Former Devils Head Coach Hired as Minnesota Bench Boss

Former New Jersey Devils head coach, John Hynes, has been hired as the next head coach of the Minnesota Wild.

It’s not quite Devils news, but Hynes finds himself back behind a bench.

Following a 5-10-4 start to the season, Wild general manager, Bill Guerin, relieved Dean Evason of his head coaching duties in Minnesota, according to Michael Russo of The Athletic. The Wild also relieved assistant coach Bob Woods of his duties.

The Devils named Hynes head coach in New Jersey in June of 2015, replacing Scott Stevens and Adam Oates. Hynes coached the Devils to their first playoff appearance since the 2011-12 season in 2017-18.

However, the Devils lost in the first round to the Tampa Bay Lightning. In January 2019, Hynes signed a multi-year extension to remain head coach in New Jersey.

However, Hynes was quickly fired 11 months later after a disastrous 9-13-4 start in the 2019-20 season. Hynes left New Jersey with a coaching record of 150-159-45 across four-plus seasons. He was replaced by Alain Nasreddine as interim head coach before New Jersey hired Lindy Ruff.

Hynes was hired as the head coach of the Nashville Predators just over a month after he was fired in New Jersey. In three-plus seasons in Nashville, Hynes put together a much better 134-96-18 record before he was relieved of his duties following the 2022-23 season in favor of former Devils associate coach Andrew Brunette.

According to Russo, “Guerin was Hynes’ GM for a large portion of when Hynes coached Wilkes-Barre, and Guerin’s senior adviser, Ray Shero, was New Jersey’s GM when the Devils hired him,” making him a logical replacement according to the Wild reporter.

With 63 games left in the regular season, the Wild are hoping Hynes can help turn Minnesota’s season around.

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