The Minnesota Wild extended captain Mikko Koivu, then cut ties with him three years later
1946 – NHL President Clarence Campbell announced the creation of the league’s new “information bureau,” which would be designed for the benefit of sportswriters, broadcasters, and the public. Ken McKenzie, a part-time statistician and formerly a sportswriter with the Winnipeg Free Press and the Montreal Gazette, was hired to operate the new department. Within a year, McKenzie would introduce the NHL Press and Radio Guide, which later evolved into the NHL Official Guide and Record Book, and would also co-found The Hockey News.
1967 – The Los Angeles Kings, a new NHL expansion team, travelled to Hamilton, Ont. for their first exhibition game. They faced off against another new club, the Minnesota North Stars, but lost 7-3. It was Minnesota’s third exhibition contest.
1972 – The NHL filed a countersuit against the World Hockey Association in the US District Court in Philadelphia. This was part of the NHL’s response to the newly founded WHA’s challenge of the established league’s reserve clause; the WHA had asked the court to declare the clause invalid. The countersuit asked the court to prohibit any NHL players from moving to the new league for the next three seasons.
1998 – John Cullen of the Tampa Bay Lightning returned to the NHL after a successful 18-month battle against Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Added to the Lightning’s lineup for an exhibition game against the Buffalo Sabres in Innsbruck, Austria, Cullen marked his comeback with a goal. The Professional Hockey Writers’ Association named Cullen the 1999 winner of the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for perseverance and dedication.
2009 - The Boston Bruins traded Phil Kessel to the Toronto Maple Leafs for three draft picks. Kessel played the next six seasons in Toronto, scoring 181 goals and 394 points and beginning the consecutive-games streak that would see him become the NHL's Ironman as well as a three-time Stanley Cup champion. The Bruins used the draft picks they got from the Leafs to select Tyler Seguin second overall in 2010, Jared Knight in the second round that same year, and Dougie Hamilton ninth overall in 2011.
2015 – The Montreal Canadiens named Max Pacioretty the 29th captain in franchise history. The Habs had not named a captain after Brian Gionta’s departure as a free agent in 2014. Pacioretty would serve in the role until 2018 when he was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights for a package that included current Montreal captain Nick Suzuki.
2017 – The Minnesota Wild signed team captain Mikko Koivu to a two-year contract extension worth $11 million. Koivu, the franchise’s first full-time captain and its all-time leader in games played, assists, and points, was entering the final year of his existing seven-year contract, and the extension would carry him through the 2019-20 season. Coincidentally, on this date in 2020, the Wild announced they would not offer Koivu a new contract, ending his tenure in Minnesota after 15 seasons.