The Minnesota Wild made some fairly stunning information right this moment as they’ve moved on from common supervisor Paul Fenton after only one season. Michael Russo of The Athletic was the primary to interrupt the information. The transfer comes simply 14 months after proprietor Craig Leipold named Fenton the third common supervisor in crew historical past.
A Mixture of Dangerous Choices Led to
Firing
It is extremely odd to let a common supervisor run the draft and navigate the free-agent market earlier than letting him go. Russo studies that the connection between Leipold and Fenton started to bitter after final February’s commerce deadline.
Nobody incident induced the ousting, however the lingering fallout from a sequence of arguably unhealthy trades and different personnel issues, together with inner points that, sources stated, created low morale all through the hockey operations division and dressing room compelled Leipold to make the transfer earlier than Fenton may even handle his second season with the Wild. From “Sources: Paul Fenton out as Wild GM after one rocky season,” The Athletic – 7/30/19
Fenton had a earlier relationship with Leipold once they have been each a part of the Nashville Predators group. He was employed in Could 2018 to exchange Chuck Fletcher, who was fired after by no means getting previous the second spherical of the Stanley Cup playoffs regardless of loads of high-profile strikes throughout his tenure.
Paul Fenton, former GM of the Wild. (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)
In his first offseason with the Wild,
Fenton introduced in defenseman Greg Pateryn and forwards Eric Fehr, Matt
Hendricks and J.T. Brown. These strikes have been made so as to add depth to a crew that was
already growing older. The Wild completed dead-last within the Central Division and missed
the postseason for the second consecutive season.
A Poor Commerce Deadline Dooms Fenton
When it was obvious that the Wild weren’t going to be a contender, Fenton had a really busy commerce season. There have been loads of strikes that made pundits and followers scratch their heads and in the end led to right this moment’s firing.
In January, he traded Nino Niederreiter to the Carolina Hurricanes for Victor Rask. Niederreiter put up 30 factors in 36 video games for the Hurricanes and helped them attain the Jap Convention Ultimate. In the meantime, Rask had simply two objectives and an help in 23 video games for the Wild and was a wholesome scratch a number of instances down the stretch. The Wild are nonetheless on the hook for 3 extra seasons of Rask and his $four million wage cap hit.
Earlier than the commerce deadline, he additionally traded away fan favorites Charlie Coyle and Mikael Granlund for Ryan Donato and Kevin Fiala. He additionally signed 34-year-old middle Eric Staal to a two-year contract extension when there was a rumored deal for him with the Boston Bruins on the desk.
The dealing with of Jason Zucker is one other large purpose why Fenton finds himself within the unemployment line right this moment. It’s no secret that the Wild have been wanting to maneuver Zucker for a while in an effort to create some wage cap aid.
The dealing with of Jason Zucker performed a giant function in right this moment’s transfer. (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)
He couldn’t pull off a cope with the
Calgary Flames on the deadline after which issues bought worse in June. Phrase bought out
that Fenton had a deal to ship Zucker to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Phil
Kessel till Kessel refused to waive his no-trade clause to come back to the Wild.
Along with all of the unpopular personnel strikes, Russo additionally studies that Fenton didn’t have an excellent relationship with lots of the entrance workplace staff.
Per the crew, assistant common supervisor Tom Kurvers will function appearing common supervisor till a everlasting substitute is discovered. Leipold put himself in a fairly powerful spot as this isn’t the time of yr to be searching for a brand new common supervisor. He can determine to try to rent away a younger up-and-coming government from one other franchise or go together with a retread like Peter Chiarelli, Ron Hextall or Dean Lombardi.
