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32 Backstrom25 Belanger47 Bergeron24 Boogaard96 Bouchard15 brunette8 burns26 foster10 Gaborik29 Harding5 johnsson9 koivu20 miettinen11 nolan2 reitz55 schultz51 Sheppard41 skoula19 Veilleux12 Weller3 ZidlickyDIVISION CHAMPS FOR FIRST TIME: An historic 2007-08regular season ended with the Wild’s first-ever divisionchampionship, following a record of 44-28-10 for 98points. The clincher came with a 3-1 win over Calgary onApril 3, behind a pair of historic goals from RW MarianGaborik. The victory also gave Head Coach Jacques Lemairehis 500th coaching victory.CAREER YEAR FOR GABBY: RW Marian Gaborik enjoyed hismost successful season yet – reaching career bests andfranchise records in goals (42) and points (83), includingthe NHL’s first five-goal game in nearly 11 seasons,against the New York Rangers on Dec. 20. He added an assistfor his second career six-point game. Gaborik also tiedhis own team record with eight GWG – three in overtime –and tied for the team lead with 11 PPG. Gaborik posted 10multi-goal games and 20 multi-point games while leadingthe Wild in plus-minus (+17). The Wild is 21-0-3 in thelast 24 games that Gaborik scores a goal, and 24-2-3 forthe season. The Wild enters the 2008-09 season 33-3-3all-time when Gaborik scores two or more goals, and24-0-2 when he has three or more points. March was ahuge month for Gaborik, who served as team captain forthe first time. He notched his 400th career point at ATL(3/7), while he reached another career milestone with his200th goal vs. LA (3/15). He posted two or more points five2007-08 Minnesota wildFront Row (left to right): Niklas Backstrom, Mario Tremblay, Mike Ramsey, Jacques Lemaire, Bob Naegele Jr., Craig Leipold, Bob Mason, Matt Shaw,Josh Harding Second Row (left to right): Matt Benz, Dr. Sheldon Burns, Dr. Dan Peterson, Don Fuller, Petteri Nummelin, Mark Parrish, Eric Belanger,Brian Rolston, Marian Gaborik, Mikko Koivu, Sean Hill, Pavol Demitra, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Dr. Joel Boyd, Mike Vogt, Travis Green, Kirk Olson ThirdRow (left to right): Tony DaCosta, Stephane Veilleux, Keith Carney, Martin Skoula, Todd Fedoruk, Matt Foy, Branko Radivojevic, Kim Johnsson, NickSchultz Top Row (left to right): Brent Proulx, Aaron Voros, Chris Simon, Derek Boogaard, Kurtis Foster, Brent Burns, Benoit Pouliot, James Sheppardtimes in the season’s final nine games (6-6=12).FRANCHISE MARKS FOR BACKSTROM: G Niklas Backstrom’ssecond season in a Wild uniform was also ahistorical one. He set franchise records for wins (33) andsaves (1,498). Backstrom, who had two of his four shutoutsin the season’s first four games, began the seasonwith a 5-0-1 mark, and ended it even better. Backstromwent 7-0-4 in his last 11 decisions, with a 1.61 GAA anda .944 SV% in that span. Backstrom won seven of his lasteight decisions (7-0-1) dating back to March 15, with a1.41 GAA and a .950 SV% in that time. Backstrom hasbeen stellar in March and April in his career, with just tworegulation losses in 26 decisions. Backstrom is 18-2-6with a 1.60 GAA in his career from Mar. 1 onward. He alsohas five of his nine shutouts in that span. Backstrom is37-0-2 when heading into the third period with the lead.He is 52-15-10 in his last 76 decisions and 43-12-8 in hislast 63. Backstrom and Josh Harding combined to play all82 games – just the second time in team history that nomore than two goalies played in a single season.500 FOR LEMAIRE: Wild Head Coach Jacques Lemairepicked up his 500th coaching victory (4/3) against Calgary.Lemaire became the 12th coach to reach that milestone– tying his former Montreal Canadiens coach, ToeBlake, for 11th all-time. Lemaire became the third NHLseason notescoach to obtain his 500th win last season, joining SanJose’s Ron Wilson and Florida’s Jacques Martin. Lemairealso became the 14th coach in NHL history to reach the1,000 regular season games coached plateau (12/18).Scotty Bowman is the NHL’s all-time leader with 1,244games won. Lemaire is also the only person in NHL historyto play in 800 games and coach in 1,000.BURNS CLAIMS WILD D-MAN RECORD: D Brent Burnsrewrote the Wild’s record book for defenseman scoring,posting 43 points (15-28=43) while becoming just thesecond blueliner in team history to play in all 82 games.The previous record for points was held by LubomirSekeras (11-23=34). The Wild went 11-1-3 when Burnsscored a goal this season. He also set franchise recordsfor power play points in a season by a defensemen with19 (8-11=19), and PPG by a defenseman (8). In addition,Burns scored four GWG – tying the franchise record for adefenseman and went 3-for-5 in shootout attempts whileranking third on the team with a +12.ASSIST RECORD FOR BOUCHARD: RW Pierre-MarcBouchard turned in a franchise-record 50 assists amonghis career-best 63 points (13-50=63) for the season.Bouchard broke the assist mark set in 2001-02 by AndrewBrunette (48) and surpassed his 59-point total in2005-06. Bouchard tied his career-high with four points(2-2=4) at VAN (1/21), while also becoming the secondplayer in team history to post 200 career points.KOIVU COMEBACK: Despite missing 24 games with acracked fibula and often being matched against an opponent’stop line, third-year C Mikko Koivu ranked second onthe team with a +13 while accruing 42 points (11-31=42)in 57 games. Beginning Feb. 27, Koivu picked up 16points (3-13=16) in 19 games as the Wild went 10-4-5.He topped the 19-minute mark in all but two of those18 games, including a career-high 25:06 in the divisionclincher over Calgary (4/3).RESPONSIBLE D: D Nick Schultz turned in a minus ratingjust once in his last 18 games. He was a +10 startingon Feb. 27, a span that saw the Wild go 10-4-4. Schultzmissed the season finale at COL (4/6) with flu-like symptoms(later diagnosed as appendicitits), snapping hisstreak of consecutive games played at 177 since March19, 2006, vs. CGY.LATE NIGHT RUN TO THE “FRIDGE”: LW Todd Fedoruk wasacquired off re-entry waivers from Dallas on ThanksgivingDay, and Fedoruk’s impact was huge. He posted 11points (6-5=11) and 106 PIM in 58 games with the Wild,establishing a new career-high in goals while picking upthe first two power play goals of his career. Fedoruk scoredthree goals in the season’s final six games.DEMITRA THE TABLE-SETTER: RW Pavol Demitra had hisstreak of nine consecutive 20-goal seasons snapped, buthe was an assist machine in the Wild’s late-season run.Demitra had six assists in a four-game streak to end theseason, and had 10 helpers in the last seven games. Demitraranked fourth on the Wild’s roster in points (15-39=54)and third in assists while ending the regular season with699 career points (281-418=699).30 AGAIN FOR ROLSTON: RW Brian Rolston tallied his 30thgoal of the season March 30 to notch a third straight seasonof 30 goals or better and fourth overall. The Wild went44-7-7 over the last two seasons when Rolston scores agoal. Rolston ended with 59 points (31-28=59).1,000 FOR CARNEY: D Keith Carney became the 14th activedefenseman and the 29th U.S.-born skater to appearin 1,000 career NHL games when he took the ice vs. CGY(2/24). Carney scored his lone goal of the season in theWild’s season finale at COL (4/6), and put up three points(1-2=3) over the campaign’s final four games.ROOKIE KEEPS PACE: C James Sheppard broke PascalDupuis’ mark for most games played by a Wild rookie (76in 2001-02). The Halifax, Nova Scotia native totaled 19points (4-15=19) in 78 games.THE BIG “VO”: LW Aaron Voros made a quick splash uponhis November recall from AHL Houston, scoring goals inback-to-back games (11/16 and 11/18). Voros had fourmultiple-point games in his first 21 contests and endedthe season fifth on the team in hits (96). Voros, whoovercame a tumor in his knee while playing at Alaska-Anchorage,was also nominated for the Bill Masterton MemorialTrophy by the Twin Cities chapter of the ProfessionalHockey Writers’ Association.A FLOURISH AT BEGINNING, END: Minnesota began theseason with five straight wins en route to a franchise-record7-0-1 start. The Wild struggled through a five-gamewinless streak Oct. 24-Nov. 1, and a four-game slideFeb. 19-26. But Minnesota used a 4-0-0 homestand Mar.26-Apr. 3 to clinch the division, outscoring opponents 13-4in the process, while suffering just two regulation lossesin its final 14 games overall (7-2-5).118 2008-09 MINNESOTA WILD TEAM GUIDE 2008-09 MINNESOTA WILD TEAM GUIDE 119Table of contents Hockey Operations Wild THings The Players Team History Team Records Playoff History The NHL