The Minnesota Wild just made a huge move to secure the future success of their team by hiring Hall of Fame defensemen Scott Stevens as an assistant coach. He brings a wealth of experience and expertise that will have a strong an instant impact on the Wild.
The re-alignment of the Minnesota Wild coaching staff was a foregone conclusion when Bruce Boudreau was hired. On May 23rd that shake-up came as the Wild let go assistant coaches Rick Wilson and Darryl Sydor, and moved Andrew Brunette to the front office. It wasn’t expected to take long too long to find two replacements for Sydor and Wilson to coach behind the bench, but it was widely speculated that Boudreau would bring in one of his former associates.
Today one of the two open assistant slots was filled, and not with a Boudreau associate. Michael Russo of the Star Tribune reported at noon today that the Wild have hired Hall of Fame defenseman Scott Stevens. This a great addition for the Wild as an organization and will no doubt pay dividends right away.
Stevens is a veteran of 22 NHL seasons with the Caps, Blues, and Devils. He won the Stanley Cup three times with the Devils including a Conn Smythe Trophy win in enroute to the 2000 Cup win, and was a 13-time All-Star.
Stevens was and is a disciple of classic shutdown, hard-hitting defense. He only had 196 goals in his 22 seasons, but he was a +393 in plus/minus on his career and never finished minus in any of his seasons played. He’s always remembered as one of the best open ice hitters in the history of the league.
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His reputation as a defender is one of the best ever is cemented and helps a ton towards his credibility as a coach. That credibility might have lacked a bit in Minnesota in last couple of seasons, and all the players including the set in their ways veterans will have no choice but to listen.
Boudreau explains the effect that Stevens will have when he says to Michael Russo of the Star Tribune that “Just to bring in his expertise and history, I think that’s a real bonus for us, he is one of the greatest defensemen and well-respected. I think he’ll have instant respect.”
After spending two and half seasons with the Devils as an assistant starting in the 2012-13 season, Stevens was promoted mid-season in 2014-15 to Co-Head Coach with Adam Oates after Peter DeBoer was fired. He was promoted to the defensive yin to Adam Oates’ offensive yang. Still the Devils missed out on the playoffs and the experiment left Stevens without a job after the season. After sitting out last season Stevens felt it was time to get back to coaching.
Stevens was not even on the radar of Boudreau, but a call from Scott Niedermayer to Boudreau made the introduction, and it was an instant match. Stevens explained to Russo that “We connected right away, it felt like I had known Bruce for 20 years. We talked for two hours and it felt like it was 30 minutes talking hockey.”
The chance to work with the Wild players is really the thing that Stevens is most excited about. As he explained to Russo “I love to give whatever I’ve learned over the years playing the game. I love seeing players reach their potential and find consistency in their game. When you find that consistency and how to maintain that, that’s when you become a great player. I had to learn that.”
Perhaps the most important thing Stevens brings is his experience as a winning player. One of the things the Wild have been lacking for the last couple of seasons is a coaching staff that knows all the ins and outs of winning a championship and how to play as a great player. Stevens not only won championships in New Jersey, he was the hands down leader of those Devils teams.
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Normally the hiring of an assistant coach is a fairly benign action for a team and can have a small impact, but normally is nothing significant. In this case the hiring of Stevens by the Wild is a huge move that will no doubt have monster impact. Wild fans should be very happy right now with the direction of their team, as the future from a coaching perspective just got a whole lot brighter today.