The Minnesota Wild’s head coaching search is now over with the hiring of Bruce Boudreau this past weekend. Boudreau was available after the Anaheim Ducks fired him on April 30th, following four straight Pacific Division titles.
The Minnesota job became open when the Wild let go of Mike Yeo on February 14th. Yeo was the Head Coach of Minnesota for the past five seasons. He had an outstanding record of 173-132-44 and took the Wild to the playoffs three straight years.
At the time of his firing, the Wild were 23-22-10, 11th place in the West. It didn’t look like the Wild would make the playoffs and they decided to go with John Torchetti, the interim replacement. They were hoping a new coach would change the season around. It did, as the Wild went 27-15-1. They ended the regular season at 38-33-11 with 87 points. Minnesota entered the playoffs as the second Wild Card team. They faced the top seeded Dallas Stars in the first-round but lost in six games.
The Wild played much better hockey with John Torchetti. He was given the tough task of turning the Wild around and he did. Torchetti’s job was decent and he was one of the front runners to stay behind the bench.
The Wild, though, decided it was best for their hockey club to hire Bruce Boudreau. According to ESPN, Boudreau said, “I just thought it would be a place that we could win. I know the team is good already. Their top, top players are really good, and now it’s a matter of being a really good team.”
Boudreau should be able to make the Wild a top team in the West. In ten NHL seasons he owns a career record of 681-409-192. His teams have gone to the playoffs eight times. Boudreau has pieces to work with on this team. They have a top defenseman in Ryan Sutter. The Wild can score with Zach Parise and Mikki Koivu who could be the most talented forwards in the game today. The area that Boudreau needs to work on with this team is the power play kill. The Wild couldn’t kill off a penalty, killing 77.9% of the penalties they took ranking 27th in the NHL. That must improve.
Boudreau is the right man for the job. His experience and knowledge will assist this team in becoming a regular participant in the NHL playoffs. It will be up to his coaching ability for them to go far and for the players to buy in to what he is preaching.
What do you think of the Wild hiring Bruce Boudreau?
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