Mike Yeo Named Head Coach Of Minnesota Wild
Added on Jun 18, 2011 by J Merrill in
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Mike Yeo was named the new head coach in Minnesota becoming the the youngest Head Coach in the NHL, and the third coach in Minnesota Wild history. Wild GM Chuck Fletcher made it official yesterday when he announced “I’m very excited today. Mike is the right guy for this team. He is a good coach and this is a good day for the Minnesota Wild.”
Yeo started coaching when he was 26 years old with the AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, the team he started with as a player before he was forced off the ice with a leg injury. From 2006 to 2010 Yeo was with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and he has his name on the Stanley Cup when they won their championship in 2009. Last year he was hired by Houston Aeros, a part of the Minnesota Wild franchise, and he took the team to the championship and came home with Calder Cup.
Fletcher said the more he watched Yeo, the more he knew he was right for the Wild. He said “The longer I watched Houston play and their attention to detail, the way they played night in and night out, and knowing what I was looking for in a coach, it just became more apparent the longer the process went that Mike was the guy.”
Yeo said he the first thing to change would be the expectations he has for the team, and he is excited to hit the ground running with his club. Yeo said “It is my goal to raise our standards, our expectations — and I can’t wait to get started.” Everyone is clamoring to find out which members of coaching staff will be staying, and which ones will be shown the door. Fletcher said that he would be allowed to put together his own coaching staff, but Rick Wilson and goaltending coach Bob Mason definitely would be back.
Yeo went on to say that he will also have to change, and manipulate his coaching style for the step up into the NHL. Yeo said “Certainly, you have to look at your personnel and that what you have is going to fit with the style and identity that you want to bring. But with that, the game that I want to bring is very similar to the Pittsburgh Penguins. I think if you look at them, it’s easy to say, ‘Well, they have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin,’ but what’s really impressive about them is the way that they lost those guys this year and the way that they were able to sustain being one of the top teams in the NHL. For us and what we’re going to bring to the table, we’re going to be a team that’s tough to play against.”
Yeo said his first steps will be to lay the ground work and make sure everyone is on the same page as he is. He concluded “In the coming days I’m going to make sure that I get in touch with the guys and start planting the seed for what it is that we’re looking to get accomplished here in this next season. Then it’s a matter of making sure you’re ready to back your beliefs and stick with them and make sure, again, that you’re well prepared going into it.”
