Minnesota Wild: Paul Fenton and Tom Kurvers bringing early success

The Minnesota Wild, last summer, made big moves in terms of their front office. They saw Paul Fenton arrive as new General Manager and Tom Kurvers as Assistant General Manager. At the time, they looked smart, now they look even smarter.

Wholesale change is sometimes necessary. That’s not to say that the previous General Manager, Chuck Fletcher had done a bad job. He’d seen the Minnesota Wild into the play-offs multiple times. Just that Paul Fenton and Tom Kurvers could bring a different approach; one that might see the team advance beyond the first round.

The previous organisations’ of the pairing sit first in both the Central and Atlantic Divisions, as well as first and second in the league overall.

You could argue that it’s early season luck or many things when it comes to the Minnesota Wild, but at last check, they were very much on Conference-winning pace, it they could maintain it.

This Tweet caused me to look into the pedigree of Paul Fenton and Tom Kurvers; it’s says a lot to how wise the Minnesota Wild organisation may well have been, with their hiring:

Intriguingly, Ryan Suter was a player that was drafted to the Nashville Predators on Fenton’s recommendation.

Per the Nashville Predators website; of the 34 players the Predators used in 2014-15, 17 of them were drafted by Nashville while another three were acquired by Nashville before making their NHL debut, meaning no fewer than 20 players used were ‘homegrown’ for the fourth consecutive season.

Whilst the season they look it isn’t the most recent one, it’s no slight on Paul Fenton that this level of player development was his doing.

The Nashville Predators are certainly a top-tier team and it never hurts to bring staff in from successful teams; he will certainly seek to embed the same winning culture with the Minnesota Wild.

More from Editorials

• Another Stanley Cup Final comes with the Minnesota Wild watching. When will that change?
• Story remains the same: Minnesota Wild flame out in first round
• Believe it or not: Minnesota Wild backs are against the wall, again
• The Minnesota Wild are in the postseason again. Is this the year they can make a run?
• Wild vs. Kings: Where does Minnesota go from here?

In adding Tom Kurvers to the Minnesota Wild office, you were bringing a man from a team that has been downright dominant in recent seasons, albeit not being able to go all the way.

Add in the fact that he’s a local boy and it was a perfect fit!

His role as a Senior Advisor to the Tampa Bay Lightning doesn’t paint a very clear picture of what he was doing, but prior to that he fulfilled the title of Assistant General Manager, which is a role we understand.

Given the Lightning’s penchant for finding un-drafted diamonds in the rough, you’d be hoping that Tom Kurvers was a key part of that and can do the same for the Minnesota Wild.

Looking at the performance of the Iowa Wild right now, it’s safe to say that they have their new General Manager’s back. With 8 wins from their first 12 games, someone clearly has their buy-in!

Either way, that one Twitter post really sums it up – you bring it successful guys and it seemingly rubs off.