In an alternate timeline of Minnesota sports history, the NHL’s North Stars might have moved from Bloomington to downtown Minneapolis and shared Target Center with the NBA’s Timberwolves. Instead, Minnesota’s first pro hockey team moved to Texas in 1993, and became Thursday night’s foe – the Dallas Stars – for the Minnesota Wild’s preseason home opener.
And with discussion about the venues for NBA and NHL teams in the Twin Cities heating up again, 30-plus years later, the Wild’s owner made it clear that discussion of a shared facility for the hockey and basketball teams is a non-starter.
“We are gonna stay in St. Paul, and they’re gonna stay in Minneapolis,” said Wild owner Craig Leipold, talking to reporters in his Grand Casino Arena suite between periods on Thursday. “It’s pretty hard to negotiate from that point.”
The Wild have a decade remaining on their lease at Grand Casino Arena, which opened with the Wild the franchise’s arrival in Minnesota.
With the crowd still buzzing from two Marco Rossi goals just 10 seconds apart late in the first period, Leipold offered a bit of a buzzkill immediately, making it clear that he was not going to answer questions about the status of standout forward Kirill Kaprizov. There has been silence from both the team and from the player regarding Kaprizov’s future in Minnesota after the Russian star reportedly rejected the team’s initial contract extension offer of six years and $128 million.
“I really am serious. There’s nothing to gain, everything to lose,” Leipold said when pressed about Kaprizov’s situation. “I’m not touching this.”
With general manager Bill Guerin standing behind him, the owner reiterated that he has put things in the hands of his front office.
“I have a lot of patience. Billy’s the guy,” Leipold said. “He’s the one that does the negotiating no matter who it is. That’s his responsibility, his role. I think we’ve got a great relationship.”
When a reporter compared Kaprizov to former star forward Marian Gaborik, Leipold pushed back. Gaborik, heading into the final year of his contract in Minnesota, was injured early in the 2008-09 campaign, and the Wild were unable to trade or re-sign him. Gaborik eventually signed a free agent contract with the New York Rangers, with the Wild getting nothing in return.
“The Gaborik situation was a disappointing situation, but this is entirely different,” Leipold said.
On a day that began with the Wild unveiling a throwback jersey to commemorate their 25th year since joining the NHL as an expansion team in 2000, Leipold talked at length about the team’s arena, reiterating the need to update the rink to bring it more in line with the modern amenities offered at newer venues like Target Field (opened in 2010) and U.S. Bank Stadium (opened in 2016) in Minneapolis.
After their request for more than $700 million in state funding was barely considered at the State Capitol during the 2025 legislative session, Leipold talked of support from St. Paul mayor Melvin Carter and county government officials who are “listening” as the team prepares to ask the state for around $100 million in 2026.
“In order to survive in the NHL, you not only have to be in a market, a great market, which we are in,” he said. “We need to be in a really good building that gives us the opportunity and the chance to take advantage of all of the revenue streams that our competitors have in the NHL.”
Leipold was the first owner of the NHL’s expansion Nashville Predators in 1997, and sold that team to purchase the Wild from original owner Bob Naegele Jr. in 2008. He noted that despite the Wild not making it past the first round of the playoffs for more than a decade, season ticket renewals were at a 93 percent rate over the summer. And he admitted that getting past round one is very, very important both fiscally and psychologically, for the franchise and its fans.
“A second round run is really important. A third round run is outstanding,” he said. Asked about a “fourth round run,” which would mean a Minnesota team in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1991, Leipold looked flushed.
“I can’t even let my mind go there yet,” he said.
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