Todd Richards is your new Wild Head Coach

[maros91]

Hometown boy with a good track record with San Jose and Pittsburgh. Should be interesting to see what the new GM and Coach can do.

[walleyes12]

I like it!!! should be fun and intresting to see how fast the team will gel!

[OnAFly]

A new offensive style...this will be fun to watch!

Maybe now our young offensive talent will be allowed to develop into good offensive player as opposed to OK defensive players.

[walleyes12]

The wild still dont have any real offensive weapons other than Gabby (who knows if you will be around next season) and Koivu! Other than that we have average offensive players. Hopefully they make a splash in free agency

[IFallsRon]

Richards has no cred. He has been the new GM's doughnut boy and that's about it.

[OnAFly]

That and taking his AHL team to the finals and being an assistant coach for one of the best teams in the league for the last two years. But other than his experience as a minor league HC, major league AC and AGM, yes his only qualifications are in the doughnut industry.

[Bear55]

I kind of figured they would go with Laviolette as he would be the safe pick with far more experience but I think this could be a good move. New GM and coach, both young and ready to prove themselves, might be just what this team needs.

[berfish]

I am happy with the choice. I think it will make for an interesting next few years. Sounds like a big change for the players...hopefully they can adapt. I do agree with the new staff that it is easier to go from defensive-minded to offensive-minded. One thing I am a little worried about is that they keep emphasizing the fact that Richards is a tough-offensive-minded-exciting-style-type coach. I don't care what the score is as long as they win games. Sure a 6-5 game is fun to watch but only if you win. That is my opinion. I just wish Fletch and Richards mentioned some more points on winning instead of the style of play during the press conference.

[Bear55]

I am happy with the choice. I think it will make for an interesting next few years. Sounds like a big change for the players...hopefully they can adapt. I do agree with the new staff that it is easier to go from defensive-minded to offensive-minded. One thing I am a little worried about is that they keep emphasizing the fact that Richards is a tough-offensive-minded-exciting-style-type coach. I don't care what the score is as long as they win games. Sure a 6-5 game is fun to watch but only if you win. That is my opinion. I just wish Fletch and Richards mentioned some more points on winning instead of the style of play during the press conference.

I wouldn't expect too many wins for the next couple of years, gaborik is as good as gone, the team will need time to learn a new system, the kids probably aren't going to take any big steps this year and there isn't much coming up from the farm system. Sure playing a defensive system might net us a few more wins over the course of the year but all that got us was a couple of first round playoff exits. It won't be long before we find out what direction the new GM wants to take us, if we sign some nice free agents we can compete, but we could also become sellers and try and get younger.