The Minnesota Wild have announced the hiring of Tim Army as the next head coach of the Iowa Wild, their AHL affiliate. Army was with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins last season as an assistant coach, and several years before that on the Colorado Avalanche bench as an assistant. Head coaching is certainly nothing new to Army though, as he’s previously held the role in the AHL and NCAA.
Army will take over a Wild team that is still waiting for the first playoff appearance in franchise history, a daunting task for any head coach. The team should have some added skill with the additions of Louis Belpedio and Dmitry Sokolov, should they be assigned to the AHL for this season. Still, Army will have to bring a roster together without the help of many high-end prospects or elite draft picks. It might be tough, but Army did take the Portland Pirates to the playoffs in two out of three seasons he coached the franchise.
Minnesota has a new GM in Paul Fenton who has had success in the past building a deep minor league organization, and will try again to bring some winning ways to the Wild. While the NHL team tries to get over the hump and advance deep in the playoffs, the AHL squad just wants to get into the tournament.
Go army beat navy