Strike while the Iron is hot, Wild Fire Todd Richards

While it was obvious that the Wild weren’t going anywhere this season, even though they were in the race for a while, the Wild are still reeling from the Doug Risebrough days where he basically ran the Wild hockey team into the ground with his poor player personnel moves. Going forward, I don’t think even a high profile hall of fame type coach could have taken this thin in talent Wild team to the NHL playoffs.

Minnesota Wild ---- The second head coaching tenure in Minnesota Wild history has come to an end. Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher has announced that Head Coach Todd Richards has been relieved of his duties effective immediately.

The decision was made known Monday morning, the day after the Wild concluded Richards' second season as bench boss. The 44-year-old coach posted a record of 77-71-16 after taking over for Jacques Lemaire, the only other coach in franchise history. In both seasons, the Wild was in playoff contention through the winter, but both seasons also ended without playoff appearances.

“I would like to thank Todd for the hard work he provided to the Minnesota Wild organization the last two seasons and wish him the best in the future,” said Fletcher.

Further quotes from Fletcher regarding the decision will be posted shortly.

While I really never was on the Richards bandwagon nor was I on the campaign to run Richards out of town on a rail this team wasn't going anywhere and I could have told you that after watching them play in December. The Wild are up against the salary cap the cupboard is very bare when it comes to scoring talent for the Minnesota Wild, there is no one to score goals, the defensive unit is pretty good but the fact remains that Minnesota Wild needs to get a couple of high profile scorers they can do this if they do not resign some dead weight and get some talent in their place.