Minnesota Wild General Manager Bill Guerin relieved Bruce Boudreau of his duties as Head Coach this morning. Assistant Coach Dean Evason has been named interim coach for the remainder of the 2019-20 season. Assistant Coach Darby Hendrickson will go to the bench full-time next to Evason and Assistant Coach Bob Woods.
Evason has never been a head coach in the NHL before but he’s spent 5 years in the Western Hockey League & 6 years in the American Hockey League as a head coach of the Milwaukee Admirals. He has been an assistant coach in the NHL for 7 seasons with the Washington Capitals (from 2005-2012) and he was hired as an assistant coach for the Wild last season by GM at the time, Paul Fenton, who knew him well from his time with the Nashville Predators, the Milwaukee Admirals parent club.
Bill Guerin said he had been thinking about for a while and felt the timing was right to do it now. “I would like to thank Bruce for his hard work and commitment to the Minnesota Wild during his tenure with the organization and wish him and his family the best in the future,” Guerin said in a statement.
This is another message to the players that they need to be better. Does it feel like strange timing? A little bit but, with 7 coaches already being fired in the NHL this season, this isn’t that surprising. Giving up a 2-goal lead in the 3rd period, no matter how it happens, is never a good thing. The Wild played good enough to win last night’s game but, it’s happened too many times where they’ve played good enough to win and still haven’t gotten the 2 points. Good enough isn’t how you win in the NHL.
We’ve already heard Guerin say he expects this team to keep pushing for a playoff spot and this move doesn’t change that. It’s a different voice in the room to see if that makes a difference and the Minnesota Wild will do an extensive search in the offseason to find a new head coach. Some initial names that would seem to be of interest are Mike Babock, Peter Laviolette, Gerard Gallant, Iowa Wild head coach Tim Army and maybe even Guerin’s former teammate & former Islanders head coach, Doug Weight.
They will look far and wide to find the right coach to help the Wild take the next step to succeed in the NHL. Bill Guerin is very familiar with all of this and we trust his decisions as of right now. He’s had all season to feel out the players & the organization’s culture and decide the direction he wants to go. This is another big step towards that. The next 10 days will be very interesting to see if we see any other moves.
Here are some quotes from Bill Guerin’s press conference a short while ago:
“in a decision like this, it’s never just one thing. I just felt the timing was right.”
Guerin felt the team needs to go into this upcoming stretch on a high and needed a new voice. “Last night was a game we should have won.”
“It’s not about how many goals and assists you have, what you did last game. It’s about winning the game tonight. If somebody’s unhappy with their ice time or lack of production, that’s too bad. The coaches are going to do what they need to do to win the game at hand”
On top 2 lines: “They didn’t have a good night last night and we need them. The veteran players know that. They’ve been there before. We need them to lead the way. We need them to guide the younger players and do the right thing. It’s all about winning games right now.”
“I have the highest respect for Bruce. … He’s a good guy and I planned on seeing it through. I came in (as GM) with an open mind and didn’t have a decision made. This was just something that’s been on my mind for a little while and I felt like today was the day.”
“If players are hurt by this, then maybe they’re not the players that we should have here.”
If Bill Guerin made the decision that he wasn’t going to bring Bruce Boudreau back after this season & after last night’s loss, then it makes sense to do this now.
Guerin knows full well how teams & players react to the coach being fired and how much a new voice can play into their psyche so to all those that don’t like the timing, Billy G had seen enough to make this move and see what happens from it.
Too many games the Minnesota Wild should’ve won but didn’t for any reason. Finish the game and get the 2 points!
Message sent!
We’ll see how they respond tomorrow night at The X at 4pm against the San Jose Sharks.
Full 12:27 Podcast of Bill Guerin’s press conference from Minnesota Wild PONDcast on SoundCloud
Full 10:51 Podcast of Dean Evason’s press conference from Minnesota Wild PONDcast on SoundCloud
