The Minnesota Wild have their share of adversaries, creating Central Division rivals like the Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars through battles during the playoffs. But before Gary Bettman’s playoff format changed the NHL, the Wild’s first true rival was the Vancouver Canucks.
The Canucks and Wild rivalry was forged in 2003 when Minnesota overcame a 3-1 deficit and while Todd Bertuzzi, Alex Burrows and Matt Cooke all become public enemies in The State of Hockey, it’s been a while since that animosity has returned.
With that, Quinn Hughes may have re-opened the door. The Wild and Canucks are unlikely to meet in the playoffs due to the current playoff format and the two directions each franchise is heading. But December’s deal that sent him from Vancouver and Minnesota adds another dynamic to a rivalry that’s been largely dormant.
The Wild and Canucks could renew a dormant rivalry after the Quinn Hughes trade
The Wild’s history with the Canucks began with their inception in the year 2000. Placed into the Northwest Division, the Wild had a division-heavy schedule that included the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, the Avalanche and Canucks and most of the games between the two teams were played past many fans’ bedtime.
That all changed when the Wild met Vancouver in the 2003 Western Conference semifinals. Coming off a 3-1 comeback against the Avalanche in the first round, the Wild fell into another 3-1 hole to a Canucks team that “was unquestionably Vancouver’s best since the 1993-94 club that reached the Stanley Cup Final,” according to Alex Hoegler of The Canuck Way.
To add to the rivalry, Bertuzzi walked by a group of Wild fans in line to buy Game 6 tickets shortly after the conclusion of Game 4 and told them not to buy tickets because the series was going to be over after Game 5 per Kyle Anway of Hockey Wilderness. Not only did the Wild blow out Vancouver 7-2 on its home ice in Game 5, they smashed them 5-1 in Game 6, setting up a winner-take-all matchup north of the Border.
While the Wild fell behind 2-0, they scored four unanswered goals to win the series and advance to the Western Conference Finals for the only time in franchise history. The hard feelings didn’t stop when the final horn sounded as Wild head coach refused to shake Marc Crawford’s hand at the end of the series and Canucks GM Brian Burke called the Wild “a cult” due to their discipline in Lemaire’s neutral zone trap system.
The two fans joined in the fun, often trolling each other even before the existence of social media. When the NHL realigned in 2013, it was the unofficial end to the rivalry, but Hughes could add another strange chapter.
Wild’s forgotten rivalry could get a new chapter thanks to Quinn Hughes
The Wild are happy with acquiring Hughes, who helped transform Minnesota into a Stanley Cup contender. General Manager Bill Guerin is probably also really wishing Hughes likes his new team to the point where he signs a lucrative multi-year extension. But even if Hughes is in Minnesota for the long haul things could get interesting when the Canucks appear on the schedule.
Marco Rossi was the ninth overall pick by the Wild in the 2020 draft and seemed destined for a top-six role. But the Wild kept him in Iowa to develop through the first few years of his professional career and later demoted him to the fourth line during Minnesota’s 2025 playoff series against the Vegas Golden Knights. While the two sides agreed on a three-year contract extension the following summer, Rossi was the most NHL-ready prospect in the Hughes deal and could have an extra edge playing his former team.
The same goes for the two prospects that were sent in the deal. Liam Ohgren and Zeev Buium were both former first-round picks by the Wild, but Ohgren could never crack the NHL roster, losing a preseason competition to a motivated Marcus Johansson last fall.
Buium likely has better memories during his time in Minnesota. But while he has the skill set that could eventually catapult him into the conversation of the league’s top offensive defensemen, his timeline didn’t match up with the Wild’s current direction as a teenager getting used to life in the NHL at the time of the trade.
For what it’s worth, Buium has no hard feelings about his time in Minnesota, opting to wear the No. 24 as a nod to his former defensive partner Zach Bogosian and telling The Athletic’s Michael Russo that “You can’t be disappointed when you get traded for Quinn Hughes.”
But the way Hughes ended his departure in Vancouver has split Canucks fans down the middle and it’s sure to be an interesting reception when he makes his return on Oct. 25. Unless Vancouver’s rebuild goes faster than anticipated, it may be a while before the two teams can meet in the playoffs for the first time since the 2003 season (they also met in the 2020 qualifying round as part of the NHL’s bubble during the COVID-19 pandemic). But it’s an interesting wrinkle in a rivalry that one of the first Minnesota had in its return to the ice.
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