Vintage Minnesota Hockey - History

1945:  Former NHL defenseman Bill Plager born in Kirkland Lake, Ontario.  Plager played in the NHL 1967-68 through 1975-76 with the Minnesota North Stars, St. Louis and Atlanta.

1988:  Minnesota North Stars named Pierre Page (former assistant coach of Calgary) as their new head coach.  Page became the teams's fifth coach in five seasons, as he replaced Herb Brooks, who was fired on June 14, 1988.

1988:  Washington traded Ed Kastelic and Grant Jennings to Hartford in exchange for Neil Sheehy and Mike Millar.

1996:  Phoenix signed free agent Jim Johnson.

2000:  Minnesota Wild signed free agent Richard Park.

2001:  Minnesota Wild signed free agent left wing Andrew Brunette, who had been with the Atlanta Thrashers.  Brunette went on to lead the Wild - and all 2001 Free Agents - in scoring, with 69 points in 2001-02.

2004:  Minnesota Wild signed free agent Kirby Law.

2006:  Minnesota Wild signed free agent right wing Branko Radivojevic.

2007:  Dallas Stars signed free agents Brad Winchester, Toby Petersen, and Trevor Byrne.

2007:  Minnesota Wild signed free agent Sean Hill.

2008:  Minnesota Wild signed free agent Owen Nolan, who had been with the Calgary Flames.

2009:  Florida Panthers signed free agent Jeff Taffe.

2010:  Minnesota Wild signed free agents Jon DiSalvatore and Jamie Fraser.

2011:  St. Louis Blues signed free agent, and Duluth MN native - Jamie Langenbrunner, and free agent Jason Arnott.

2012:  Minnesota Wild signed Bloomington, MN native defenseman Brian Connelly to a two-year, two-way deal.

2012:  Washington Capitals signed Bloomington, MN native center Ryan Stoa to a one-year contract.