The NHL team Minnesota Wild has been competitive in the tough NHL Western Conference for their entire ten year existence, but that hasn't translated into postseason winning strakes. They've only made the playoffs 3 times and after being eliminated from this year's postseason play have now failed to qualify in three consecutive years. Head coach T. Richards was at the helm for two of those seasons and on Monday became the third coach fired since the NHL regular season ended on Sunday.
The coach Richards joined Ottawa's Cory Clouston and Florida's Peter DeBoer on the unemployment line one day after the Wild ended their season with a 5-3 victory over the Dallas Stars. The win kept Dallas Kings out of the playoffs as well, but wasn't enough to save Richards' job after the Wild finished in 12th place in the Western Conference at 39-35-8, 11 points out of the final playoff spot. GM Chuck Fletcher had hired Todd immediately upon joining the team to replace Jacques Lemaire. Richards was a first time NHL coach but was highly regarded for his youth and ties to the Twin Cities area.
Richards' record serves to underscore just how tough the NHL West has been in recent years-he leaves the Wild with a 77-71-16 record. This year Minnesota reached as high as fifth place in the Western Conference before an injury to captain Mikko Koivu and a nasty slump that saw them lose 11 of 13 games from early March to early April. After the win over Dallas, Richards observed that he wouldn't have done many things differently:
"Without question you look back, and there's always hindsight. Would you do some things differently? You always wonder, Absolutely there are some things I'd do differently, but for the most part there's not too many things I would change."
"I look back over the season, and we did a lot of good things. I think we accomplished some things. It probably doesn't feel that way, but that's how I feel. To me there was growth: growth in players, the chemistry, the culture and things we want to build upon here. But still it leaves you with that disappointment of the finish."
A major problem for the Wild was a common refrain not only in the NHL but in all sports-they weren't able to win consistently on the road. Their strong play at St. Paul's Excel Energy Center became well known to NHL betting enthusiasts and their fans, but they couldn't maintain that high level of play away from home. So far there's been no word on a successor or a timetable for hiring a new coach-logic suggests that the Wild will wait until the rest of the league's coaching situation shakes out before beginning their search.
The coach Richards joined Ottawa's Cory Clouston and Florida's Peter DeBoer on the unemployment line one day after the Wild ended their season with a 5-3 victory over the Dallas Stars. The win kept Dallas Kings out of the playoffs as well, but wasn't enough to save Richards' job after the Wild finished in 12th place in the Western Conference at 39-35-8, 11 points out of the final playoff spot. GM Chuck Fletcher had hired Todd immediately upon joining the team to replace Jacques Lemaire. Richards was a first time NHL coach but was highly regarded for his youth and ties to the Twin Cities area.
Richards' record serves to underscore just how tough the NHL West has been in recent years-he leaves the Wild with a 77-71-16 record. This year Minnesota reached as high as fifth place in the Western Conference before an injury to captain Mikko Koivu and a nasty slump that saw them lose 11 of 13 games from early March to early April. After the win over Dallas, Richards observed that he wouldn't have done many things differently:
"Without question you look back, and there's always hindsight. Would you do some things differently? You always wonder, Absolutely there are some things I'd do differently, but for the most part there's not too many things I would change."
"I look back over the season, and we did a lot of good things. I think we accomplished some things. It probably doesn't feel that way, but that's how I feel. To me there was growth: growth in players, the chemistry, the culture and things we want to build upon here. But still it leaves you with that disappointment of the finish."
A major problem for the Wild was a common refrain not only in the NHL but in all sports-they weren't able to win consistently on the road. Their strong play at St. Paul's Excel Energy Center became well known to NHL betting enthusiasts and their fans, but they couldn't maintain that high level of play away from home. So far there's been no word on a successor or a timetable for hiring a new coach-logic suggests that the Wild will wait until the rest of the league's coaching situation shakes out before beginning their search.
About the Author:
Leo Siles is a freelance writer and noted authority on price per head site reviews. He lives in San Pedro, Costa Rica. He is currently working on an website of former Astronaut Bruce McCandless.
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