Wild Make Signing News with John Hynes Extension

Training camp is just a day away, and the Minnesota Wild made news with a signing, but not the one everyone was expecting. Quinn Hughes was the name fans were anticipating, but the name they got instead was head coach John Hynes. On Tuesday morning, Sept. 15, the Wild announced that they had agreed to a multi-year contract extension with Hynes.

Being the head coach of an NHL team is a difficult job, as you never make everyone happy, you’re always under scrutiny, and more often than not, your job is on the line first. Hynes obviously proved his worth, especially after making it past the first round of the postseason for the first time in 11 years. In this article, we’ll look at why Hynes earned this extension and what it means for the Wild. 

Hynes Earned Extension

John Hynes took over for Dean Evason back in November of 2023, and since then he’s been working hard to get this Wild team on track. In all three seasons he’s been with the team, they’ve had winning seasons, and they’ve improved with each season that’s gone by. They started with 39 wins the first season, 45 the second season, and 46 in this past season. 

While they still haven’t gotten past the second round, they made it further than they had in over a decade, and it takes time to build a winning team. The Wild have been known as the team that can get there but not finish, and Hynes helped get them one step closer; obviously, they believe he’s the guy to get them all the way.

This past season was their best yet, and although they had their issues, their penalty kill made improvements, their power play looked good, and they made the strides they needed to. However, they couldn’t have made those upgrades without having Hynes behind the bench.

Hynes Focuses on Details

Of course, every coach talks about focusing on the details, but not every coach can follow through with that statement; Hynes does. He often talks about paying attention to the small details, and he follows through with what he says. In training camp the past two seasons, they’ve gone back to the basics the first few days before ramping up. 

Hynes works with them on skating, passing, and the simple things before jumping into actual plays and systems. Many times, plays break down because the basics are forgotten, and that’s why Hynes likes to focus on the small details rather than the big picture. When you fix the small things, the big thing falls into place. 

They’ve taken even more steps to fix what they need by bringing in a player like Blake Coleman, who will hopefully help fix the penalty kill and has played under Hynes before. These two know each other and will hopefully be able to get the penalty kill started in the right direction as they continue to focus on the details, like Hynes has mentioned many times. 

Hynes Future With Wild

Hynes is going to have his hands full this season with all the news surrounding Quinn Hughes as well as his lineup changes. He has to find someone to play with Kirill Kaprizov now that Mats Zuccarello left. Plus, he may have to start Jesper Wallstedt in net due to Filip Gustavsson recovering from surgery, and although that’s not a huge issue, the length of Gustavsson’s recovery could be. 

While he’s going to have his hands full with finding Kaprizov’s linemate, he has a lot of talent to work with. His defense is basically set; it’s the forwards that have some questions, especially the top six, with two wing spots open, potentially now that, of course, Zuccarello is gone, but also Marcus Johansson. 

No matter how many holes there are in the lineup, Hynes will figure out how to fill them and make the best of it. They have a long way to go yet, but with him at the head, they’ll continue to move in the right direction. There may be some bumps in the road, but every team has that, and it’s how they get through it that matters. 

It’ll be interesting to see how this team is put together on opening night and how it changes throughout the season. They’ve shown they can learn, adapt, and get better with Hynes on the bench, and now they’ll have even more time to see what he can do with this team.