Mike Yeo Fired as Coach by Minnesota Wild

Mike Yeo Fired as Head Coach by Minnesota Wild as the 1st Domino Piece Falls

Minnesota Wild fired Mike Yeo on Saturday night following their afternoon loss to the Boston Bruins. It’s expected that John Torchetti (AHL coach in Iowa ) will assume the interim role. Whether it becomes permanent or not – far too early to tell.

After a hot-start to 2015-16, the Minnesota Wild are treading water over the past two months. After the loss to Boston, Minnesota has lost 13 of their last 14, including eight straight. With a record of 23-22-10 (56 points), the Wild are beginning to flirt with the Draft Lottery.

Saturday night’s news comes as little surprise to fans in Minnesota – they’ve wanted Mike Yeo fired for some time now.

The first time NHL coach did have success over the past five years. Since 2011-12, Yeo’s record was 173-132-44, with three playoff appearances. He coached them to a 46-28-8 record in 2014-15 – good enough for second most points and wins in franchise history. Unfortunately, fans only remember the end result, which is two early exits in the 2nd round versus Chicago over the past two seasons.

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It’s not all Mike Yeo’s fault though. Some responsibility needs to fall upon the players themselves. They’re ultimately the ones out there on the ice.

From the crease out to the blueline, the Minnesota Wild are stacked. Devan Dubnyk continues his hot play from 2014-15, while Ryan Suter, Marco Scandella, Jonas Brodin, Jared Spurgeon, Matt Dumba combine for one of the most talented defensive groups in the NHL.

Minnesota needs some help up front though. Preferably a top six talent (up the middle if possible). It’s not a knock on Mikko Koivu (who’s having a solid bounce back season), or Mikael Granlund (who doesn’t shoot the puck enough). They’re both highly skilled centers, but neither is a true number one. Let’s not forget about Jason Pominville, who scored 18 goals in 2014-15, and couldn’t find the back of the net until December in 2015-16 (third month of NHL action). He’s since scored six goals. There’s also Thomas Vanek, who’s spending time on the third line in 2015-16. Here’s a veteran that’s completely fallen off the map. The two brightest spots in Minnesota’s offensive group are Nino Niederreiter and Charlie Coyle. It’s a group with some great pieces, led by Zach Parise, but clearly there’s a chemistry issue.

Given Minnesota’s abundance of defense, it’s not surprising to hear their name in trade rumors. Most recently, a rumor sprouted that Jonas Brodin was on the table when Ryan Johansen was being shopped around. It’s difficult to predict who might be available on Minnesota’s back-end because they’ve got such a strong group of defensively responsible blueliners. It’s not unfathomable to believe Matt Dumba might be the odd-man when the dust settles.

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So while Mike Yeo is the first domino piece to fall in Minnesota. The next piece to fall is addressing holes in the depth chart by sacrificing areas of strength. If the struggles continue thereafter (which is a possibility if this is a core chemistry issue), the final domino piece to fall is getting rid of Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville.

Luckily for Minnesota, prospects Alex Tuch, Joel Eriksson Ek, Jordan Greenway, and Mario Lucia are showing great promise as future impact NHLers.

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