Wild Name John Torchetti Interim Head Coach

Torchetti was asked to implement and run Mike Yeo's system in Iowa to prepare the team's prospects to be ready to appear in the NHL at any given moment. With the teams in Iowa and Minnesota being so close, it became a regular function of the GM to recall players for single-game assignments. The move makes sense in that it may be the least disruptive for a team that has largely carried the same personnel over the last 3 seasons and has worked to perfect Yeo's system since 2011. But Torchetti has some NHL coaching under his belt and may also work to identify issues and bring about change, which the team badly needs in the face of the predicament it finds itself in.

Torchetti brings a glut of coaching experience with him, including some time in the NHL. Torchetti was the head coach for 27 games in Florida in 2003-04 and for 12 games in Los Angeles in 2005-06. He carried a losing record in both stints, but was promoted in similar situations as to the current situation in Minnesota, as an interim placeholder to carry a team into the offseason so that it could complete a full coaching evaluation and hiring process. Torchetti also spent time coaching the KHL in Russia as the Wild migrated its AHL affiliation to Iowa in 2013. He was recruited to return as then-coach Kurt Kleinendorst was dismissed after an abysmal start.