Year Ten Review

But First, Some Housekeeping...
Yep, I called it - April 11, 2011 and Todd Richards is fired. 

Was Richards thrown under the bus, made to be the sacrificial lamb?  Sure - a little.  Did he have a team with a couple of superstars to work with?  No.  Did he have the buy-in of the players he was coaching?  No.  And that's the difference.  I wasn't in the room, on the ice or in the meetings with the players so all of my ramblings are purely speculation.  Any similarities to what actually plays out in the press in the following weeks and months should be seen as purely lucky conjecture. 
Here's my take - Richards never took control of the team from the get go.  He never earned the respect of the players by showing them he had an actual plan of action they could follow.  Todd was lost, in over his head and it showed on a nightly basis.  Richards didn't hold his key players responsible for executing his vision, whatever that was.  The way he stumbled through every post game press conference led me to believe he probably stumbled through practices and team meetings.  We all saw the results on the ice come game time. 
The top two complaints I'm reading today are the same ones Vicki, Dave and I have had for the last two seasons:
1.  Richards refused to match lines putting the wrong line combos on the ice which gave the visiting team a huge advantage every home game.  Gee, do you think there's a correlation to how crummy our record was at home this season? 
2.  Richards didn't hold his key players responsible for their actions (or should I say non-actions?) and either wouldn't or couldn't communicate with them until the damage was permanently done.  Gee, do you suppose that has something to do with Koivu acting like a spoiled child for much of the season and Havlat acting like a prima dona for the entire season?

I wish the best for Todd as he moves forward with his life and career.  Even though he's not totally to blame - see my Accountability rant further down in this post - he really was out of his element and not fully prepared to do what needed to be done with this team.  Jacques Lemaire left some really big coaching shoes to fill and Todd's still wearing coaching booties, if you will.   

Along with Todd, assistant coach Dave Barr and video coach PJ DeLuca were also fired.  Hmmmm, Rick Wilson - the defensive coach, still on staff.  The one guy who clearly did his job all season long, witnessed by the development of Clayton Stoner, Jared Spurgeon, Justin Falk and Marco Scandella, is still standing.  Of course, Rick's job could also be in peril but it's just not public as of now.  I really think Rick will be here through his last year on his contract.  He's a solid defensive coach and he's the only one in a suit behind the bench that was ever actively guiding the players during a game.  As for Darby Hendrickson, I'm surprised his release wasn't announced along with Barr's and DeLuca's.  My assumption is that Darby will be walking out the front door of the X within minutes of our new head coach walking in the front door.  Let's be honest with each other here, putting Darby behind the Wild bench was the dumbest, emptiest PR move the Wild have ever made.  How else can you explain this man, with ZERO previous coaching experience, getting handed the job if it's not for his hometown/hometeam connection to the Wild?  

And Now - Year Ten Review...
Home Opener, 2011 - Vicki and I are excitedly making our way to our seats for another season of Wild hockey.  We made a pact that we wouldn't speak of this being our last year together as season ticket holders.  The both of us agreed that this season was probably going to suck from a hockey perspective and we didn't need to add any more stress to the mix.  Afterall, we'd lived through the first year of Coach Richards during the previous season and knew we were in for a big dose of 'same story, different season.'  We told each other we'd just enjoy the season for what it was - two friends watching the sport they love, played by the team they love. 
We bounded down the stairs of our section, eager to hear the announcer herald our Call To Arms.  Reaching our seats we found them draped with Year Ten Towels.  The motto for Year Ten was "It's In Our Blood."  This was printed on the towels in large bold black print with the Wild logo just below it and off to the left corner was "EST. 2000" in smaller black print.  Kinda impressive.  Behind the motto/logo the following words were printed in gray shadow:

TENACITY    TRADITION    SPEED    AGILITY    VISION    UNSELFISHNESS    PASSION    HONESTY   COMMITTMENT    FOCUSED    DETERMINATION    MOTIVATION    HARDWORKING    DISCIPLINE    PREPARATION        

Fine upstanding words, these.  Quite an impressive mission statement.  Too bad the players didn't have these towels hanging in their lockers all season long.  Maybe Havlat would have put in a full season's worth of HARDWORKING and UNSELFISHNESS.  Just think if these towels were on the bench during each game.  Maybe Koivu would have more HONESTY and VISION when his team was faltering, including his own performance.  What if the towels were draped across their plane seats each time the team boarded for an out of town series.  Perhaps Gui Latendresse would have put in the proper PREPARATION.  Miettinen might have found his MOTIVATION and Chuck Kobasew could have been more FOCUSED.  If these towels had been passed around at morning practice maybe the players would have united in their PASSION and COMMITTMENT to playing 60 minutes every game.  Or, the players would have the TENACITY and DISCIPLINE it takes to play when they were down by a goal or two.

Yep, fine upstanding words, these.  I've got one more and I'm hoping it will be the word that's tattooed on each player's forehead with a new coach coming in.  That word is ACCOUNTABILITY.  You know, like the players being held ACCOUNTABLE for taking shifts, periods or entire game nights off.  Please, oh great and benevolent Hockey Gods, hear my prayer.  Starting next season make each Wild player, regardless of the size of their paycheck or which letter they wear on their sweater, ACCOUNTABLE.