Meet the new Wild boss

The most significant news of the Minnesota Wild's ownership change on Thursday is that nothing will change except the letterhead.

Former Nashville Predators owner Craig Leipold, highly respected and one of the power brokers during the yearlong National Hockey League lockout, signed a letter of intent Thursday to purchase the Wild from majority owner Bob Naegele and Minnesota Sports & Entertainment (MSE), the parent company of the Wild. According to a source, the purchase price was $260 million.

Leipold said he plans no major changes and expects nothing significant to be different. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it. And this ain't broke," he said. "I'm not here to fix anything."

After years of trying to make the struggling Nashville market work, Leipold said he was ecstatic about coming to a hockey hotbed.

"It's an honor for Bob to pass the baton down to me," said Leipold, 55, a native of Racine, Wis. "This is a genuinely incredible moment for me. For you hockey fans, know one thing: I am incredibly passionate about hockey and I'm committed to winning a Stanley Cup."

Leipold added: "Throughout the entire league, throughout North America, when you look at a franchise that embodies everything that every franchise wants to be, this is the marquee franchise in our league. This is the new standard in the NHL."

Leipold -- who has run businesses in telemarketing, protective clothing and footwear and is an executive in the family business of his wife, Helen, S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. -- is known as a passionate owner. Even though he lived in Wisconsin, he attended and walked the concourses at most Predators home games and many road games. He'll be at tonight's Wild game in Chicago and plans to attend virtually every Wild home game.

"I will buy a place downtown. This is what I plan to do. It's too much fun. I will be part of the community. Please don't consider me an outsider," said Leipold, who oversaw a development plan in Nashville almost identical to the Wild's and vows that coach Jacques Lemaire and General Manager Doug Risebrough will remain at the controls.

Deal came together quickly

The deal's commencement began well before Leipold completed the Predators' sale last month for $193 million. Two years ago, before it was public knowledge the Predators were for sale, Leipold said "I was already having seller's remorse."

Leipold knew he wanted to stay in ownership and set his sights on the Wild, which boasts one of the NHL's healthiest U.S. franchises and a fan base that has sold out all 298 home games.

Negotiations accelerated in the past 30 days, Leipold said, and wasn't completed until the wee hours of Thursday morning.

"I can't believe this has happened so quickly," Leipold said. "I'm stunned almost, kind of shell-shocked."

When Naegele told Wild employees Thursday morning, the former Minnetonka High School goalie realized, "Oh, I'm going to miss this, but I know it's the right thing. I've been in business long enough to know the objective has always been to prepare my successor. We've done that."

Said Jac Sperling, the vice chairman of MSE, "Craig will lead us into the future, but Bob Naegele has laid the foundation. He had a vision to return the NHL to Minnesota."

Neither Leipold, who claimed $70 million in losses in Nashville, nor Naegele would reveal the sales price of the Wild ("Way too much," Leipold quipped). In November, Forbes Magazine estimated the Wild's worth at $180 million. Naegele paid an expansion fee of $80 million to buy the Wild in 1997 and chipped in another $45 million for Xcel Energy Center.

Sale needs NHL approval

During a breakfast Thursday morning, Leipold met for the first time with most of the 21 Wild minority investors. He asked them to stay on, and Leipold said he believes "most of them, if not all of them, will." Naegele will stay as a minority investor.

"I will own at least 51 percent of the team," Leipold said. "Until we know which local investors are staying, we won't know the percentage, whether it's 55 percent, 65."

The sale is pending approval of the NHL's Board of Governors and other regulatory approvals. Because Leipold is a known entity -- he's close with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, was on the league's executive committee and helped negotiate the collective bargaining agreement during the 2004-05 lockout -- the league's due diligence should be straightforward, if not fast-tracked.

"The league approval, the bank financing and the closing can happen within 24 hours, so I'd expect a transaction would be complete in about 60 days," Leipold said.

After the All-Star Game on Jan. 27, the next Board of Governors meeting isn't until June. But Leipold said he's comfortable having the board vote via fax or conference call, which would require unanimous approval as opposed to two-thirds at a board meeting.

"I have a lot of friends and a great relationship with the league," he said. "We have a friendly seller, a friendly buyer, well-financed. This is not a tricky deal. But there is a process to go through."

No big changes planned

As for the on-ice product, not much is expected to change. Just like Nashville -- two years older than the Wild -- the Predators' game plan was always to develop through drafting talented young players. Like Naegele, Leipold wasn't an impatient owner with an itchy trigger finger. He employed one coach -- Barry Trotz -- and one GM -- David Poile.

That means a housecleaning is doubtful.

"Stability and continuity is very important to me," Leipold said. "I'm here to support the existing franchise. Everybody that is here right now will stay. We will have no people changes."

Leipold won't meddle, saying it's Risebrough's ship to control. But Leipold has proven to be a big-league owner the past few years, stepping up financially in Nashville by signing free agents such as Jason Arnott, Paul Kariya and J.P. Dumont and approving the trade for Peter Forsberg.

"He loves the sport. He loves the passion of the game. He's very passionate about the game of hockey and trying to improve it," Trotz told the Star Tribune last month. "He's definitely not an absentee owner, but he's not an owner that's in the locker room and making decisions. He hires what he feels is very good people to run the organization and doesn't interfere."

Even though Naegele still owns the team, Risebrough said he'll keep Leipold up to date of all doings, especially as the Feb. 26 trade deadline approaches.

"You're a little anxious to see how the new owner is going to be," Wild winger Mark Parrish said. "But, seeing how he was in Nashville, and how he wanted to win, and spent money to win, and did everything he could -- especially that last year, bringing Forsberg there, really making a push -- it excites me."

Risebrough is excited, saying, "I give Bob Naegele a lot of credit. He was patient to find the right person and clearly this is the right person. Craig is committed to winning. His past experience in Nashville was similar to the way we're doing it.

"It's a really good day and a stabilizing day. Now it's about winning."

Or as Leipold put it, "Hopefully at end of the day, we're going to be playing in mid-June."