Wild fire Fenton after one season
General manager made plenty of waves in less than 15 months
The Minnesota Wild fired general manager Paul Fenton after just one rough season, marked by the end of a six-year streak of making the playoffs and a disassembly of the once-promising core of forwards by trading Charlie Coyle, Mikael Granlund and Nino Niederreiter prior to the deadline.
Wild owner Craig Leipold said he told Fenton of his dismissal on Tuesday, shortly before the team made the surprising latesummer announcement.
Assistant general manager Tom Kurvers was named acting general manager until a replacement is hired.
In less than 15 months with the Wild, Fenton made plenty of waves.
Though his first foray in free agency was relatively quiet, Fenton re-signed defenceman Matt Dumba (five years, $30 million U.S.) and left-winger Jason Zucker (five years, $27.5 million) to long-term contracts. Then, with the Wild struggling to keep up in the daunting Central Division, he traded Niederreiter to Carolina for Victor Rask, Coyle to Boston for Ryan Donato and a fourthround draft pick and Mikael Granlund to Nashville for Kevin Fiala. Coyle and Niederreiter had productive debuts with their new clubs, which didn’t help assuage any angst-filled fans frustrated that the 19-yearold franchise has not passed the second round of the playoffs since 2003.
Bruce Boudreau was brought back as head coach despite the drop in the standings. Then, Fenton signed forward Mats Zuccarello to a five-year, $30-million deal with a full notrade clause, as well as forward Ryan Hartman on a two-year, $3.8-million contract.
Fenton was hired from Nashville, where he was the longtime lieutenant under general manager David Poile. SENATORS ACQUIRE CALLAHAN: The Ottawa Senators traded goalie Mike Condon to the Tampa Bay Lightning for the contract of veteran forward Ryan Callahan.
Callahan has one year left on his deal and was placed on longterm injured reserve (LTIR) after suffering a career-ending back injury and a degenerative back disease diagnosis.
As part of the transaction, the Senators also received Tampa Bay’s fifth-round draft pick in the 2020 NHL draft while the Lightning received Ottawa’s sixth-round selection.
By trading Condon, the Senators have set the stage for veteran goalie Craig Anderson and Anders Nilsson, who agreed to a two-year extension in May, to share netminding duties in Ottawa.
Callahan’s cap hit is $5.8 million, but he’ll make $4.7 million in real money. However, because he is on LTIR, insurance will pick up 80 per cent of his salary, meaning the Senators will actually have to pay approximately $940,000 of his contract. Condon will earn $3 million next season but his cap hit is $2.4 million.
KUNITZ RETIRES: Four-time Stanley Cup-winning forward Chris Kunitz has retired after15 seasons in the NHL.
The 39-year-old Regina native, who played for Chicago last season, will stay with the Blackhawks as a player development adviser.
Kunitz won the Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks in 2007 and with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009, 2016 and 2017. He finishes his NHL career with 268 goals, 351 assists and 619 points in 1,022 regularseason games.