Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold, who’s owned two NHL franchises over nearly three decades, said recently that “right now we’re almost euphoric.”

On Monday night, the Minnesota Wild will face the Los Angeles Kings in California. U.S. and Canadian hockey writers and broadcasters are paying attention to the Wild because the team has the second-highest point total in the NHL standings among the 32 hockey franchises.

“We’re on a roll and we’re enjoying it,” Leipold told Twin Cities Business during a 2025 year-end interview.

After a slow start in October, the Minnesota Wild have amassed a 25-10-8 record, earning the Wild 58 points and placing the team in a tie with the Dallas Stars for the second-most league points. Only the Colorado Avalanche have a better record.

The Wild were one of the hottest teams in the NHL when General Manager Bill Guerin made a deal on Dec. 12 that shook the hockey world. Guerin acquired Quinn Hughes, considered the No. 2 defenseman in the NHL, from the Vancouver Canucks in a trade for Wild players Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren, Zeev Buium, and a first-round selection in the 2026 NHL draft.

Hughes becomes a free agent in 2027, and signing him to a contract extension is on top of Leipold’s list of priorities.

Before the 2025-26 season started, Leipold and Guerin, also president of hockey operations, were anxious to sign forward Kirill Kaprizov to a long-term deal. Kaprizov, one of the best players in the NHL, alleviated the worries of Wild fans in September by signing an eight-year extension worth $136 million, an NHL record.

“Quinn Hughes is a huge get for us,” Leipold told TCB. “He clearly makes us a better team. There’s no question about that.”

Since joining the team, Wild fans have marveled over the puck-handling skills of Hughes. On Friday night, Hughes had four assists in a 5-2 Wild win over the Anaheim Ducks. The four assists earned him a Wild franchise record for most assists in a game by a defenseman.

“The Kaprizov signing was a huge commitment on our part to be an elite team for many, many years,” Leipold said. “We’re lucky that we’ve got so many A-plus players now on our team that are signed for longer periods of time. And we need to get Quinn signed.”

As of Sunday, the Minnesota Wild had two players among the NHL’s top goal scorers. Forward Matt Boldy scored the second-most goals in the league with 26, while Kaprizov came in at No. 5 with 24 goals.

“For us, it provides stability” to have NHL stars in long-term contracts, Leipold said. In January 2023, Boldy signed a seven-year contract extension with the Wild worth $49 million.

He also noted that the Wild have long-term deals with defenseman Brock Faber and goalie Filip Gustavsson. Faber, a member of the 2026 U.S. Olympic hockey team along with Boldy and Hughes, signed an eight-year contract extension in July 2024 worth $68 million.

Gustavsson, who’ll play on Sweden’s Olympic team alongside Wild players Joel Eriksson Ek, Jonas Brodin, and Jesper Wallstedt, signed a new contract in early October. Gustavsson’s deal extends his Wild tenure by five years at $34 million.

“Our really key players are locked up” in long-term contracts, Leipold said. He maintains that Hughes will sign for multiple years with the Wild. “When we get that done, our fans are going to be locked in for five years” of high-quality hockey, he said.

Leipold is excited about the Kaprizov signing, Hughes acquisition, and the competitive play and successful results of the Wild team.

“Things could not have gone better,” he said. But he’s cautious about making assumptions about the second half of the season.

Veteran players and management know that in the NHL, virtually any team can be “one injury away from a disaster,” Leipold said. “Good things happen and bad things happen.” In his long tenure with the Wild and previous ownership of the Nashville Predators, Leipold has witnessed plenty of ups and downs on hockey teams.

So far, the Wild have played 43 of 82 regular season games. “Let’s see how the rest of the year goes,” Leipold said. “There’s a lot of hockey to be played.”

But he’s savoring the wins, including an exciting 4-3 overtime victory Dec. 27 at Winnipeg. The game concluded with three Wild stars on the ice—a pass from Kaprizov to Hughes, who passed to Boldy, who scored the winning goal.

“We’re just enjoying the run,” Leipold said. Among the major Minnesota men’s sports teams—football, hockey, basketball, and baseball—Leipold and Guerin are aware that the last national championship was won by the Twins in 1991.

Minnesota Wild hockey fans want a Stanley Cup championship. This year, the Wild are included in the national sports conversation about Cup contenders.

“Right now, we feel really good,” Leipold said. “Getting out of the first round [of the playoffs] is a very important objective of ours, and it’s our goal.”