Other than the Timberwolves, Minnesota sports teams don’t part with their coaches easily. Tom Kelly hung on for ten years with some terrible teams (admittedly, not his fault) after winning his last World Series. Heck, even Mike Tice got three years, which was two years, 364 days too long.
When a Minnesota coach either gets the axe or steps aside, it always feels like it was time to go. Two seasons ago, when Jacques Lemaire left his post, it was clear that his message was no longer working and it was time for some fresh blood. Now that Todd Richards, the blood in question, has been let go, it feels a little hasty.
Yes, Richards helmed the Wild for two playoff-bereft, frustrating seasons, and the fans and pertinent media members seemed ready to drive him to Hudson and leave him on the side of the road, officially revoking his status as a Minnesotan, but Richards deserves more respect and credit than he’ll ever get here.
When he arrived along with Chuck Fletcher, they inherited a team that was one year removed from a playoff appearance, but a squad that was also in no shape to compete. Too many players were miscast in offensive roles they couldn’t fulfill (Antti Miettinen, Kyle Brodziak), and the drafting in the last few years of the Risebrough/Lemaire regime was woeful at best. The cupboard was bare, and in this era where teams are always shoved right up against the salary cap ceiling, unloading overpriced players is nearly impossible.
The Wild were a team that needed to tear itself apart and rebuild from the ground up, but the combination of misguided fan expectations and bad contracts made that impossible, so the product that was put on the ice was one that was good enough to stay out of the top-five of the NHL draft, where the sure-fire talent lies, but not good enough to make the playoffs, especially in the loaded Western Conference. Instead the “State of Hockey” received two years of wheel-spinning, not-quite-good-enough hockey because, well, in a way that’s what they asked for when they asked Fletcher, and Richards, to work miracles instead of giving them time to build a team.
On top of that, the Wild have suffered through the two most injury-plagued seasons in their history under Richards, Marian Gaborik notwithstanding. Pierre-Marc Bouchard played one game for Richards before December of 2010, and by the end of the season he was playing perhaps the best hockey of his Wild career. Guillaume Latendresse lead the Wild in goals last season, and this year spent most of the season on an operating table. Just as the Wild were starting to peak this season, Mikko Koivu took a slap shot off his hand, and took Minnesota’s playoff chances to the press box with him. Somehow this is all Richards’ fault. It’s hard to deal with a 45-card deck for so long.
This summer is the first off-season in which the Wild can undo some of the mistakes of the past. Nearly $7 million in salary will come off the books as players like Miettinen, Chuck Kobasew and John Madden come off the books. Prospects like Marco Scandella, who showed ability this season when he was on the ice, Mikael Granlund and Mikko Lehtonen may find their way onto the roster next season, and the players who made the Houston Aeros such a success this season may provide some level of optimism should they be given a real NHL shot. There is hope for the future, if only in small doses.
The one thing that people can say about Richards is that he wasn’t a very inspiring figure. Richards certainly wasn’t Mr. Personality, but he was always accountable and affable, and certainly seemed like someone the players could approach. Plus an early list of the available head coaches doesn’t exactly rocket one out of their seat. The biggest names out there could be Ken Hitchcock, who is basically Jacques Lemaire sans the whimsy, and Michel Therrien, who was last seen being let go from the Pittsburgh Penguins in the middle of their Stanley Cup-winning season of 2009. Other early rumored names like Cory Clouston (who was fired this week by Ottawa) and Pete DeBoer (fired Sunday by Florida) also seem like sideways steps. To put it mildly, there are no Scotty Bowman’s walking through that door.
Whoever becomes the next bench boss for the Wild (put the smart money on Therrien, as he knows Fletcher well and has been scouting for the team this season) be kinder, fans and media. The Wild are not a Stanley Cup contender, and never have been throughout their ten year history; even in the playoff years. They are a team in transition, and it will probably get worse before it gets better. So use Richards as a scapegoat if you like, but it is the players on the Wild bench that need fixing, not who’s behind it.
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