Heads turned this week when the Boston Bruins fired head coach Jim Montgomery after his first year made history as the best single-season record (65-12-5). 2023-24 was also impressive, and the Bruins finished with a 47-20-15 record. However, they lost a 3-1 lead in the second round of playoffs and were 8-9-3 in the 2024-25 season when they fired Montgomery.
Previously, he coached the Dallas Stars from 2018 to 2020. After they fired him, Montgomery was an assistant coach for the St. Louis Blues but was picked up by the Bruins in 2022. Going into the 2022-23 season, Montgomery’s NHL record was 60-43-10. After the Bruins fired him, St. Louis wasted no time relieving head coach Drew Bannister of his duties and hiring Montgomery back five days after he departed from Boston.
At this point in the season, some NHL coaches should have trouble sleeping at night, but not John Hynes.
The Nashville Predators relieved Hynes of his coaching duties after 4 seasons in May 2023, so he’s familiar with the sudden change. The Minnesota Wild started the 2023-24 season with Dean Evason. However, after 7 straight losses gave the Wild a 5-10-4 start, they fired Evason and picked up Hynes.
At that point, the Wild were dead last on the penalty kill (66.7%) and second to last in goals against per game (3.95). Hynes did his best to turn things around and raised their PK to 74.5% by the end of the season. Still, Minnesota ranked 20th in the league and didn’t earn a playoff spot.
Despite not having a spectacular first year in Minnesota, Hynes doesn’t have to worry about his job security because the Wild ranks 4th in the league with a 13-4-4 record. So, what has made this season so different?
Hynes didn’t make sweeping off-season changes. Instead, he made small, focused tweaks. The Wild had previously struggled with their penalty kill, so he brought on Trenin. Hynes described Trenin as someone who “plays with an edge and is a top penalty killer” and was the type of player Minnesota needed.
Besides trading Lettieri for Lauko and a handful of two-way contracts, the core team, including leadership, has stayed intact. Spurgeon still has his “C,” and Eriksson Ek, Foligno, and Kaprizov remain the assistant captains.
Limited cap space played a part, but Hynes is more focused on developing the existing team than switching out every player who doesn’t perform. Taking a Herb Brooks approach, he stressed fitness level and conditioning as a priority in the offseason, mentioning discussions around mindset going into training camp.
Hynes’ coaching style has also resonated. Bill Guerin’s “scream fest” after five consecutive losses last season didn’t seem to work. The Wild lost two more games after that, which resulted in Evason getting fired.
However, Foligno noted that the new head coach takes a different approach: "He’s hard on you, but he’s hard on you in the right way. He’s not gonna come in here and yell and scream at you, but when he’s trying to deliver a message, he’s stern in his voice, and that’s what he wants to see outta you.”
Not that a little yelling doesn’t have its place in the NHL. Still, different teams will react differently depending on the coach and their style. Hynes demands respect and delivers structure in a way that fits this team.
Part of Hynes’ success stems from his goalie strategy. Throughout the 2023-24 season, we saw a fairly even split between Fleury and Gustavsson starting in net, with Wallstedt banking a few games. This year, Gustavsson has played the majority of games, and most of Fleury’s starts come after a particularly bad game by Gustavsson or as a rest after he’s been in net for several games.
Flower is a great goalie and teammate and likely would see more minutes on a different team. However, the Wild can’t become dependent on Fleury, 39, when he’s retiring after this season. Not to mention, Gus is tied for first in the NHL for SV% (.927), which makes him a clear starter.
Minnesota’s consistency in the net and healthy competition is making a difference this year. Gustavsson may be playing most of the games. However, if he isn’t performing, Fleury will get a chance. Hynes isn’t trying to depend on Gustavsson to play every game; he’s giving him regular rest games.
While it feels risky to play Wallstedt due to his lack of experience, I hope to see a couple of minutes for him later in the season. The Wild are set this year with Fleury backing up Gus, but the team will need to replace that depth in net next season.
Injuries have been a huge hurdle for the Wild to overcome this season and last. Spurgeon underwent hip surgery in February and missed the remainder of the 2023-24 season. He began this season with a lower-body injury and got back on the ice on October 29th against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Zuccarello's upper-body injury kept him out of 12 games last season. He also recently took a puck somewhere unpleasant and will be out for an estimated 3-4 weeks.
Eriksson Ek had to take time off this season for a broken nose, while Foligno missed the end of last season for a lower-body injury. Fortunately, Kaprizov’s recent injury didn’t take him out for as long as expected, and he returned against the Winnipeg Jets on Monday.
The list goes on, but the point is that Hynes has had multiple hurdles to overcome. While injuries have been a difficulty throughout Hynes’ time as coach, his intense focus on summer conditioning is likely why it hasn’t been as big of a problem this year.
The path ahead isn’t clear, either. Minnesota still has injuries to work through. The penalty kill also needs work, as it currently ranks 27th in the league (73.5%). Additionally, the Blues might gain an edge with Montgomery at the helm. Hynes is continually earning his spot as head coach, but there is still a long road ahead to the playoffs.
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