blue line.
The Wild will not have a first round pick in the NHL Draft next month, as that was part of the price (along with a player and three other picks) Guerin paid to bring hulking defenseman David Jiricek to Minnesota. Jiricek played six NHL games for the Wild, and spent 27 more in Iowa before a season-ending injury in late March.
“We want to see him on this team,” Guerin said last week. “We’ll have a spot, but how much he plays, where he plays, how high up the lineup he plays, situations, that’s up to him. He’s got to earn it. But we believe in him.”
Guerin called Jiricek’s season, “crazy,” but praised the 21-year-old from Czechia for his attitude and strong personality. They expect Jiricek to spend at least part of his summer in Minnesota training and skating with the Wild.
Planting the Flower
When he said goodbye to the NHL in a lengthy press conference last week, goalie Marc-Andre Fleury talked about all his wife and three children have sacrificed following the future Hall of Fame puck-stopper from Pittsburgh to Las Vegas to Chicago and eventually to Minnesota for the end of his career.
Fleury said his first goal is to be a husband and father and fill their needs for a while. And he made it clear that their immediate plans involve staying in Minnesota, ideally with the beloved player nicknamed “Flower” in some kind of role with the Wild. Fleury said he looks forward to having that conversation with Guerin.
“I feel like I’ll have to try different things, see what he has in mind, maybe if he has something for me. I think I know goalies better, but I don’t want to be a coach,” Fleury said. “I don’t want to do media, no TV, nothing like that. I don’t know if I can help the younger guys, maybe in some ways that could be fun, too. But I think my first thing though is I wanna be home more. I want to be there for my kids’ birthday and school play and just go walk Halloween with them and stuff like that. That’s my main concern.”
Guerin not too long ago was a retiring player that got a shot in management, and has found roles in the organization for a few recently-retired NHL defensemen with Minnesota ties. While not having specifics, Guerin vowed to find a place for Fleury.
“I will have a spot for him. What that is, I’m not sure yet. We’ll see what direction he wants to go in,” Guerin said. “But just like we did with Derek Stepan and Alex Goligoski, these guys are finishing long careers. They need some time to decompress and do some dad stuff and husband stuff, and get acclimated a little bit to retirement.”
Mats Zuccarello is anti-social
In the off-season, you might see veteran Wild forward Mats Zuccarello on the golf course or fishing or vacationing with family. You will not see him on Instagram, X or TikTok anytime soon.
In his season-ending press conference, Zuccarello commented on the negativity that is out there on social media platforms, and how in too many cases it has become an avenue to attack people, such as pro athletes, who work in the spotlight.
“I think it’s a good thing in the beginning, but now it’s becoming something that is just all negative, all bad stuff, you know,” he said. “Like in the beginning of it, you have Facebook to talk with friends that you didn’t talk to. Now, you’re just making a Twitter account to talk (crap) about someone. It’s a different world out there right now.”
While hockey players generally have thick skins and can take a fair amount of punishment on the ice, Zuccarello said it gets to them when players’ families have to read negativity directed at Wild players after a tough loss.
“You know it’s a part of the job, and it’s not just in hockey. It’s in everything, if you’re a known person out there,” Zuccarello said. “I think it’s probably people taking more abuse than us hockey players in terms of all of it, but it’s just like, a common thing in the world right now. It’s scary. It’s just all negative. The world needs to smile a bit more and be more positive.”
Despite missing close to a month due to a groin injury, Zuccarello had 19 goals in 69 games, which was one of his top five NHL seasons individually. He will be 38 when the next training camp begins.
Surgery for Joel Eriksson Ek
In a season where players paraded to the training room or operating room, the Wild were relatively healthy by playoff time, although Marcus Johansson missed time in the postseason due to injury.
Veteran Wild center Joel Eriksson Ek played well for his native Sweden in the 4 Nations Face-Off in February, then went on the injured list upon returning to Minnesota and was out for all of March, returning in time to score the last-minute goal that got the Wild into the playoffs in their final regular-season game.
At his exit interview with reporters, Eriksson Ek said he was likely to have surgery to repair a core muscle soon.
“I will probably have surgery on something, a little bit, hopefully next week. Nothing that’s going to be (an issue) into next season,” he said. “I mean, it’s hard I think. It’s part of it, but when it builds up like that, for sure it gets hard. Especially, I think, also mentally you get drained having those nagging things. It’s no fun. But like I said, it’s part of it. (I’m) just going to try to get healthy and feel good.”
Eriksson Ek was limited to 46 of 82 regular-season games in 2024-25, missing time with a broken nose in October. Guerin said he does not foresee offseason surgery for anyone else on the roster.
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