List of Minnesota Wild head coaches

The Wild have played their home games at the Xcel Energy Center since its first season.

The Minnesota Wild is an American professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It plays in the Central Division of the Western Conference in the National Hockey League (NHL).[1] The Wild joined the NHL in 2000 as an expansion team with the Columbus Blue Jackets.[2] The Wild have played their home games at the Xcel Energy Center since its first season.[3] The majority of the Wild is owned by Craig Leipold, and Bill Guerin is their general manager.

There have been five head coaches for the Wild franchise. Jacques Lemaire, who coached the team from its inception to the end of the 2008–09 season,[4] compiled a record of 574 regular-season games coached, 253 regular-season games won, 605 regular-season points, a .527 regular-season winning percentage, 29 playoff games coached, 11 playoff games won, and a .379 playoff winning percentage with the Wild. Lemaire was awarded the Jack Adams Award with the Wild in the 2002–03 season. Todd Richards was hired two months after Lemaire's resignation and fired in April 2011.[5] Mike Yeo was hired by the club in June 2011 and fired in February 2016. John Torchetti was named interim head coach. On May 7, Bruce Boudreau was signed to a four-year deal as the new head coach, just 8 days after being released by the Anaheim Ducks.

On February 14, 2020, Bruce Boudreau was released by the Minnesota Wild following a disappointing first half of the 2019–20 season. This included Boudreau making a paperwork error that left the Wild with five defensemen in a game on January 15. Dean Evason was named as interim head coach, previously being assistant coach. On July 13, 2020, Evason was hired as the full-time head coach, with a contract extension through the 2021–22 season. Evason was later fired on November 27, 2023, after a poor start to the 2023–24 season,[6] and John Hynes was named the new head coach.[7]

Key

# Number of coaches[a]
GC Games coached
W Wins = 2 points
L Losses = 0 points
T Ties = 1 point
OT Overtime/shootout losses = 1 point[b]
PTS Points
P% Points percentage
Win% Winning percentage
* Spent entire NHL head coaching career with the Wild

Coaches

Note: Statistics are correct through the early 2023–24 season.

# Name Term[c] Regular season Playoffs Achievements Reference
GC W L T/OT PTS P% GC W L Win%
1 Jacques Lemaire 2000–2009 656 293 255 108 694 .529 29 11 18 .379 2002–03 Jack Adams Award winner[8] [9]
2 Todd Richards 2009–2011 164 77 71 16 170 .518 — — — — [10]
3 Mike Yeo 2011–2016 349 173 132 44 390 .559 28 11 17 .393 [11]
4 John Torchetti 2016 27 15 11 1 31 .574 6 2 4 .333 [12]
5 Bruce Boudreau 2016–2020 303 158 110 35 351 .579 10 2 8 .200 [13]
6 Dean Evason* 2020–2023 251 147 77 27 321 .639 23 8 15 .348 [14]
7 John Hynes 2023–present 63 34 24 5 73 — — — — — [15]

Notes

  • a A running total of the number of coaches of the Wild. Thus, any coach who has two or more separate terms as head coach is only counted once.
  • b Before the 2005–06 season, the NHL instituted a penalty shootout for regular season games that remained tied after a five-minute overtime period, which prevented ties.[16]
  • c Each year is linked to an article about that particular NHL season.

References

General

  • "Minnesota Wild Coach Register". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2008-12-22.

Specific

  1. ^ "Teams". National Hockey League. Retrieved 2008-12-22.
  2. ^ Pincus, Arthur (2006). The Official Illustrated NHL History. Reader's Digest. ISBN 0-88850-800-X.
  3. ^ "Arena Info". Xcel Energy Center. Archived from the original on 2008-12-16. Retrieved 2008-12-22.
  4. ^ "Lemaire calls it quits in Minnesota". National Hockey League. 2009-04-11. Retrieved 2009-04-20.
  5. ^ "Wild hire Todd Richards as head coach". Associated Press. 2009-06-15. Archived from the original on 2020-05-24. Retrieved 2009-06-15.
  6. ^ "Head Coach Dean Evason and Assistant Coach Bob Woods Relieved of Duties". NHL.com. November 27, 2023. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
  7. ^ "Minnesota Wild Names John Hynes Head Coach". NHL.com. November 27, 2023. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
  8. ^ "Jack Adams Award". Hockey Reference.com. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  9. ^ "Jacques Lemaire Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2008-12-22.
  10. ^ "Todd Richards Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
  11. ^ "Mike Yeo Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2012-12-16.
  12. ^ "Minnesota Wild Names John Torchetti Interim Head Coach". National Hockey League. Retrieved 2016-04-15.
  13. ^ "Wild Agrees To Terms With Bruce Boudreau". National Hockey League. Retrieved 2016-05-08.
  14. ^ "Evason signs two-year contract to remain Wild coach". NHL.com. 2020-07-13. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  15. ^ "Minnesota Wild Names John Hynes Head Coach". Minnesota Wild. November 27, 2023. Archived from the original on November 28, 2023. Retrieved November 29, 2023.
  16. ^ "Official Rules" (PDF). National Hockey League. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-05-11. Retrieved 2008-12-21.