ST. PAUL, Minn. — While the Minnesota Wild searched for its latest bench boss this summer, the usual handful of seasoned candidates was available.
Instead of scouring the market for significant experience or big-name recognition, though, general manager Chuck Fletcher turned to the NHL’s head coach factory: the American Hockey League.
Mike Yeo was the latest coach to turn an AHL job into the ultimate promotion, wearing a suit and standing on the bench in supervision of an NHL team. After Fletcher fired first-time head coach Todd Richards in April after only two years, he could’ve gone the other way and picked an accomplished and higher-priced leader such as Ken Hitchcock, Craig MacTavish or Andy Murray.
But Fletcher wasn’t deterred. He went right back to the well — hockey’s less expensive fountain of youth, essentially — and chose Yeo from the Wild’s minor-league affiliate. Yeo coached the Houston Aeros to the AHL finals last season and impressed the front office by the way he had them playing hard, fast and together.
“At the end of the day, the only good reason I could come up with why Mike should not be the coach was that he was 37 years old,” Fletcher said then.
Fletcher took a risk by going with another young guy on the heels of a failed choice from the same category. He was hardly making a bold move, however. Of the current 30 head coaches in the league, 13 were hired from the AHL without any prior experience as an NHL head coach.
