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players the Wild ever employed—his dry wit could leave teammates and reporters doubled over. Dubnyk comes in next, the most quotable goaltender in team history. After arriving from Arizona in 2015, he essentially saved the Wild's season. Dubnyk posted a shutout in Buffalo the day he arrived after taking a red-eye from Phoenix—flying coach, in a middle seat, all 6-foot-6 of him. Dubnyk went 27-9-2 with a 1.78 goals- against average, .936 save percentage and five shutouts for the Wild that season. He won 11 of 12 road games in the final two months, was lights out in the second of back- to-backs and somehow got Minnesota into the playoffs and a first-round series win against the Blues. He won the Masterton Trophy and was a Vezina Trophy finalist. TOP MOMENTS IN WILD HISTORY Andrew Brunette's 2003 Game 7 winner in overtime at Colorado: His goal in the 2003 Western Conference quarterfinals in Game 7 to end Patrick Roy's career helped a comeback from down 3-1 in the series and is still considered the greatest goal in franchise history. It deliv- ered Minnesota its first playoff series' win and Lemaire looked like a proud papa as he smiled and clapped on the bench as he watched his players celebrate. Marian Gaborik's five-goal game: My cousin's son's first-ever hockey game as a kid came Dec. 20, 2007. I remember Geoff explaining to Ellis that what he just witnessed was special and doesn't happen every game. Gaborik became the first NHLer in 11 years to score five times in a game, including a natural hat trick. His fifth was a breakaway with his sweater f loating behind him like a cape. That was his trademark look. Ryan Suter and Zach Parise's arrival: On the hottest day in Minnesota in years, with temperatures soaring triple digits, the Wild created fireworks by signing Suter and Parise to twin, 13-year, $98 million fran- chises. Parise was born in Minnesota, Suter in nearby Wisconsin and they joined forced wanting to play for their "hometown" Wild. They turned down several contracts around the league that would have paid them more, even for longer years, and they absolutely put the Wild on the map. Nino Niederreiter's 2014 Game 7 winner in overtime at Colorado: I've covered about 3,000 NHL games in my career and this was still the most exciting. On the road after the home team won the first six games of the series, the Wild rallied from a goal down four separate times to force overtime. Spurgeon's late third-period goal after waiting out a sliding-by Nathan MacKinnon was epic. Niederreiter picked up the assist on that goal, but on a 3-on-2 set up by Dany Heatley and Kyle Brodziak, Niederreiter streaking down the right wing whistled a bullet off the back bar that stunned the Avalanche and sent the Wild to Chicago for a second of three-straight years of playoff rounds unfortunately during the Blackhawks' dynasty. Kirill Kaprizov's record contract: Imagine the Wild without Kaprizov? The Wild couldn't either, so in order to make sure Kaprizov never leaves the State of Hockey, they signed him to the richest contract extension in NHL history before the season starting in 2026-27—an eight- year, $136 million contract ($17 million cap hit). Kaprizov is the centerpiece to the Wild's plans of building a Stanley Cup contender. Michael Russo writes for The Athletic. This is his 21st season covering the Wild and 31st covering the National Hockey League after previously covering the Florida Panthers. He co-hosts the Worst Seats in the House podcast on talknorth.com, which can be heard wherever you get your podcasts. Russo can be heard weekly on KFAN (100.3-FM) and seen throughout the hockey season on NHL Network. Follow Russo on X and Instagram at @RussoHockey and Facebook at /michael- russohockey. To subscribe to The Athletic, go to nytimes.com/athletic/author/michael- russo and click any article for a discount. P R E S E N T E D B Y Russo's Rants M H J ON L I N E . C O M | J A N / F E B 2 0 2 6 30 Photos / Getty Images The dual free agent signings of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter sent shockwaves throughout the hockey universe on July 4, 2012. Zach Parise Ryan Suter Nino Niederreiter's top-shelf Game 7 overtime winner against Colorado in 2014.