As Wild fans are becoming Twins fans (shout out to the AL-best Twinkies), the drama involving Minnesota's favorite professional hockey club has come to the surface yet again. According to Michael Russo of The Athletic, the Wild attempted, yet again, to move young winger Jason Zucker in a trade, this time for elite sniper and hot dog lover Phil Kessel. Kessel nixed a trade to St. Paul, however, as he refused to waive his NTC. This is the second time Zucker had been on the block since the trade deadline in February, when he was nearly traded to the Calgary Flames. Zucker, a winger with 20+ goals in 4 of the last 5 seasons, has become trade bait. Most people would wonder why a team would trade someone who as rather consistently scored goals when that's what the Wild are sorely needing. To me, the answer is simple: Zucker has run afoul of the Wild big boss, owner Craig Leipold.
Craig Leipold purchased the Wild from Bob Naegele Jr. in 2008, and when he came in, he said all the right things. He wanted a Stanley Cup for the Twin Cities, and he was willing to spend. After hiring GM Chuck Fletcher in 2009, the pair began to rebuild the mediocre Wild, drafting players such as Mikael Granlund, Jason Zucker, Matt Dumba, and signing free agents Thomas Vanek, Eric Staal, and two nobodies named Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. It all looked like rainbows and puppy dogs for the Wild for years to come, but this was not the case.
The Wild would make the playoffs the first year after signing Parise and Suter to massive 13 year contracts, being bounced by Chicago in 5 games. The only game they won was on a OT winner by Zucker, who worked to the dots and fired one home in game 3. This would start a string of losing to Chicago in the playoffs for the Wild that they never got over, losing out to the Blackhawks each of the next 2 seasons as well. Finally, after losing in the first round 3 years in a row, Fletcher was relieved of his duties and Paul Fenton, an executive in Nashville for years, was brought in to turn the ship around.
He would not do so. The Wild missed the playoffs for the first time in 6 years, and they did so awfully. While the team's record was not horrible (37-36-9), the team couldn't win at home and they gave up more first goals than any team in the league. They looked old and slow, not leaving fans with much confidence the team could be patched before next season. A full rebuild was at hand.
Or so we thought. After rumors of trading Zucker for elite talent in their prime years, it seems that Fenton has decided on a quick fix to get the team back to the playoffs, even though the team looked way beyond the help of Kessel or any one player. So the question becomes: Why? Why is the Wild attempting a playoff comeback when they obviously lacked the offensive talent to win in the playoffs? The answer is simple. Craig Leipold.
It's long been known Leipold wants to win. He's said it in basically every interview he's given since purchasing the Wild. But it's become something of a farce since last year, when it became painfully clear the team was, again, mediocre. And he's involved with the team, for sure, because he's good friends with Ryan Suter, since the two have been attached at the hip after Suter was drafted by the Predators in 2003. This has lead to many accounts of there being a clear divide in the Wild locker room between veterans and young guys, and it's clear that hasn't ever gone away.
The Wild shipped off most of their young core last year, trading Granlund, Coyle, and Niederreiter before the deadline. The new young guys (Kunin, Greenway, Eriksson Ek, and Donato) are younger, for sure, but they also have had growing pains. Both Greenway and Eriksson Ek spent time in Iowa last year for poor play, and Donato was shipped out of Boston before he ever wowed anyone. It's now totally clear who's running the team, and it's the vets.
The last piece of a once-promising young core is Zucker. Drafted by the Wild in the second round of the 2010 NHL draft, Zucker hasn't exactly been a star, but his hard work, speed, and philanthropy has made him a fan favorite with the Wild faithful. Yet, he's almost been traded twice.
It's clear this is a decision that comes from the top. Leipold wants playoffs, no matter what. He'll sell off anyone young for the absolute slimmest chance of a series win, and he's shown it yet again. Fenton has become his puppet, trading players just for the taste of the first round. With Coyle in the finals and Niederreiter making the Eastern Conference Finals, it's obvious those trades weren't made to make the team better. They were made to ship guys out that Leipold wanted out. The man who claimed he wanted to bring a championship to St. Paul has decided that the playoffs are good enough, and he's telling his GM the same. The Wild will never raise a Cup under Leipold's ownership, and his meddling in the team could hurt them for the next decade. So thanks, Leipold, for being a worse owner than Norm Green.
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