Wild sends Yeo packing
Minnesota coach fired after 13th loss in last 14 games
The Minnesota Wild fired coach Mike Yeo Saturday night and named John Torchetti the interim replacement a few hours after their eighth straight loss and 13th in the last 14 games.
General manager Chuck Fletcher, who said a week ago that Yeo’s job was safe, announced the decision after the Wild matched the franchise’s longest home winless streak at eight with a 4-2 loss to the Boston Bruins.
“I would like to thank Mike for the hard work and dedication he provided behind the bench for the Minnesota Wild organization and wish him the best in the future,” Fletcher said in a statement released by the team.
Torchetti’s first test as coach of the Wild takes place Monday when Minnesota travels to Vancouver to play the Canucks.
He has been coaching the Wild’s AHL affiliate in Iowa. He has nine seasons of NHL coaching experience, including stints as interim coach with Florida in 2004 and Los Angeles in 2006.
Wild owner Craig Lei p old declined to comment. Fletcher was to speak with reporters Sunday morning.
Torchetti also coached the Wild’s prior AHL affiliate, the Houston Aeros, for two seasons, from 201113. The Boston native was an assistant on Chicago’s 2010 Stanley Cup championship team.
Participating in his post-game news conference, Yeo was asked about his status after the loss that dropped the Wild to 3-12-4 in their last 19 games — the NHL’s worst record in 2016.
“You can’t lose every game and expect to think that there’s not going to be changes,” Yeo said.
The 42-year-old Yeo was 173-13244 in five seasons with the Wild, just the third coach they have had since entering the NHL as an expansion team in 2000.
Yeo was 11-17 in the playoffs, taking the team to a Western Conference semifinal each of the last two years. The Wild have been eliminated by Chicago each of the last three seasons.
After signing stars Zach Parise and Ryan Suter to 13-year, $98-million contracts four years ago, though, simply making the second round wasn’t going to be good enough for long. Leipold, Fletcher and the rest of the organization had much-higher expectations for a team that has fallen to 0-5-3 in the last eight home games for the longest winless stretch at Xcel Energy Center since 2001.
The most troubling part of this slump, though, was the variety of problems. Well-paid forwards like Mikael Granlund, Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek have not produced enough scoring. But the Wild have allowed at least four goals in seven of their last eight games.