Yeo to the Wild

[El Sid]

I am not really sure what to say about this, but I did find it interesting.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=5...d-rr-headlines

Yeo selected as next Wild head coachFriday, 06.17.2011 / 1:24 PM / News By Greg Picker - NHL.com Staff Writer
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Share The Minnesota Wild on Friday named Mike Yeo the third coach in franchise history.

"It is my goal to raise our standards, our expectations -- and I can't wait to get started," Yeo said during a press conference.

At 37, Yeo currently is the youngest coach in the League. He replaces Todd Richards, who was fired after missing the playoffs in each of his two seasons.

"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," said Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher. "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."

Just over a year ago, Yeo was hired to as coach of the Houston Aeros, the Wild's American Hockey League affiliate. It was his first professional head coaching job, and all Yeo did was guide the team to the Calder Cup finals.

Prior to taking the job in Houston, Yeo was an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2006-10, and has his name on the Stanley Cup from the team's 2009 title.

Also part of that 2009 title team was Fletcher, who was an assistant GM.

Yeo was just 26 years old when he began his coaching career, as an assistant with the AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. He started with the AHL Penguins after he was forced to retire as a player due to a knee injury.

Yeo said he'll soon talk to Fletcher about filling out his coaching staff. Fletcher said assistant coach Rick Wilson and goaltending coach Bob Mason definitely would be back, but Yeo would be allowed to construct the rest of his staff. Dave Barr and Darby Hendrickson served on Richards' staff.

After that, it will be time to get to know his new players.

"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."

Yeo said he'll have to tweak his coaching style for the NHL, but doesn't believe he'll have to change too much.

"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," said Yeo. "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."


"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." -- Wild GM Chuck Fletcher

[Kipper]

WOW... That's sudden..

Knowing now that Mike Yeo wasn't responsible for our crappy PP (or able to fix it), perhaps he will do a good job.

[Sid_Vicious]

Yeo, to me, seemed like a more personable Michel Therrien. He'll do fine in Minnesota. I was predicting him as the new coach anyway, but not that sudden. I was thinking maybe 2yrs down the road if Richards didn't work out, man they moved quick.

[VA Born Yinzer]

Maybe he'll finally grow some eyebrows.

[Beezy]

He wanted out of here anyway. My buddies dad was his neighbor. I guess his wife hated Pittsburgh or US in general. Where they are now is practically Canada. He wasn't liked on this board. Mainly because of the PP but it's hard to say it was his fault now since the PP still sucks.

[Sid_Vicious]

The powerplay sucks mostly because of how static it is, if you look at the best powerplays, they are unpredictable and move the puck around very quickly. Pens love to hold on to the puck too long and then pass it the last second and then keep doing that and become predictable at it.

People definitely liked to blame Yeo, that's for sure. But this past season, clearly it wasn't just his fault, lol. We'll see what Bylsma has come up with, he's become more involved with the powerplay this summer, I think before it was just his assistants that took care of that, I still think it wouldn't be a bad idea to add a 3rd assistant, most teams have one.

[Beezy]

To me it's like they never close in on the net. The good ones start passing on the parameter and work their way in for a shot. The Pens just play catch. They are really good at that and burning holes in the ice. I want to see some scoring!