Toews Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 Quote The Minnesota Wild fired Chuck Fletcher as executive vice president and general manager on Monday. Owner Craig Leipold told Fletcher his contract would not be renewed and said a search for a replacement will begin immediately. Brent Flahr, the Wild's senior vice president of hockey operations, will be the acting GM. The Wild were eliminated by the Winnipeg Jets in five games in the Western Conference First Round following a third-place finish in the Central Division (45-26-11, 101 points). https://www.nhl.com/news/minnesota-will-not-renew-contract-for-chuck-fletcher/c-298208774 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twilight Sparkle Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 they always seemed to be missing pieces. something needed to change there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Western Red Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 Built a good team and made shrewd signings/trades. His 2 big guys went down and he took the fall. I call injustice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Heffy Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 Some really, really bad contracts. They're going to need a full rebuild in the near future with quite a few guys on untradeable deals. This is why you don't build your core through free agency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khay Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 No surprise. Leiopold came out publicly and criticized Fletcher for trading away their 1st and other picks for Hazal (and White I think). They lost in the first round and the move didn't payoff. Same fate this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alflives Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 They did get 101 points, and were 19 games above .500 Thats a pretty good season. Does this firing signal a full rebuild coming, or a retool? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Kneel Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 Reminds me of when we got 100 points then sucked big time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoneypuckOverlord Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 9 minutes ago, Alflives said: They did get 101 points, and were 19 games above .500 Thats a pretty good season. Does this firing signal a full rebuild coming, or a retool? Just like when Brian Burke was let go after the 2004 season. We finally won the dreaded Pacific Division title, bounced in round 1, combonations of things that he did that might have made his team even Better (minnesota) like not trading Brent Burns for scrap, not to mention 12 year deals to Sutter and Parise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rush17 Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 Kyle Dubas would have lots to work with in Mini. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewbieCanuckFan Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 1 hour ago, MoneypuckOverlord said: Just like when Brian Burke was let go after the 2004 season. We finally won the dreaded Pacific Division title, bounced in round 1, combonations of things that he did that might have made his team even Better (minnesota) like not trading Brent Burns for scrap, not to mention 12 year deals to Sutter and Parise. Burke did himself no favors by not acquiring an upgrade over Cloutier. He never could seem to get a very good starting goalie throughout his career as a NHL GM. The one Cup win on his resume - he actually inherited that starting goalie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mll Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 8 hours ago, Alflives said: They did get 101 points, and were 19 games above .500 Thats a pretty good season. Does this firing signal a full rebuild coming, or a retool? Not a rebuild rather just a few tweaks - says he wouldn't hire someone who wants to rebuild. Already in January 2017 he was saying that they aren't to win it all and felt that their weakness was the size of their players. One thing is for sure; Leipold doesn't believe the new GM will be stepping into a full rebuild. "What I want is a new set of eyes and take a look at where our strengths and our weaknesses are," Leipold said. "Somebody will come in that doesn't feel an ownership to certain players, and I want someone to take a look at what we can do to tweak our team. "This is not a rebuild. And I'll be very direct about that when I'm interviewing a general manager." And what if the new GM wanted to come in and rebuild the roster? "I wouldn't hire that person," Leipold said. "They'll know exactly how I feel, and I would expect any general manager candidate coming in to talk with me to understand our players, to know where the strengths and the weaknesses are, and the direction we're going in. And if they don't have the same feeling that I do, that we are not far from being the team that we need to be, then that would probably not be a candidate that I would choose." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mll Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 4 hours ago, Western Red said: Built a good team and made shrewd signings/trades. His 2 big guys went down and he took the fall. I call injustice. Wasn't because of the playoffs but rather the feeling that they aren't built to win. He says there's a sign in their new training facility that reads 'good is not good enough' and that's what he is feeling about this team. "My feeling is that the last couple years, we just have not been good enough," Leipold said. "The decision had nothing at all do to with the Winnipeg playoffs. Nothing. When you're without two of your best players, it's pretty hard to be successful. That was really not a factor. It was a tough decision, but I'm very comfortable with it." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tre Mac Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 Fired for passing on Boeser, thank you Fletch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRick Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 Could see Seattle hiring him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apple Juice Posted April 25, 2018 Share Posted April 25, 2018 Much of Minnesota's failed playoff success has to lie on his shoulders. In recent memory, the Wild have never made it past the 2nd round and even if they were in the 2nd round, they'd get bounced easily. Minnesota's window is still open to make it deep in the playoffs but the Central Division is so tough. Minnesota needs an upgrade on D as their forwards and goalies are pretty set in my opinion. EDIT: Quick check. From the time Fletcher's been the GM of the Wild, they have in fact, never made it past the second round from 2009-2018. Didn't qualify for his first three years and since then, they've either lost in the first or second round in convincing fashion. 2-6 series record during his time. That's not a very telling sign that Fletcher can string together a playoff winning team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mll Posted April 25, 2018 Share Posted April 25, 2018 Minnesota's Ds got 200pts this year - 2nd most in the NHL behind Nashville. Only 3 teams have made the playoffs in each of the past 6 years. They are a solid regular season team - top-10 in both goals for and goals against but can't seem to put it together in the playoffs. They have mostly kept the same core since 2015. Pominville and Scandella were traded last off-season, Vanek was there for two seasons and they signed Staal. 2013 - Parise, Koivu, Coyle, Zucker, Spurgeon, Brodin + Suter 2014 - Granlund, Niederreiter 2015 - Dumba, Dubnyk Speed used to be their strength but with the rest of the league getting faster they look slow. To complicate things the Suter injury is rarely seen in sports and it's unclear if he can come back the same. They also don't have a lot of promising prospects after having traded away so many high draft picks and they have not always made the best selections. Their owner does not want a rebuild - he thinks a few tweaks will be sufficient. That's questionable but it's his team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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