# 2010–11 Minnesota Wild season

The 2010–11 Minnesota Wild season was the 11th season of play for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 25, 1997.
The Wild posted a regular season record of 39 wins, 35 losses and 8 overtime/shootout losses for 86 points, failing to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs for the third consecutive season.

## Regular season

The Wild opened the season with two games at the Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, Finland, against the Carolina Hurricanes. Goaltender Josh Harding was seriously injured and the Wild signed free agent Jose Theodore to a one-year contract upon the team's return to Minnesota. The Wild ended the regular season with a 5–3 victory over the Dallas Stars, which eliminated the Stars from playoff contention. At the conclusion of the regular season, Todd Richards was fired as head coach.

## Playoffs

The Wild attempted to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since the 2007–08 season. However, a loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on April 2 eliminated the team from playoff contention.

## Standings

Northwest Division vte :
| | | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | p-Vancouver Canucks | 82 | 54 | 19 | 9 | 50 | 262 | 185 | 117 |
| 2 | Calgary Flames | 82 | 41 | 29 | 12 | 32 | 250 | 237 | 94 |
| 3 | Minnesota Wild | 82 | 39 | 35 | 8 | 36 | 206 | 233 | 86 |
| 4 | Colorado Avalanche | 82 | 30 | 44 | 8 | 24 | 227 | 288 | 68 |
| 5 | Edmonton Oilers | 82 | 25 | 45 | 12 | 23 | 193 | 269 | 62 |
Western Conference :
| R | | Div | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | p – Vancouver Canucks | NW | 82 | 54 | 19 | 9 | 50 | 262 | 185 | 117 |
| 2 | y – San Jose Sharks | PA | 82 | 48 | 25 | 9 | 43 | 248 | 213 | 105 |
| 3 | y – Detroit Red Wings | CE | 82 | 47 | 25 | 10 | 43 | 261 | 241 | 104 |
| 4 | Anaheim Ducks | PA | 82 | 47 | 30 | 5 | 43 | 239 | 235 | 99 |
| 5 | Nashville Predators | CE | 82 | 44 | 27 | 11 | 38 | 219 | 194 | 99 |
| 6 | Phoenix Coyotes | PA | 82 | 43 | 26 | 13 | 38 | 231 | 226 | 99 |
| 7 | Los Angeles Kings | PA | 82 | 46 | 30 | 6 | 36 | 219 | 198 | 98 |
| 8 | Chicago Blackhawks | CE | 82 | 44 | 29 | 9 | 38 | 258 | 225 | 97 |
| 8.5 |||||||||||
| 9 | Dallas Stars | PA | 82 | 42 | 29 | 11 | 37 | 227 | 233 | 95 |
| 10 | Calgary Flames | NW | 82 | 41 | 29 | 12 | 32 | 250 | 237 | 94 |
| 11 | St. Louis Blues | CE | 82 | 38 | 33 | 11 | 34 | 240 | 234 | 87 |
| 12 | Minnesota Wild | NW | 82 | 39 | 35 | 8 | 36 | 206 | 233 | 86 |
| 13 | Columbus Blue Jackets | CE | 82 | 34 | 35 | 13 | 29 | 215 | 258 | 81 |
| 14 | Colorado Avalanche | NW | 82 | 30 | 44 | 8 | 24 | 227 | 288 | 68 |
| 15 | Edmonton Oilers | NW | 82 | 25 | 45 | 12 | 23 | 193 | 269 | 62 |
bold – qualified for playoffs; y – Won division; p – Won President's Trophy (best record in NHL) CE – Central Division, NW – Northwest Division, PA – Pacific Division

## Schedule and results
### Regular season

2010–11 Game Log :
Legend:
  Win (2 points)
  Loss (0 points)
  Overtime/shootout loss (1 point) :

## Player statistics
### Skaters

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalty minutes
Regular season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Martin Havlat | 78 | 22 | 40 | 62 | −10 | 52 |
| Mikko Koivu | 71 | 17 | 45 | 62 | 4 | 50 |
| Andrew Brunette | 82 | 18 | 28 | 46 | −7 | 16 |
| Brent Burns | 80 | 17 | 29 | 46 | −10 | 98 |
| Matt Cullen | 78 | 12 | 27 | 39 | −14 | 34 |
| Pierre-Marc Bouchard | 59 | 12 | 26 | 38 | −3 | 14 |
| Kyle Brodziak | 80 | 16 | 21 | 37 | −4 | 56 |
| Antti Miettinen | 73 | 16 | 19 | 35 | −3 | 38 |
| Cal Clutterbuck | 76 | 19 | 15 | 34 | −5 | 79 |
| John Madden | 76 | 12 | 13 | 25 | −9 | 10 |
| Marek Zidlicky | 46 | 7 | 17 | 24 | −6 | 30 |
| Nick Schultz | 74 | 3 | 14 | 17 | −4 | 38 |
| Chuck Kobasew | 63 | 9 | 7 | 16 | −6 | 19 |
| Jared Spurgeon | 53 | 4 | 8 | 12 | −1 | 2 |
| Eric Nystrom | 82 | 4 | 8 | 12 | −16 | 30 |
| Clayton Stoner | 57 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 5 | 96 |
| Brad Staubitz | 71 | 4 | 5 | 9 | −5 | 173 |
| Greg Zanon | 82 | 0 | 7 | 7 | −5 | 48 |
| Patrick O'Sullivan$^†$ | 21 | 1 | 6 | 7 | −1 | 2 |
| Guillaume Latendresse | 11 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 8 |
| Cam Barker | 52 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −10 | 34 |
| Justin Falk | 22 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −4 | 6 |
| Carson McMillan | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Marco Scandella | 20 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −9 | 2 |
| Casey Wellman | 15 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 4 |
| Warren Peters | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −2 | 4 |
| Colton Gillies | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −2 | 2 |
| Jed Ortmeyer | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 2 |
| Drew Bagnall | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 4 |
| Robbie Earl | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 | 0 |
| Matt Kassian | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 12 |
| Cody Almond | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Maxim Noreau | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
| Nate Prosser | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; TOI = Time on ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime losses; GA = Goals against; GAA= Goals against average; SA= Shots against; SV= Saves; Sv% = Save percentage; SO= Shutouts
Regular season :
| Player | GP | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | Sv% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Niklas Backstrom | 51 | 2978 | 22 | 23 | 5 | 132 | 2.66 | 1566 | .916 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Jose Theodore | 32 | 1793 | 15 | 11 | 3 | 81 | 2.71 | 963 | .916 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Anton Khudobin$^‡$ | 4 | 189 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1.59 | 86 | .942 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
$^†$Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Wild. Stats reflect time with Wild only. $^‡$Traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with Wild only.

## Awards and records
### Awards

Regular season :
| Player | Award | Awarded |
| Jose Theodore | NHL Third Star of the Week | January 10, 2011 |

### Milestones

Regular season :
| Player | Milestone | Reached |
| Antti Miettinen | 400th Career NHL Game | October 7, 2010 |
| Brent Burns | 100th Career NHL Assist | October 19, 2010 |
| Justin Falk | 1st Career NHL Assist 1st Career NHL Point | October 19, 2010 |
| John Madden | 800th Career NHL Game | October 28, 2010 |
| Matt Kassian | 1st Career NHL Game | November 5, 2010 |
| Marco Scandella | 1st Career NHL Game | November 12, 2010 |
| Matt Cullen | 300th Career NHL Assist | November 15, 2010 |
| Marco Scandella | 1st Career NHL Assist 1st Career NHL Point | November 17, 2010 |
| Brad Staubitz | 100th Career NHL Game | November 20, 2010 |
| Matt Cullen | 900th Career NHL Game | November 24, 2010 |
| Jared Spurgeon | 1st Career NHL Game | November 29, 2010 |
| Brent Burns | 400th Career NHL Game | December 12, 2010 |
| Patrick O'Sullivan | 300th Career NHL Game | December 16, 2010 |
| Kyle Brodziak | 100th Career NHL Point | December 20, 2010 |
| Mikko Koivu | 400th Career NHL Game 200th Career NHL Assist | January 2, 2011 |
| Clayton Stoner | 1st Career NHL Goal | January 4, 2011 |
| Patrick O'Sullivan | 100th Career NHL Assist | January 6, 2011 |
| Kyle Brodziak | 300th Career NHL Game | January 11, 2011 |
| Anton Khudobin | 1st Career NHL Shutout | January 16, 2011 |
| Pierre-Marc Bouchard | 200th Career NHL Assist | January 18, 2011 |
| Cal Clutterbuck | 200th Career NHL Game | January 19, 2011 |
| Martin Havlat | 200th Career NHL Goal | January 19, 2011 |
| Antti Miettinen | 200th Career NHL Point | January 25, 2011 |
| Jared Spurgeon | 1st Career NHL Assist 1st Career NHL Point | January 25, 2011 |
| Andrew Brunette | 1,000th Career NHL Game | February 1, 2011 |
| Mikko Koivu | 300th Career NHL Point | February 3, 2011 |
| Martin Havlat | 600th Career NHL Game | February 16, 2011 |
| Martin Havlat | 500th Career NHL Point | February 20, 2011 |
| Jared Spurgeon | 1st Career NHL Goal | February 22, 2011 |
| Martin Havlat | 300th Career NHL Assist | March 6, 2011 |
| Marek Zidlicky | 500th Career NHL Game | March 6, 2011 |
| Nick Schultz | 100th Career NHL Assist | March 19, 2011 |
| Andrew Brunette | 700th Career NHL Point | March 26, 2011 |
| Matt Cullen | 500th Career NHL Point | March 31, 2011 |
| Pierre-Marc Bouchard | 300th Career NHL Point | March 31, 2011 |
| Carson McMillan | 1st Career NHL Game 1st Career NHL Goal 1st Career NHL Point | April 3, 2011 |
| Drew Bagnall | 1st Career NHL Game | April 8, 2011 |
| Carson McMillan | 1st Career NHL Assist | April 10, 2011 |

## Transactions

The Wild have been involved in the following transactions during the 2010–11 season.
Trades
Date
Details
June 21, 2010
To San Jose Sharks 5th-round pick in 2010 – Freddie Hamilton
To Minnesota Wild Brad Staubitz
June 26, 2010
To Florida Panthers 3rd-round pick in 2010 – Joe Basaraba 4th-round pick in 2010 – Joonas Donskoi
To Minnesota Wild 2nd-round pick in 2010 – Jason Zucker
February 28, 2011
To Boston Bruins Anton Khudobin
To Minnesota Wild Jeff Penner Mikko Lehtonen
March 1, 2011
To Columbus Blue Jackets Petr Kalus
To Minnesota Wild Future considerations :
Player signings
PlayerContract terms
Jean-Michel Daoust1 year, $500,000
Chad Rau2 years, $1.075 million
James Sheppard1 year, $803,250
Brad Staubitz2 years, $1.15 million
Nate Prosser1 year, $650,000
Matt Kassian2 years, $1.025 million
Guillaume Latendresse2 years, $5 million
Jon DiSalvatore2 years, $5 million
Jamie Fraser2 years, $5 million
Robbie Earl1 year, $550,000
Josh Harding1 year, $1.2 million
Mikko Koivu7 years, $47.25 million contract extension
Dennis Endras1 year, $660,000 contract extension
Brett Bulmer3 years, $2.43 entry-level contract :

## Draft picks

Minnesota's picks at the 2010 NHL Entry Draft in Los Angeles, California.
| Round | # | Player | Position | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
| 1 | 9 | Mikael Granlund | C | Finland | HIFK (SM-liiga) |
| 2 | 39 | Brett Bulmer | RW | Canada | Kelowna Rockets (WHL) |
| 2 | 56 (from Washington) | Johan Larsson | C | Sweden | Brynäs IF (J20 SuperElit) |
| 2 | 59 (from Philadelphia via Los Angeles and Florida) | Jason Zucker | RW | United States | U.S. National Team Development Program (USHL) |
| 6 | 159 | Johan Gustafsson | G | Sweden | Färjestad BK Jr. (Sweden Jr-2) |
| 7 | 189 | Dylan McKinlay | RW | Canada | Chilliwack Bruins (WHL) |

## Farm teams

The Houston Aeros remain Minnesota's primary American Hockey League affiliate in 2010–11 and the Bakersfield Condors will become the team's ECHL affiliate in 2010–11.