If there’s one thing lacking in the Minnesota Wild locker room, leadership definitely isn’t it.
Minnesota’s roster is loaded from top to bottom with veteran leaders like Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise, Ryan Suter and Eric Staal. Koivu, in particular, is entering his 11th (!) season as captain of the Wild. Zdeno Chara, Sidney Crosby and Jonathan Toews are the only active players with a longer reign as captain for their current clubs.
Unfortunately, Koivu’s time could be running out. He will become an unrestricted free agent next summer and, after suffering a devastating injury to his right knee in February (torn ACL and meniscus), it wouldn’t be a total shock if the 2019-20 season winds up being Koivu’s last rodeo with the Wild.