It's game seven of the regular season for both teams tonight. The Wild are 3-2-1 to start the season as well as the Philadelphia Flyers who are also 3-2-1 to start the year.
But the amount of connections to Minnesota is crazy, let's start with the Wild.
Mats Zuccarello played nine seasons with the New York Rangers with John Tortorella as the head coach. Tortorella coached Zuccarello with the Rangers for three years and is now the head coach of the Flyers.
The Wild's goaltending coach, Frederic Chabot, played in four games with the Flyers in the 1993-94 season.
Ryan Hartman played 19 games with the Flyers during the 2018-19 season before Paul Fenton signed Hartman to a two-year deal with Minnesota. Fenton replaced Chuck Fletcher as the Wild's general manger and Fletcher took the Flyers job as GM from 2018-2023.
Brent Flahr served as the Wild's assistant general manager and currently works in the Flyers organization. Lastly, Pat Maroon was drafted by the Flyers in the sixth round of the 2007 seven draft.
For the Flyers, forward Bobby Brink played for Minnetonka high school from 2016-2018 and was drafted by the Flyers in the second round of the 2019 draft.
Forward Noah Cates was a fifth round pick by the Flyers in 2017 and played high school hockey for Stillwater from 2014-2017 with his brother Jackson Cates who played for the Flyers organization the last three years before signing with the New York Islanders.
Another Flyers forward, Ryan Poehling, played for Lakeville high school from 2013-2016 and played college hockey at St. Cloud State University.
Defenseman Louie Belpedio was recently called up by the Flyers following a couple of injuries on their blue line. Belpedio, 27, spent four years in the Wild's organization and played in four NHL games with Minnesota.
Flyers Forward, Nic Deslauriers played 20 games for the Wild during the 2021-22 season after Bill Guerin swung a trade for him. Deslauriers played in five playoff games for Minnesota in that season as well.
Lastly, Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler played for Eden Prairie high school from 2009-2011 and later went on to play 36 games for the University of Minnesota. Seller, 30, played in the Wild's organization for four years where he skated in 99 NHL games.