NHL announces Top Player Lists and Wild roster members make the cut

In the past 2 weeks the NHL has released lists of the Top- 10 NHL players from Finland, Sweden, Russia, Canada, Czech Republic, Slovakia and the United States. I think the lists were an aim to boost revenue overall in the NHL, people like to come to see the "bests" at anything... and if one of the Top 10 players happens to be on your home team than how could you not go out and buy tickets to a game or two... smart marketing.

Weather it was a smart marketing ploy by the NHL or an altruistic ranking for bragging rights alone, the Minnesota Wild can be proud to claim members from the lists. The No. 1 Finnish Player was Mikko Koivu and the No. 3 spot on the list went to the Wild's Niklas Backstrom. On the Top-10 Czech players list, MN Wild free agent Martin Havlat was ranked No. 7. Two former Wild roster members: Marian Gaborick (an obvious choice) and Pavol Demitra both made the Slovakian list. With the Wild making such a good showing on "the lists" if my guess is right and this is all a way to hype ticket sales, I would suggest buying MN Wild Tickets early before there are none left!

Wild Home Opener falls on HUGE sports weekend

The MN Wild Home Opener is always one of the biggest games of the season, and subsequently one of the hardest to get good tickets to. This year will be no exception, in fact it may even be harder than usual considering the sports scheduling phenomenon that occurred. All 4 of the big Fall sports teams in Minnesota are playing big games at home starting the weekend preceding the Wild's Home Opener, my prediction is that several will make it a long weekend in the Twin Cities and buy tickets to multiple events and turn the first weekend in October into a mini-vacation.

The Sports madness kicks off with the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers football team taking on rivals the Wisconsin Badgers at the new TCF Bank Stadium on Saturday October 3rd, then the Twins play their last home game in the Metrodome (ever) on Sunday October 4th, then Monday the Vikings take on the Green Bay Packers and to round off the "weekend" the Wild play their home opener against the Ducks on Tuesday October 6th.

I know that there are still Wild Tickets out there for the home opener, but if my prediction is right and people decide to make the weekend a fall break the seats won't last, so I would Buy your home opener tickets soon!

2009-2010 Minnesota Wild Schedule Announced

Yesterday the 2009-2010 Minnesota Wild Schedule was announced. MN Wild tickets immediately went on sale and many local ticket brokers are already posting Wild tickets on their websites.

The Wild Schedule will be an interesting one, with the home opener being played against the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday October 6 at 8:00. The Wild will also meet the Colorado Avalanche at home early in the season and will play the New York Rangers, the Vancouver Canucks and the Dallas Stars all at home almost consecutively about a month into the season.

New Wild Head Coach Todd Richards has promised several changes to how the Wild play hockey and seems to be holding true to his promise with changes in the roster and a new approach to play-making. Wild fans will be out in hoards early to get a look at all of the new players and the new coach, so if you were asking my advice I would suggest buying Minnesota Wild Tickets early before they sell out or the prices go up.

Gaborik Goes and Ticket Prices?

It has been quite the last few days in NHL news. The Draft last week shook teams up and re-arranged a thing or two. On the home front, Marian Gaborik's contract with the Minnesota Wild ran-out yesterday and he went into Free Agency, signing with the New York Rangers. Emotions about this loss seem to be very mixed. Some say that we should have held onto Gaborik that he was "the Wild" and as our star player we shouldn't have let him go even if he isn't healthy enough to play. This argument bases itself on Gaborik's name recognition, that even though he wasn't performing like he used to, the fans that aren't really hard-core associate Wild Hockey with him and losing him means we may lose some of those ticket sales.


However, the opposing argument says that getting rid of Gaborik even if we didn't trade him off was the best thing the Wild could do for ticket sales. By having the cap space that he took up to offer to other players, the Wild now has a real shot and cleaning up the roster and getting a team that is competitive. This argument also says that the "fair-weather" fans will come to games regardless because if they aren't glomming on to Gaborik they will find the someone else to turn into the "new-hot-Wild-player" and all will be good.


Either way, tickets are going to start to move as the season quickly approaches and one thing is for sure, when the Wild plays the Rangers there will be interesting things to be said when Gaborik's name gets called.

Could the draft make tickets more appealing?

The NHL draft is this Friday and although the MN Wild has the number 12 draft pick for the first round Wild fans are looking for some big changes on the roster. New Head Coach Todd Richards promised that he was going to drastically alter Wild Hockey, opting for a more fast-paced "up-tempo" game. In order to do that they Wild Roster is going to have to be shaken up and some major play-makers will need to emerge.


I wonder if this more high-energy throw them to the boards approach to hockey will entice fans to come to more games and ultimately raise demand for tickets? One thing is for sure, the buzz surrounding what the Wild will do with Gaborik before he becomes a free agent on July 1st is getting juicy. With rumors flying that Gaborik has purchased a house in Vancouver, could one of the most popular Wild players being headed north to play for the Canucks?

I guess fans will just have to wait and see what comes out of this weekend and early next week, but I think we can expect more changes from Todd Richards...

Will Minnesota Wild Ticket Sales be Affected by Regime Change?

Will Minnesota Wild Ticket Sales be affected by Regime Change? That is the question lingering on the minds of the Minnesota Wild ticket staff after the announcement of new GM Chuck Fletcher and new head coach Todd Richards. Both additions to the Wild are know for their fast paced aggressive offense focused ideology.

The question is, will that fast pace bring in fans game after game or will the new bodies in the organization take time to meld and become successful? The Wild are lucky to have a history of loyal followers, selling out the Xcel Energy Center since the beginning of the Wild Franchise. But will Wild Fans continue to scoop up Minnesota Wild Tickets if the team is not competitive next year? And by competitive I mean PLAYOFF MATERIAL.

Time will tell if the Wild GM and Wild Coach change builds fan support and sells Wild tickets or cools things off in the “State of Hockey” as the Fletcher/Richards duo rebuilds the organization to their standards.

Ticket King Twitters

I just noticed that my favorite Minnesota Ticket broker, Ticket king, has added a feature to their website. It looks as though, Ticket King is going to use Twitter to announce when they have lowered ticket prices on Minnesota Wild Tickets as well as tickets to all other events. I recommend that you sign up because it sure beats having to continuously go to Ticket King's main website to monitor their prices on the tickets that you are interested in. Simply go to the Ticket King website and sign up. It only took me 3 minutes!

As a side note, is anyone else sick of not having a Minnesota Wild Coach yet?