Minnesota Wild: What the GM search represents for the organization

After firing general manager Paul Fenton after one season, the Minnesota Wild have been looking for a replacement. Is the search finally narrowing down?

Last season, the owner of the Minnesota Wild, Craig Leipold, announced his hiring of a rookie general manager by the name of Paul Fenton. Leipold said that Fenton was “the right person to deliver a Stanley Cup to the State of Hockey”. A little over a year later, Leipold is back on the hunt for the Wild’s next general manager.

In just one season, Fenton was able to make a mess of the Wild, making a horrific trade sending Nino Niederreiter away for Victor Rask, and turning the organization into a toxic environment with his paranoia of media leaks.

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Fenton’s goal with the team was unclear with his random moves and he actively tried to get rid of his analytics department because he didn’t understand the concept.

A full read on the extent of his damage can be seen on The Athletic where Michael Russo wrote a fantastic piece outlining everything.

For a long time, the Wild have been a mediocre team. They would consistently make it to the playoffs but wouldn’t make it past the first round. Their team gets older every year as the league around them gets younger and faster.

Getting rid of Chuck Fletcher who was the old-school general manager for nine unsuccessful seasons was a good start. Hiring him with a first-timer who spent 20 years with the Nashville Predators organization seemed like a very forward-thinking and open-minded decision. While it blew up in Leipold’s face the first time, it shouldn’t deter him from trying again.

The names being circulated around the Wild’s GM search are either guys with a ton of experience (Ron Hextall, Peter Chiarelli, Dean Lombardi) or guys with none (Bill Guerin, Tom Fitzgerald, Mark Hunter). While Minnesota’s problem runs deep and will take years to fix, I don’t think that any of the available general managers who have a lot of experience are suited for the role.

Experienced general managers like names that they are familiar with, both in hiring for the management side as well as in acquiring players. The last thing Minnesota needs is the same old same old. Minnesota needs someone with a fresh face, who is open to using strategies that aren’t conventional, in thinking outside the box to replenish their prospect pool and transition this team into one that works with the modern-day NHL.

According to Michael Russo, it seems that Bill Guerin and Ron Hextall are the front-runners, one representing something new and one representing the old guard. The hiring decision that Craig Leipold makes will signify whether Minnesota is going to continue to muck around in the past or if they’re willing to take the chance and build something new.