The Minnesota Wild have fired GM Paul Fenton after just one season according to Michael Russo of The Athletic (subscription required). The move is obviously a stunning development this far into the offseason, especially after Fenton has made sweeping changes to the roster by trading players like Nino Niederreiter, Mikael Granlund and Charlie Coyle while also committing a long-term contract to Mats Zuccarello this offseason. Russo expects assistant GM Tom Kurvers to take over in the interim as the team conducts a search for Fenton’s replacement.
Fenton’s time with Minnesota ends 14 months after it started when he was hired away from the Nashville Predators in May, 2018. The decision was made after a lengthy interview process by Wild owner Craig Leipold which included other highly touted assistants like Tom Fitzgerald and Bill Zito as well as more experienced names like John Ferguson Jr. and Dave Nonis. Fenton had been with the Predators since the beginning of their franchise, working with Leipold who was the team’s original owner. He was heralded as a solid replacement for the outgoing Chuck Fletcher, who had taken the Wild to the playoffs consistently but struggled to get them deep into the tournament.
Amazingly, the biggest free agent contract given out by Fenton was completed just a few weeks ago when he signed Zuccarello to a five-year, $30MM deal. That matched the extension he’d handed Mathew Dumba in 2018 and just eclipsed the one he signed Jason Zucker to. Less than a year after signing Zucker to that five-year extension, Fenton tried to trade the speedy winger multiple times, first to Calgary at the deadline and recently to the Pittsburgh Penguins in an eventually nixed Phil Kessel deal.
Very recently, team leader Zach Parise spoke out about how at his age he isn’t ready for a rebuild and has started to wonder about his decision all those years ago to sign with the Wild—though he stated clearly that he didn’t regret it. That kind of an interview, in which Russo also reported that Fenton had explored if teams had interest in Parise, likely only stoked the flames for Leipold, who needs to get the organization back on track. He has a huge task before him now to find the right man for the job and quickly get the Wild back to a playoff contender or commit to a rebuild.
I get that he hasn’t had a great first year, but you let him trade three young, controllable players, give out a large contract, and head a draft, and then you fire him? Wouldn’t it make sense to let him try to execute his plan and not just basically force that same direction on someone else lol.
Typical Wild for ya…no one in that organization has a clue what’s going on. They’re as bad as the T-wolves!! Im not in the least bit shocked by this. Can you screw this franchise up any more Leipold??? The more things change the more they stay the same.
Was Fenton on Jeffrey Epstein’s buddy list or something? Seems like he would have had to do something drastic to get canned after one year smack in the middle of the off-season.
So he definitely tried to trade Parise and the owner flipped out
I wonder if the Wild’s ownership has any idea what they are doing. Firing a GM after one year is a bit short sighted. You have to give him a chance to execute a plan. If the owner fired Fenton because he tried to trade Parise’s albatross of a contract to create cap space, it is a bit of over reaction. The owner easily could have called him & told him not to trade Parise and give him a reprimand. I’d be leery of taking this job if I was a candidate
cant imagine not trading Parise after dealing those other three.
I said that Zuccarello contract was the worst one handed out this off season. His moves were mostly bad, sometimes very bad.
Bravo to the Wild for cutting their losses on a bad hire.
That’s more Dershowitz and mr. Orange Smallhands’ territory
Too bad they let him trade Nino, Granlund and Coyle. I do like Donato, but the other trades were terrible.
Too bad he didn’t extend Victor Rask.
Wow. Well, as much as I don’t like the idea of Wolves-ish organizational disarray, I guess I like that Leipold wasn’t afraid to admit he made a bad hire… which is what he’s doing firing him this quickly and abruptly when it became apparent things just weren’t going to work.
Most times I read the comments just to see how much whining MN fans will do. Doesn’t matter what sport, the most fickle sports fans are in MN. It’s an odd move, but not because the owner is stupid.
There must have been a falling out that we won’t likely hear about. The owner could have put a full stop on any moves, but let them go through.
There is a lot more to this than bad trades. It sounds like he was creating a bad culture to work in. He “fired” two of the pioneers in hockey analytics, didn’t listen to top advisors when making the bad trades along with being a jerk to fans and media in town. Good riddance.
The Rask trade is reason enough to fire Fenton!
Jason Zucker is likely very much in favor of this move.
You haven’t read a lot on New England sports teams, have you? By far, the most whiny, poor sport, crybabies around.
You must not read a lot of other comments.
The best thing that ever happened to the Nashville was Leipold selling the Predators so that he could buy Wild. When he left, this type of bizarre, behind the scenes stuff stopped. I don’t know what is going on in Minnesota, but Wild fans deserve better than what they are getting.
How are they gonna sign Spurgeon? The defenseman market has skyrocketed. Should have got him sign before draft. Fenton tender going to drag the Wild down for years.
They have no chance anymore. Division is too strong. They should hire Hextall and rebuild now.
The Wild has been domesticated !