The Minnesota Wild have named John Hynes of Warwick, Rhode Island as their new head coach on Monday. Hynes takes over from Dean Evason of Flin Flon, Manitoba, who was relieved of his duties.
John Hynes’s resume
Hynes has previously coached the New Jersey Devils (2015 to 2019), and the Nashville Predators (2020 to 2023). In 602 regular season games, he had a record of 284 wins, 255 regulation losses, and 63 losses in extra time. Hynes has also coached the United States at the 2008 World Junior Hockey Championship in Pardubice, Czech Republic and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League.
Disastrous Start for the Wild
At the beginning of the season, the Wild were expected to be among the contenders in the Central Division. However, they have only won five of their first 19 games, and are experiencing a disastrous seven game losing streak. During the streak, they have lost 4-1 to the New York Rangers, 3-2 to the Buffalo Sabres, 8-3 to the Dallas Stars, 2-1 to the Ottawa Senators, 4-3 to the Toronto Maple Leafs in overtime, 3-2 to the Colorado Avalanche and 4-1 to the Detroit Red Wings.
The Wild’s overall record is five wins, 10 regulation losses, and four losses in extra time. They have had a goals for and against of -20 (57 goals for and 77 goals against), and are better than only two other teams in the entire conference. They are the Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks, who have 12 points each.
Awful Goaltending
One major problem for the Wild this season has been the terrible goaltending they have received from Filip Gustavsson of Skelleftea, Sweden, and Marc-Andre Fleury of Sorel, Quebec. Gustavsson only has a record of 2-6-2 with a goals against average of 3.94 and a save percentage of .881. That was after he had a goals against average of 2.10 and a save percentage of .931 last year. Fleury meanwhile is at 3-4-2, with a goals against average of 3.46 and a save percentage of .875 last year.
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