For 25 years, it’s been hard to pinpoint the Minnesota Wild’s biggest rival. Their early days in the Northwest Division paired them with the Vancouver Canucks, but that faded with time. The Chicago Blackhawks and Colorado Avalanche are also in the conversation, but it feels like things settle down once those playoff series ends. Each of those rivalries have a cool down period, but few represent the animosity between the Wild and Dallas Stars.
It’s only natural that Minnesota fans would despise Dallas after Norm Green moved the team in the mid-90s. Things hit another gear when the Wild defeated the Stars in last year’s playoffs for their first series win since 2015. There are other things that the Stars do that make them sound like nails on a chalkboard, but there’s enough evidence to suggest that things are only going to escalate from here as both teams enter a legitimate championship window.
The Wild and Stars could become the NHL’s next great rivalry
The rivalry between the Stars and the Wild were forged well before their inception when Green moved the team to Dallas in the fall of 1993. Green is still one of the biggest villains in Minnesota hockey lore for moving the team away and since then the Wild have tried to keep up with their former franchise as they became an almost annual participant in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Wild had some good teams during the 2010s that featured Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, but the Stars turned them away twice, defeating them in the first round of the 2016 playoffs. With Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy and others leading the way, the Stars once again defeated the Wild in six games during the 2023 playoffs before Minnesota broke through in a six-game series last spring.
The latest chapter between the Stars and the Wild brought some heat but things could intensify moving forward. While the Wild were competitive, they were never considered as a true Stanley Cup contender until this season after trading for Quinn Hughes. Even then, the Wild’s expectations have never been higher and they could be entering a golden era of the franchise with Kaprizov, Boldy and Brock Faber locked up for the long-term and Hughes potentially following suit if he signs a contract extension this summer.
But while the Wild will be in the mix for a Cup, so will the Stars. Recent contract drama with Jason Robertson aside, the Stars have plenty of talent including Wyatt Johnson, Mikko Rantanen and Roope Hintz, who are all under the age of 30. If Robertson re-signs, that adds another player in his prime into the fold, giving Minnesota plenty of opportunities to battle Dallas in the coming years.
This is especially true under Gary Bettman’s current playoff format. With Bettman striving to protect the best first round in sports, the Central Division should have no shortage of battles, especially with the Avalanche continuing to boast their championship core headlined by Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar.
That being said, there’s a case for the Wild and the Stars being the most intense. The pain of losing the North Stars will be in the minds of older fans. Younger fans may remember the pair of playoff exits and the 2021 Calder Trophy debate that saw Kaprizov edge out Robertson as the NHL’s top rookie. Both teams should be in the Cup picture for a few years and they’ll likely see each other frequently thanks to the current playoff format.
If Wild fans hate the Stars now, that feeling will only intensify in the coming years.
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