Confirmed with Link: Mike Yeo Fired; John Torchetti Hired as Interim Coach

[BigT2002]

Well if Richards got another shot at a HC position, Yeo will too. I deeply hope he figures out what went wrong and turns it around for himself and his family. I still think Yeo got too comfortable here. Got too used to mid season changes in play that would push the team into the playoffs and so long as he made the playoffs he knew his job was going to be safe.

 

[WildisLaw]

So glad Yeo is gone, this team is actually watchable now.

 

[tomgilbertfan]

 

[Generic User]

Yeo said he's watched about 10 minutes of the Wild since he's left. That was the Edmonton game. Says he expected the Wild to go on a run as soon as he left and told that to Chuck on his way out, so he wasn't surprised. Figured that's how it would go. "Not taking it personally, though." PA is pressing Yeo on the "thought they'd go on a run comment" and Yeo takes a long, long pause. Obviously doesn't want to say something foolish. Says the players knew they would be accountable from now on. Said their effort in his last two weeks was "pretty pathetic, to be honest with you."

 

[tomgilbertfan]

 

[Generic User]

Yeo left a message for Torch wishing him luck on the whiteboard. Says the anger has worn off and is now grateful. Took awhile to get to a good place. First four or five days after getting fired he received tons and tons of messages. Got tied up with work and had to stop listening there.

 

[Quicy]

That second quote is the most telling of this team... Really says a lot.

I was never a huge fan of the Yeo system, but he's handled all of this like a pro.

 

[BigT2002]

Thanks for the links guys.

 

[tomgilbertfan]

Also BIG ol' blog with Yeo quotes from the inteview

 

[Jarick]

I like Yeo's attitude, but he just described problems and not solutions. The locker room was fractured, the older players started doing their own thing, young players couldn't handle the trade talks, everyone started slumping and lost confidence. Okay. A leader is supposed to overcome that stuff. Those are controllables.

 

[W75]

Interesting article and Yeo has very fair points. But. I'm not a sure that is he going to learn what really went wrong. Of course it's too early to say yet.

Yes, there surely was some unfair pressure, but it'll be always like that. He obviously "lost" the team when things went south.

I think one thing is to know how it should be done, what is the proper system. And the other thing is.. how to lead, coach and guide your team there. They're not the same thing. Former is knowledge. The latter consists of leadership, teaching skills, psychology, authority, guidance and so on. If you tell a player to do something... like achieve, execute. And then just wait it to happen. It's not gonna work very long.

Maybe that was Yeo's weakness? I don't know. And to be truthful, Wild's winning streak after the coaching change may have been just a quick sprint, as Yeo thought. Permanent winning and competing is not gonna be a nice walk in a park. There are clearly unfinished issues inside the team. As Yeo also said, those will pop up again. Unless the team is able to handle it properly. The players and issues in the locker room are the same. They must still face themselves. Only difference is, they're gonna do it with Torch now.

Edit/Addition: As a whole, Yeo sounds like a great person.

 

[roon]

I like Yeo's attitude, but he just described problems and not solutions. The locker room was fractured, the older players started doing their own thing, young players couldn't handle the trade talks, everyone started slumping and lost confidence. Okay. A leader is supposed to overcome that stuff. Those are controllables.

I don't really think they are controllable's. The more and more I think about it, the more it becomes clear that GMCF and Leipold were more the problem than Mike Yeo.

We never should have brought in Suter and Parise. Then you add Pominville and Vanek on top of that and add full NMC's for all of them....what is a coach supposed to do? Those players know they are the ones in the driver seat. What is he going to do, bench them? Vanek even said he learned nothing from his scratching.

Leipold was pushing a win now attitude and put the pressure on GMCF to make it happen. That resulted in the signing of some spoiled vets to HORRID contracts. You totally handcuff a coach when you do things like that. Look around the league, our team has one of the higher percentages of players with full NMC's, Fletcher hands them out like candy.

This wasn't a Mike Yeo problem, and it isn't going to be a John Torchetti problem when they miss the playoff's. This is a personnel issue, we need to clean house.

 

[BigT2002]

Wished he had spoken his mind a little bit more, but I completely understand why he was reserved on things like the Vets v Youth, or PP or Oates coming in.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

I don't really think they are controllable's. The more and more I think about it, the more it becomes clear that GMCF and Leipold were more the problem than Mike Yeo.

We never should have brought in Suter and Parise. Then you add Pominville and Vanek on top of that and add full NMC's for all of them....what is a coach supposed to do? Those players know they are the ones in the driver seat. What is he going to do, bench them? Vanek even said he learned nothing from his scratching.

Leipold was pushing a win now attitude and put the pressure on GMCF to make it happen. That resulted in the signing of some spoiled vets to HORRID contracts. You totally handcuff a coach when you do things like that. Look around the league, our team has one of the higher percentages of players with full NMC's, Fletcher hands them out like candy.

This wasn't a Mike Yeo problem, and it isn't going to be a John Torchetti problem when they miss the playoff's. This is a personnel issue, we need to clean house.

You're not going to say "no thanks" to Parise and Suter in the summer of 2012. You're just not.

 

[Hall of Faber]

This is normal for an ex-coach to have this media day thing about his firing? This just feels odd watching this press conference.

 

[nickschultzfan]

I thought this was the meat of the Russo interview:

How do you look at the annual midseason slumps?
“I don’t know. I’ve looked at it a couple different ways and seen a couple different things. I think that I’ve seen fatigue play a part in it. You ask me to describe our system – our system is aggressive. People can say we’re defensive, but I don’t want to be a team backing up. I’m an aggressive, attacking, in your face hard working team. If we lose a little bit of that playing an aggressive game, the worst thing you can do is be in between. And it felt like some times we were a little in between. I look at it – we for the most part since my time here, one thing I’ve seen is if we’re going to win, we have to be on it. It doesn’t take much for you to be off it. I felt there are some teams that maybe can be off it for a little bit, but can go score five or six goals a night. We didn’t seem to be one of those teams.â€

Yeo's system could be built on multiple lines of fast, skilled pressing forwards or elite counterattacking offensive players + grinders. Guys that got in the face of the other team.

But the Wild were built with the likes of Koivu, Vanek, Pominville, Granlund, etc. Once Parise got hurt and Zucker vanished, that was it. Our counterattacks were slow garbage and we were stuck in no-man's-land between attacking and defending.

 

[kfan22]

Wished he had spoken his mind a little bit more, but I completely understand why he was reserved on things like the Vets v Youth, or PP or Oates coming in.

Hes not going to come out and bash people whether they deserve it or not, I think that would hurt his chances at a future head coaching job if he did that

 

[roon]

You're not going to say "no thanks" to Parise and Suter in the summer of 2012. You're just not.

You are not going to say no to two 30 year olds who want contracts with full NMC's until they are past 40?

Why? Because they are both 2nd tier players, not elite but way above average?

Have you taken a look at the 2013 draft class? We would be in a much better long term position had we not signed those two, and therefore not have been in a position to trade for Pominville and built through the draft the right way.

Let someone else sink their future into those two idiotic contracts.

 

[TwiztedHeat]

Hes not going to come out and bash people whether they deserve it or not, I think that would hurt his chances at a future head coaching job if he did that

Which is pretty sad really. If a millionaire athlete is whining, call them out. They are being paid by the fans to play a game. I have no sympathy for pro athletes whining in a case like this. I hope Torch has more brass balls because the whole whiney diva, lockerroom division crap is pathetic and tired. Makes me lose ALOT of respect for Koivu, Parise and Suter because they're the "captains" of this team. I just wish everyone in athletics would speak their mind. Walking on eggshells is such a copout.

 

[kfan22]

You are not going to say no to two 30 year olds who want contracts with full NMC's until they are past 40?

Why? Because they are both 2nd tier players, not elite but way above average?

Have you taken a look at the 2013 draft class? We would be in a much better long term position had we not signed those two, and therefore not have been in a position to trade for Pominville and built through the draft the right way.

Let someone else sink their future into those two idiotic contracts.

First of all they were 27 and the last 3 Full years in NJ Parise had 94,82 and 69 points!! Thats 2nd tier level?? Really?? And Suter was a Norris candidate in first season with the Wild (finished a close 2nd to Subban)

 

[TwiztedHeat]

Really the last 3 Full years in NJ Parise had 94,82 and 69 points!! Thats 2nd tier level?? Really?? And Suter was a Norris candidate in first season with the Wild (finished a close 2nd to Subban)

They did produce points, but, from what we've seen, they're second rate leaders and it's rather upsetting given the intensity we see Parise play with. Hell, if I was Torch I'd strip the C and A's off those guys if what Yeo says is true about the whining and division in the lockerroom. Someone in this damn organization needs to act like a man and speak the ****ing truth and go out and do their jobs on a nightly basis. Good lord I'm annoyed with all this passive aggressive ******** that has been going on.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

You are not going to say no to two 30 year olds who want contracts with full NMC's until they are past 40?

Why? Because they are both 2nd tier players, not elite but way above average?

Have you taken a look at the 2013 draft class? We would be in a much better long term position had we not signed those two, and therefore not have been in a position to trade for Pominville and built through the draft the right way.

Let someone else sink their future into those two idiotic contracts.

We *might* be in a much better long-term position.

 

[thestonedkoala]

All I got from it is that Fletcher needs to go and possibly Koivu. The locker room has been a mess for a while (last year was the most telling) and Fletcher keeps trying to bail them out either through a trade or this year with the firing of a coach. They need a GM that isn't afraid to put the health of the organization ahead of the individual players (Nolan anyone?). Fletcher is a decent GM, but he lost control of the locker room and the players. It's time for some drastic changes for the Wild.

 

[Wild11MN]

We *might* be in a much better long-term position.

Would we have any guys that could even hit 40 points by this time without signing those two other than Koivu? Vanek wouldn't be here. Coyle, Nino, Zucker have never hit 40. Pommer wouldn't be here. Granlund hit 41 once. You can't assume we would have signed any other big name free agents. Can't assume the young guys would be putting up much better numbers either. I wouldn't call that much better off with a good prospect or two that could have ended up as a bust.

 

[Jarick]

Realistically, we'd probably have kept the 2013 1st rounder and drafted say in that 7-8 spot. So we'd be looking at someone like Horvat. 2014 would have probably been another 7-8 pick let's say Nylander.

Lineup would be something like:

Nino - Koivu - Coyle
Zucker - Granlund - Nylander
Haula - Horvat - Fontaine

Brodin - Spurgeon
Scandella - Dumba
Olofsson - Prosser

Backstrom, Kuemper, and Hackett rotating in net

Sound like a fun team to watch?