The Montréal Canadiens are the greatest franchise in the history of the NHL, and even though the team has been on a bit of a downswing in recent years, other teams still take great pride in getting a win against the Habs. With such a prideful and historic organization, US teams always seem to step up that extra bit.
Over the decades, Montréal has developed many heated rivalries, from the days of the Original Six to stints of meeting the same teams regularly in the postseason. One rivalry that the Habs could try to lean more into for the atmosphere and importance of the team in the US is against the Minnesota Wild.
While not too far away geographically as US teams go, there’s an important stat that signals the Wild as having one of the more important fan bases down south. Thus, getting the better of Minnesota much more regularly would only be good for the standing of the Canadiens in the hockey world.
In a state of all sports, hockey streams supreme
Very interestingly, in ExpressVPN’s recent analysis of streaming data for each state in the US, football and basketball were the outright most streamed sports in every state, bar one: Minnesota. Here, hockey occupied the top spot, and while the fandom there is well-known, it’s a bit surprising given the offering in the state.
Minnesota has representatives in each major sport league, with the Minnesota Vikings, Minnesota Timberwolves, Minnesota Twins, and Minnesota United FC. Even though in all other states, the presence of the Vikings or Timberwolves would likely side with the football and basketball streaming preference, the Wild reign supreme.
While there were the Minnesota North Stars in the Gopher State from 1967 to 1993, they moved to Dallas. The Wild are a wholly Minnesota team, and have been since the new franchise’s inception in 2000. It’s this team and its 22-year history in the state that draws in the streams and commands such a grand following.
Habs vs Wild doesn’t make for great reading
The Montréal Canadiens already have the greatest rivalry in hockey. As Sportsnet writes, nothing compares to the history between the Habs and the Boston Bruins. While Boston is still a major hockey town, the rivalry is set in stone. To truly get another feather in the cap, the Habs would do well to step up against the very well-supported Wild.
Since the Wild came to exist in 2000, the Canadiens have endured a torrid time hosting and travelling to Minnesota. The first game ended 2-2 after overtime in 2000, with the follow-up game in 2001 ending 4-0 in favor of the Canadian hosts, putting the new franchise in its place.
Fleeting wins came for the Wild through to 2014, but since then, they’ve had Montréal’s number. A nine-game losing streak for the Habs was snapped with a 1-0 home win in 2019, but has been followed up by five successive losses to Minnesota, including an 8-2 loss earlier in 2022.
After the 3-1 home and 4-1 road losses to Minnesota earlier in the 2022/23 season, StatMuse has the record at an overwhelming 19-7-1-2 in favor of the Wild. Essentially, the state most inclined to stream hockey over all other sports has enjoyed a wonderful time against Montréal.
As the Canadiens rebuild a formidable team ready to compete in the postseason, one of its aims should be to quieten the avid fan base of Minnesota. They’ll only have a couple of chances each season, but heating up the matchup would do the current standing of the Habs some good.