You would expect the Minnesota Wild to be cursing their luck that an NHL lockout has hit the 2012-13 season. There remains reasonable optimism that 2012-13 will not be completely lost like in 2004-05. However, the Wild are a team who have just invested a huge amount of money into signing two prime free agents Ryan Suter and Zach Parise. This is a franchise that changed its very nature and identity with an aggressive offseason, and seemed to be set to finally give the huge Hockey Town fan base the NHL team it deserves.