Minnesota Wild Fire Coach Mike Yeo

The Minnesota Wild have fired head coach Mike Yeo following the team’s eighth straight loss. John Torchetti has been named the interim replacement.

Minnesota Wild Fire Coach Mike Yeo

Yeo had a 173-132-44 record over the course of his five seasons as coach for the Wild. Minnesota made the playoffs the past three seasons. Yeo was 11-17 in the playoffs, taking the team to the Western Conference semifinals each of the past two seasons.

Torchetti has been coaching the team’s AHL affiliate, also called the Wild, in Iowa, and has nine seasons of NHL coaching experience, including stints with the Florida Panthers in 2004 and with the Los Angeles Kings in 2006.

Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher had previously told the press that Yeo wouldn’t be fired.

“I knew what he said the other day, and I’m a realist,” Yeo told the media regarding Fletcher’s comments. “You can’t lose every game and expect to think that there’s not going to be changes. I’m operating under the assumption that I’m going to be the coach tomorrow, and I know what I’m going to do, and it’s going to be something different from what we’ve done.”

The Wild has not provided any additional statement regarding the possible dismissal of other members of the coaching staff.

Zach Parise and Ryan Suter were signed to 13-year, $98 million contracts four years ago, although simply making the second round wasn’t going to be good enough for very long.

The Wild lost to the Boston Bruins 4-2 at home on Saturday, and now rest at 23-22-10 and in 11th place in the Western Conference. Minnesota has gone 3-12-4 in its past 19 games and has the fewest points in the NHL (10) in that span.

Caption:GLENDALE, AZ – OCTOBER 15: Head coach Mike Yeo of the Minnesota Wild watches from the bench during the NHL game against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on October 15, 2015 in Glendale, Arizona. The Wild defeated the Coyotes 4-3. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Article by Pablo Mena