Iowa Wild

The Iowa Wild are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League, that began play for the 2013–14 season. The team plays at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa, as the AHL affiliate of the NHL's Minnesota Wild.

The team was formerly the Houston Aeros, in Houston, Texas, before being relocated to Des Moines, beginning with the 2013–14 AHL season as the Iowa Wild. The Wild is the second AHL team based in Des Moines following the Iowa Stars, which had been the Dallas Stars' AHL affiliate from 2005 until 2008 (in the team's final season (2008–09), they were known as the Iowa Chops and were affiliated with the Anaheim Ducks).

The affiliation between the two Wild franchises is the first of two between Twin Cities area franchises and Iowa minor league franchises, as the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association and the Iowa Wolves of the NBA G League also share an affiliation.

History

The Iowa Wild franchise began as the Houston Aeros, a 1994 expansion team in the International Hockey League (IHL) that played out of the Compaq Center. The Aeros were one of six IHL teams to join the American Hockey League (AHL) in 2001 when the IHL folded. Upon joining the AHL, the Aeros affiliated with the National Hockey League's one-year-old expansion team, the Minnesota Wild. The AHL version of the Aeros won the 2003 Calder Cup and also reached the 2011 Calder Cup finals, but lost to the Binghamton Senators. In 2003, the majority ownership of the franchise was sold to Minnesota Sports and Entertainment, the ownership group of the Wild, while former owner Chuck Watson retained a 10% minority share along with Houston native Nick Sheppard holding a 4% share. The team then moved home games to the new Toyota Center.

On April 18, 2013, the Minnesota Wild announced that Minnesota Sports and Entertainment were unable to reach a lease agreement with the Toyota Center, and the Aeros would be relocated to Des Moines, Iowa, beginning with the 2013–14 season with home games at Wells Fargo Arena. The Iowa Wild inaugural season was opened on October 12 with a 1–0 win over the Oklahoma City Barons. The opening night attendance was 10,200. The team failed to make the playoffs for its first five seasons.

On February 22, 2018, the Minnesota Wild extended their contract through 2023. In 2019, the team reached the playoffs for the first time since relocating from Houston, reaching the division finals and losing to the Chicago Wolves in six games. The following 2019–20 season was then curtailed by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic with the Wild holding second place in the division and no playoffs were held. The 2020–21 season was then delayed due to the pandemic, with a shortened season held and no Calder Cup playoffs.

Season-by-season results

Regular season											Playoffs						Average attendance
Season	Games	Won	Lost	OTL	SOL	Points	PCT	Goals for	Goals against	Standing	Year	Prelims	1st round	2nd round	3rd round	Finals
2013–14	76	27	36	7	6	67	.441	169	235	5th, Midwest	2014	Did not qualify					5,883
2014–15	76	23	49	2	2	50	.329	172	245	5th, Midwest	2015	Did not qualify					5,659
2015–16	76	24	41	5	6	59	.388	169	225	8th, Central	2016	Did not qualify					5,846
2016–17	76	36	31	7	2	81	.533	182	196	6th, Central	2017	Did not qualify					6,019
2017–18	76	33	27	10	6	82	.539	232	246	5th, Central	2018	Did not qualify					6,153
2018–19	76	37	26	8	5	87	.572	242	230	3rd, Central	2019	—	W, 3–2, MIL	L, 2–4, CHI	—	—	6,409
2019–20	63	37	18	4	4	82	.651	194	171	2nd, Central	2020	Season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic					6,351
2020–21	34	17	13	4	0	38	.559	107	113	4th, Central	2021	No playoffs were held					3,273
2021–22	72	32	31	4	5	73	.507	202	209	6th, Central	2022	Did not qualify					5,435
2022–23	72	34	27	6	5	79	.549	211	211	4th, Central	2023	L, 0–2 RFD	—	—	—	—	6,296

Players

Current roster

Updated April 28, 2023.

Team roster

No.	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace	Contract
9		Brandon Baddock	LW	L	28	2022	Vermilion, Alberta	Minnesota
24		Mitchell Balmas	C	L	24	2022	Sydney, Nova Scotia	Iowa
40		Louis Boudon	C	L	24	2023	Grenoble, France	Iowa
21		Mitchell Chaffee	RW	R	25	2021	Rockford, Michigan	Minnesota
12		Kevin Conley	F	L	26	2022	Wausau, Wisconsin	Iowa
17		Patrick Curry	F	L	27	2022	Schaumburg, Illinois	Iowa
77		Casey Dornbach	RW	R	25	2023	Edina, Minnesota	Iowa
16		Damien Giroux	C	L	23	2021	Sudbury, Ontario	Minnesota
47		Cam Hausinger	RW	R	24	2023	Anchorage, Alaska	Iowa
15		Sam Hentges	C	R	23	2022	Fridley, Minnesota	Minnesota
27		Joe Hicketts (A)	D	L	26	2021	Kamloops, British Columbia	Minnesota
8		Simon Johansson	D	R	23	2022	Stockholm, Sweden	Minnesota
26		Tanner Kaspick	C	L	25	2022	Brandon, Manitoba	Iowa
94		Landon Kosior (ATO)	D	R	20	2023	Regina, Saskatchewan	Iowa
36		Michael Milne	LW	L	20	2022	Abbotsford, British Columbia	Minnesota
20		Mike O'Leary	LW	L	25	2022	Halifax, Nova Scotia	Iowa
22		Ryan O'Rourke	D	L	20	2022	Pickering, Ontario	Minnesota
39		Turner Ottenbreit	D	L	25	2019	Yorkton, Saskatchewan	Iowa
14		Jakub Sirota (ATO)	D	L	24	2023	Prerov, Czech Republic	Iowa
6		Riese Zmolek	D	L	26	2023	Rochester, Minnesota	Iowa

Team captains

• Jake Dowell, 2013–14
• Stephane Veilleux, 2014–15
• Maxime Fortunus, 2015–16
• Mike Weber, 2016–17
• Cal O'Reilly, 2017–19
• Cody McLeod, 2021–22
• Mason Shaw, 2022
• Dakota Mermis, 2022–

Franchise records and leaders

Scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers for the Iowa Wild in the AHL. Figures are updated after each completed season.

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game;

Points

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	P/G
Kyle Rau	C	244	88	111	199	.81
Sam Anas	C	259	72	125	197	.76
Gerald Mayhew	RW	228	97	81	178	.78
Zack Mitchell	RW	250	66	66	132	.53
Cal O'Reilly	C	142	31	100	131	.92
Brennan Menell	D	199	15	101	116	.58
Mason Shaw	C	188	39	75	114	.61
Marco Rossi	C	116	34	70	104	.90
Colton Beck	LW	319	41	63	104	.33
Tyler Graovac	C	202	49	53	102	.51