Wild owner Craig Leipold to buy out partner

Craig Leipold is looking to secure his hold on the Minnesota Wild.

The club's majority owner has begun the process of buying out Matt Hulsizer's 27 percent share, which would bring Leipold's stake in the Wild up to 95 percent, according to Michael Russo of the Star Tribune.

From Russo:

Leipold said he and Hulsizer are departing on friendly terms. The decision is driven by Leipold's desire to keep the Wild in his family long term and Hulsizer's desire to eventually own a larger chunk of the franchise and be more involved in hockey decisions.

Hulsizer, who came to the club in February 2015, is largely responsible for the Wild's deeper dive into analytics, having recently hired war-on-ice.com co-founders Andrew Thomas and Alexandra Mandrycky.

His desire to be even more involved in the hockey side of the business, however, caused Leipold to take this step and ensure the club runs as he sees fit.

"(Hulsizer) continued to have a higher interest level in being involved in the hockey side like the draft and trades, but I wasn’t willing to give that up," Leipold told the Star Tribune. "That's not my style with (general manager) Chuck (Fletcher), so I certainly wouldn't let a minority owner have that kind of input to Chuck."

The transaction could take months to complete, and Leipold said he'd back Hulsizer should he choose to invest in another NHL team at some point in the future.