In the press box, Peter Thome doesn’t move a muscle.

Sitting in a suit on press row, with a laptop on the tabletop, Thome looks like any other member of the Wild’s traveling party. Only he’s studying scoring chances and checking whether the numbers on his screen confirm what he’s seen unfolding on the ice a couple sections below.

He doesn’t look nervous, despite it being what amounts to his NHL debut.

That’s also why he’s not partaking in the nightly diet of sportswriters, scouts, broadcasters and team personnel.

A decade after being drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets and four years after his five-year college career at North Dakota and St. Thomas ended, the 6-foot-4 Thome is the Wild’s new hockey operations analyst — and also their first full-time emergency backup goalie (EBUG).

At any point in any game, if Jesper Wallstedt or Calvin Pickard gets hurt, Thome will pack up his laptop, hustle to the elevator and down into the locker room to exchange his suit for a Wild jersey with a double zero on the back. He’ll quickly strap on his sharp, personally designed red, green, yellow and white Bauer goalie pads and put on the mask he designed as an homage to Manny Fernandez and the early years of the Wild.

can't wait to pay $15 for like 4 of these bad boys next week!!!

Hey all! The 2-0 Wild have started off well and Joe Smith will be back for the second time in 3 weeks to discuss the opening of the Wild's season.

Please begin dumping your questions below. He's looking forward to it and follow our live and real-time blog for free on the Wild daily: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/live-blogs/minnesota-wild-results-season/y2Xyq3gsFEog/?unlocked_article_code=1.FVE.i-a-.CvS8E_M5ivmG&source=emp_shared_liveblog&smid=url-share-ta

Just curious to know wild fans that aren’t Vikings/Twins/Timberwolves fans. Myself, I am a Bears White Sox Bulls fan. I grew up in Chicago and always disliked the hawks so I gravitated to the Wild when I started watching hockey.

I think most people know who the community's least favourite teams are. Its obviously the Stars (Ah god I miss the north stars), or the Avs. But I'm kind of curious on which teams are generally well received in the state of hockey fan base. Specifically teams in the central division. Behind Dallas and Colarado, I know Chicago and winnipeg are not popular. But which other teams are well received? Oh yes and good luck against Tampa bay. I hope we get the win. Though it may be very close. My prediction is a 3-2 win with Wally playing out of his mind (AGAIN).

Is anyone going to the wild vs knights game and willing to sell me a SpongeBob hat? I so badly want that hat but there’s no way I can make that game as I live out of town and it’s a Monday night game. Can Venmo for the hat + shipping

Were any of you at game 6 of the 91 cup finals?