Matthew and Brady Tkachuk. Jakob Chychrun. Nick and Marcus Foligno. Max Domi. The Hughes brothers. In these cases and more, hockey talent has developed a track record of being genetic.
The Minnesota Wild faced the Nashville Predators to start their nine-game homestand on Sunday. It was an emotional evening as the organization retired the first jersey in franchise history.
In a ceremony that didn’t leave many dry eyes in the arena, the Minnesota Wild retired their first jersey in franchise history on Sunday which belonged to their first permanent captain, Mikko Koivu.
February 2021 was plenty eventful around the NHL.
The No. 9 worn by Mikko Koivu will be retired by the Minnesota Wild — the first player to have the honor bestowed by the franchise. The ceremony will take place March 13 before a game against the Nashville Predators at Xcel Energy Center.
The Minnesota Wild department at The Hockey Writers wrote up a series that looked into the franchise’s top 10 players all-time in honor of their 20th anniversary last season.
His career ends with 1,035 regular-season games, all but seven of which came with the Minnesota Wild. Just two of his 711 career points came with Columbus.
Mikko Koivu will remain in the NHL for at least one more season, as the 37-year-old is reportedly finalizing a one-year deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The native of Finland was drafted sixth overall by Minnesota in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. Koivu debuted with the Wild in 2005 and has served as the team's captain for the last 11 seasons.
The Minnesota Wild of the NHL rotated the captaincy for their first nine seasons on a monthly basis among several of its players each season, with some players serving multiple times under Jaques Lemaire. After Todd Richards became head coach for the start of the 2009–10 season, the team elected it's first permanent captain on October 20, 2009. Can you name the rotating captains of the Minnesota Wild?
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