By Jonathan Ryan -
John Hynes inherited Evason’s staff when he took over for Dean Evason at the end of November last season. He played out the remainder of the 2024-25 season without any other changes behind the bench.
But it’s no surprise that some change would come after the Wild failed to make the playoffs for the first time in Bill Guerin’s tenure as GM. One of the changes was the firing of long-time assistant coach Darby Hendrickson.
Hendrickson is a Minnesota native whose hockey lore extends back to his “Mr. Hockey” high school days. After playing with the Wild from 2000-01 to 2002-03 and in 2003-04, he spent 14 years on the coaching staff. The 52-year-old had either playing or coaching connections with every Wild coach in team history – from Jacque Lemaire through Hynes. But history won’t repeat itself in 2024-25 when they bring in veteran coach Jack Capuano to replace Hendrickson behind the bench.
Capuano joins the staff after recently working as an assistant with the Ottawa Senators for six years. Before joining Ottawa’s staff, he was an assistant with the Florida Panthers for two years. Capuano also served as the New York Islanders’s head coach between 2010 and 2017.
He spent over six years as the Islanders' head coach before they fired him after a .500 start midway through his seventh season. During his tenure, the Islanders went 227-192-64, making the playoffs three out of his six seasons with the team. For two and a half of those seasons, Capuano and Hynes were opposing head coaches of division rivals while Hynes coached the New Jersey Devils.
Their connection doesn’t end there. They’re both Rhode Island natives.
Hynes was the head coach of Team USA in the 2024 IIHF Men’s World Championship this offseason and had Jack Capuano on his staff. According to Michael Russo and Joe Smith, Bill Guerin was impressed with one of USA Hockey’s defensemen this summer and looked to add Capuano.
“Capuano worked mostly with the Senators’ defense and played a major role in Jake Sanderson’s development,” the reported. “Sanderson was one of the players at the World Championship that most impressed Bill Guerin, the Wild’s general manager who has the same role for USA.”
Capuano will have the same role on the Wild, focusing on the penalty kill.
Minnesota’s penalty kill percentage was 74.52% last year, 30th in the league. Winning teams must kill penalties at a higher rate than that. The Wild gave up the second-most shorthanded goals against in the league with 67. They spent the sixth-most time on the PK last season at 432.52 minutes – more than seven games shorthanded.
A healthy Jared Spurgeon and the addition of Yakov Trenin will also go a long way toward improving the PK, which is equally as important as the power play. Capuano’s presence should also help bring equilibrium back to the Wild’s special teams.
With nearly 30 years of coaching experience, including 15 years as a head coach, Capuano has earned respect around the league. His situation in Minnesota is oddly similar to Hendrickson’s.
Last season, Ottawa made a head coaching change partway through the season, but Capuano was spared, at least for the remainder of the season. However, the new regime replaced Capuano, and he found his fit with the Wild. – perhaps nearing a perfect fit in the eyes of Guerin.
We all know Guerin has a certain type: tough, blue-collar, team-first (remember Cam Talbot?). It’s a certain style of hockey Guerin long coveted for his team to adopt, and Capuano brings a similar coaching mentality to Wild’s bench along with him.
The new assistant coach may not be a sexy, front-page addition to the team, but it is an addition to get excited about. Capuano is a hockey guy with decades of experience. He’s welcome to revamp the Wild’s defense and stabilize a unit that needs it.
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