The Wild fired assistant coach Darby Hendrickson on Friday after a 14-year run behind the Minnesota bench, general manager Bill Guerin announced.
Hendrickson, 51, had served as an assistant since the 2010-11 season, a few years after retiring from a lengthy playing career that included suiting up for the Wild in their first four years of existence. He’d played or served under all seven head coaches in Minnesota history. However, as Michael Russo and Joe Smith of The Athletic write, he becomes a casualty of head coach John Hynes looking to reshape his staff ahead of his first entire season with the club. As Russo and Smith reported, Guerin also felt it was time for Hendrickson to move.
“I would like to thank Darby for all his hard work and commitment to the Minnesota Wild during his long tenure with our organization,” Guerin said. “He has done a tremendous amount of good things for our team and the State of Hockey as a player and a coach. I wish Darby and his family all the best in the future.”
Hendrickson has no other coaching experience outside of his run with the Wild. He’ll now be considered for the numerous assistant vacancies remaining around the league.
As for the Wild’s vacancy created by Hendrickson’s firing, Russo and Smith believe it could be filled via an internal promotion. They suggest longtime Rangers pivot Derek Stepan will be considered after he spent the season around the organization shadowing coaching and hockey operations staff. However, he didn’t hold an official role with the club. The 33-year-old Stepan retired last summer after a 13-year, 890-game career with the Coyotes, Hurricanes, Rangers and Senators.
Well, Darby is certainly going to make the difference between making the playoffs or not next year.
John Hynes the worst coach ever hired by Minnesota and Bill Guerin the biggest jerk GM firing you is a good thing as it means you weren’t a big enough pathetic loser to fit in with them.
While there are a number of staffs still to be filled, this is almost pretty late in the hiring cycle. He can throw his hat in the ring but a lot of the interviews have happened. Maybe he can try his hand as an AHL assistant
Never heard of a coach surviving 7 staff changes. Might have been a mole of the owners’.
You just answered your own question #66
What the hell Billy? Darby’s a stand up dude, please tell us faithful fans why you would sack one of our own after 14 years and 7 coaches?
I’m not a wild fan and it’s amazing that he has been with the wild in 1 way or another sense inception but the same voice and ideas after awhile get stale. That being said it’s crappy that they couldn’t find another role for the guy that has been a cog on the wild machine sense day 1; unless he didn’t want another role.
The guy played 182 games for the wild in there first 4 seasons.k and then coach up until this season. So the guy dressed as a player or coached for all but roughly 150 games of there existence and some of those games he was still a player and was injured, scratched or sent down.
Darby is a great guy but, about time.
This needed to happen ages ago.
He was the only one who stayed through all the major ups and downs this team has been through and it was bound to happen sooner or later with new coaching staff and gm