WILD LEARNS FROM FIRST TWO YEARS, LOOKS TO FUTURE
Apr 5, 2015By Tom Witosky
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Owner Craig Leipold visited Des Moines Friday to make one thing clear as the Iowa Wild’s second American Hockey League season comes to an end next week.
“We are glad we came here. There are no regrets at all and I am hoping in the community there are no regrets,” Leipold, owner of the National Hockey League’s Minnesota Wild and its AHL franchise, said. “We want to be here and want to be a part of the Des Moines community for a long time. “
That said, Leipold and Chuck Fletcher, the NHL Wild’s general manager, understand that the last two seasons – while a business success – has left a lot to be desired on the ice and they intend to do what is necessary to turn the Iowa Wild into a playoff caliber team.
“We are committed to making this work and certainly the product on the ice hasn’t been what we had hoped,” Fletcher said. “We are committed to being here and putting the resources in to make this better going forward.”
With the team mired at the bottom of the AHL Western Conference standings, Iowa will be sitting out the playoffs for the second straight season – something that happened only twice in 12 seasons when the club played in Houston. In 2013, Leipold moved Minnesota’s AHL franchise to Des Moines as a means of bringing the club closer to the parent organization – a move that more NHL teams are emulating as a mean of cutting costs as well as convenience in moving players back and forth.
Leipold said that he has been gratified by the support the club has received in Des Moines and is pleased that the club has become part of the community.
“From a business perspective, we are very happy where we are,” Leipold said. “The management team that is here is fantastic. Our players are so active in the community and that is one of the commitments we did make.”
He also said that the combination of good facilities like Wells Fargo Arena and a city that is easy to live in has been noticed by players throughout the AHL.
“Our players love to play here with is a great arena,” Leipold said. “From a player perspective, this is a great place and around the league this place is thought of being a really nice place to play.”
Leipold also said that the players and the Minnesota front office have a deep appreciation for the fan support from Des Moines area fans. Average attendance – with only a few home games remaining – ranks 11th in the AHL at 5,704 per game.
“We feel very lucky about the support and we want Des Moines fans to feel that they are a part of the Minnesota Wild organization,” he said.
As part of that effort, for example, Iowa Wild season ticket purchasers for next season will be given an opportunity to purchase tickets for Minnesota’s first outdoor home game against the Chicago Blackhawks at TCF Bank Stadium on the University of Minnesota campus on Feb. 21.
“That game is going to be sold out, but Iowa Wild fans will get a chance to go,” he said. “We want them to feel a part of the big picture of the Minnesota Wild and the Iowa Wild.”
Fletcher attributed Iowa’s difficulties on the ice as the product of several factors. Injuries in Minnesota have required shuttling between Des Moines and St. Paul, but Fletcher said that Iowa’s roster has been hit because so many of the younger players on the Houston roster got to the NHL a bit more quickly than expected.
As a result, Fletcher said, the AHL team has relied a lot on new young players to do much of the work this season.
“We have had seven first year players this year here in Iowa which is good and bad,” Fletcher said. “We probably had an overreliance on young players in key roles this year. But the good news is that they will mature and get better.”
In addition, Fletcher said that the club chose to trade away high draft choices and potential prospects to keep Minnesota a playoff contender. This season, for example, the club has had to recover a mid-season slump to turn in one of the best finishing runs in NHL history.
“We traded a lot of draft picks away, we have traded a couple of prospects away who would have been assets for us by contributing here in Iowa,” Fletcher said. “We have put a lot of resources into making Minnesota more competitive and at this point there has been a lag developmentally and that certainly is an area we are going to address. “
At the top of the list is to improve the club’s scoring skills.
“We have to spend more time looking for more skill,” Fletcher said. “This team has had difficulty scoring the last two years. We will look at certainly through some young prospects but also through some veteran players.”
Of the younger players, Fletcher said he has been encouraged by the growth of forwards Kurt Gabriel, Brady Brassart as well as Alex Gudbranson and Guillaume Gelinas before they were injured. He also said that the club is going after “some veteran players to bring in here to help this team score a bit more.”
“It is almost like a college football or basketball program that graduates a number of their athletes, then it takes a year or two to have the young kids step up and assume the roles that the players they replaced had,” Fletcher said. “We are not far away. “
The Minnesota general manager also said he is confident John Torchetti, Iowa’s head coach, is the right person for the job. Torchetti was hired after the dismissal of Kurt Kleinendorst 12 games into this AHL season.
“John Torchetti is a very good coach and he will be back next year,” Fletcher said. “He has done a great job of developing players and winning. We don’t think you develop good hockey players without winning and that has been the part of the program here that has been missing.”
And, the goal for Torchetti and the Iowa Wild is a very simple one, according to Craig Leipold.
“We want to win the Calder Cup. That is why we play,” he said.