The Minnesota Wild had a terrific 2025-26 season but the way it ended gave fans a sour taste in their mouth. As much as fans can try to get rid of it by envisioning a blockbuster move this summer, they still flashback to their second round playoff loss to the Colorado Avalanche and how John Hynes should have been the scapegoat.
For now, Hynes still has a job and it’s likely he’ll get an extension this summer. But that doesn’t mean there are some changes to the coaching staff as The Athletic’s Michael Russo and Jeremy Rutherford reported that the St. Louis Blues are hiring Iowa Wild head coach Greg Cronin to be part of Jim Montgomery’s staff.
The move will be another shift for the Wild’s AHL affiliate. But it’s the type of change some Wild fans wanted at the NHL level and could have them thinking about how Hynes got away with a massive collapse.
John Hynes shares the blame in Wild’s lack of player development
Hynes got the Wild to the playoffs and even helped them win their first playoff series since 2015. But there were little things during the Avalanche series that made fans believe they needed an upgrade.
The heavy reliance on a defensive pairing with Jake Middleton and Jared Spurgeon was at the top of the list as the two bled chances throughout the series. A goaltender change in Game 2 from the white-hot Jesper Wallstedt to Filip Gustavsson, who may have been playing with a severely damaged hip, is another point of contention. Blowing a 3-0 lead in their season-ending loss in Game 5 was another gaffe and a 11-25 career record in the postseason including an 0-6 mark in elimination games would have justified moving on.
Instead, it appears the Wild will double down with an extension for Hynes this summer while looking for a new AHL coach.
Cronin came over after he was fired by the Anaheim Ducks last season and was trying to rebuild an Iowa team that hasn’t churned out talent over the past few years. While Matt Boldy, Wallstedt and Marco Rossi both spent time down I-35 early in their career, the Wild haven’t gotten a steady stream of talent when they’ve needed it and they finished with a 22-33-6-3 record in Cronin’s lone season.
The departure of Cronin may not directly hurt the Wild, but it’s the latest failed attempt to rebuild the culture. With few success stories, the Wild have seemingly run out of blue-chip prospects, which is something that could hinder their attempt to add players in an aggressive trade market this offseason.
But even with the Wild’s lack of success in the AHL, Hynes still needs to get the most out of his NHL players. He did that to some degree riding a core of Quinn Hughes, Kirill Kaprizov, Boldy and Brock Faber, but his continual deference to aging veterans including Marcus Johansson and Vladimir Tarasenko have held Minnesota back at times even without his poor coaching decisions during last year’s playoff run.
The struggles to develop talent could not matter if the Wild finds a way to trade for a top center. But keeping Hynes around is a polarizing move and one that makes Cronin’s departure look like a fever dream for those that wanted a change a little higher on the food chain.
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