Inside Bill Guerin and John Hynes’ long history, and why Wild GM believes his new coach can fix a broken team

ST. PAUL, Minn. — It was 2011, Bill Guerin’s first year as development coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins and one of his first times traveling to Wilkes-Barre, Penn., to work with the Baby Penguins.

Guerin was living on Long Island, so it was always a special occasion when he showed up.

“He comes in all fresh, brings us Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and comes in full of energy: ‘Hey boys, let’s go on the ice,’” Wilkes-Barre’s coach at the time, John Hynes, recalled. “We go out there skating, and about 20 minutes into practice, we’re doing a battle drill and Billy skates up to me: ‘Hey Hynesy, isn’t this a little aggressive for a morning skate?’

“I go, ‘Billy ... the game’s tomorrow.’”

Guerin erupted with laughter last April as Hynes relayed this story on the morning of what was — unbeknownst to either — Hynes’ second-to-last morning skate as coach of the Nashville Predators .

“I was standing there thinking, ‘We’re going long. Now he’s got these guys doing all this physical stuff. I’ve got to say something,’” Guerin said, still laughing.

“Poor guy left his wife and family to come to Wilkes a day too early,” Hynes said, laughing harder.

At the helm of the Hynes #mnwild pic.twitter.com/VVY9Kp8LZz

— Minnesota Wild November 28, 2023

To say Guerin and Hynes, the newly appointed seventh coach in Wild history, know each other well is an understatement.

That same year, Hynes came up with this brilliant idea to have Guerin coach a game on the bench with them in his hometown of Springfield, Mass. Unhappy with the officiating during the game, Guerin unleashed on the ref and not only got a penalty to put the Baby Pens down five-on-three but also got kicked out of the game.

Springfield has one of the skinniest visiting benches you’ll see, and Guerin was at the far end of it, forced to do the walk of shame, squeezing behind the players and in front of the coaches to get to the locker room, saying, “Excuse me ... Gotta get by ... Pardon me ... Excuse me.”

“Billy called me from the locker room and said, ‘I f—ed up,’” said then Penguins-GM Ray Shero. “I go, ‘How did you f— up?’ He goes, ‘Well, I went behind the bench and, I don’t know, the ref was f—ing brutal so I told him he was f—ing brutal and he f—ing tossed me.’”

Guerin watched in horror as the players he was in charge of developing had to lay down to block shots for the bad spot he put them in.

After the period ended, Hynes came into the locker room and didn’t say a thing to Guerin. But his angry stare could have said a thousand words.

“Billy goes, ‘Sorry ... I’ll buy the team a meal,’” Hynes said, laughing.

The two have known each other since Hynes, now 48, was an assistant coach with the U.S. National Team Development Program in 1998. Guerin was in a contract holdout with the New Jersey Devils and needed a place to skate. The U.S. NTDP’s head coach, now-Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson, let him skate with the kids. Hynes, five years younger than Guerin, was the closest person there to his age, and they would often go to dinner and grab beers together.

They reunited in Wilkes-Barre and have always stayed friendly since the launch of Hynes’ NHL head coaching career in New Jersey in 2015, and then onto Nashville.

In the past few weeks, as Guerin started thinking about potentially replacing Dean Evason as coach, Hynes was always on his mind. Meanwhile, Hynes saw the Wild severely struggling from afar, especially starting in late October, and wondered if Guerin could come calling.

Hynes began watching the Wild more and more closely just in case. From there, the hiring came together quickly after Guerin asked the Predators permission to speak to Hynes on Sunday night after the Wild lost their seventh straight game, in Detroit.

Hynes had plenty of chances to be hired as an assistant during the offseason, including in Minnesota, but chose to remain patient and wait for a head coaching job. He comes to Minnesota on a multi-year deal. While he waited, he watched a lot of hockey and did special projects like studying different types of special teams.

He said he feels much more prepared for this job than the Predators one, which he took midseason in 2019-20 not long after being let go by the Devils. He has watched the Wild intently and knows them well from coaching against them in-division.

There will be no time to get accustomed to his new surroundings. He’ll rely on his assistant coaches — including Patrick Dwyer, who was elevated from AHL Iowa to replace Bob Woods, coaching the defensemen and penalty kill — as he takes the reins, starting Tuesday night against the St. Louis Blues .

“I think you have to come in and, first and foremost, get to know the players,” Hynes said. “It’s on the fly, but I believe that when you come into this situation, everybody’s hurting. It’s a tough situation for the coaching staff, the training staff and particularly the players. So I think it’s important to really come in and connect with those guys, connect with the coaches, get feedback — particularly from the players on some of those things that they’re seeing and feeling. That’s the start of it. It’s first who, then what.”

Hynes doesn’t plan on enacting wholesale changes off the bat, and the Wild’s lines will remain largely the same to start Tuesday’s game. But he wants to play fast, aggressive hockey, get out of the zone quickly and get on the attack.

When Hynes took over the Predators, they were a broken team. He got them to believe in themselves again, relying on elite goaltender Juuse Saros and all-world defenseman Roman Josi . The Preds went 16-10-1 before the pandemic interrupted the season.

That’s what Guerin is hoping happens, because if there ever was a broken team, the Wild are it.

#mnwild GM Bill Guerin said everyone has to "own" the team's struggles, and that includes him.

My column from coaching change. Guerin has played that card, now the scrutiny will head his way.

— Joe Smith November 28, 2023

In watching the Wild’s past four games, Guerin saw slight improvements — but the lack of results told him it wasn’t going to change. Something didn’t feel right, and it was now or never to make a coaching change if the Wild wanted to make the playoffs.

And that is still the expectation.

Not that there aren’t detractors. Shero, who hired Hynes in Wilkes-Barre and New Jersey and is now Guerin’s senior adviser, is in tune with those in the Wild fan base who are perplexed that Evason, who couldn’t coach the Wild past the first round, is being replaced with a coach who also hasn’t won an NHL playoff round. (He did go to the conference final twice in the AHL.)

With the Devils, Shero quipped that Hynes was at the helm of a “seven-year rebuild” and did a terrific job with a team that wasn’t ready to take the next step. He said Hynes needs time and can absolutely coach and can provide a “fresh opportunity for players that really need it.”

“He’s got three things you always look for in a coach: teach, inspire, discipline,” Shero said. “I think he does a wonderful job. He’s very detailed. He’s a great communicator. He empowers his assistants. He’s got experience now, and he coaches players up. And he’s coached role players. He’s coached Taylor Hall to an MVP season.

“Ask Patty Kane, and he’ll tell you he’s one of the best coaches he ever had at the (U.S. NTDP). ... Matt Duchene , Filip Forsberg , (Roman) Josi, Mikael Granlund , Ryan Johansen , Tanner Jeannot , Thomas Novak, Kyle Palmieri , Adam Henrique , Lee Stempniak, Will Butcher, Stefan Noesen — all had the best years of their whole career playing for Hynsey.

“Fans need to give him time. They’ll like him.”

The Wild will need a similar bump because they have underperformers up and down the lineup, from Kirill Kaprizov , Matt Boldy and captain Jared Spurgeon to second-line left wing Marcus Johansson and role players like Freddy Gaudreau and Jake Middleton .

Can Hynes help Kaprizov erupt into an MVP like Hall did? Help the 22-year-old Boldy regain his confidence?

Hynes will attempt to lighten the tension, but he also has no problem holding players accountable. When coaching Pat Maroon in the world championships, there was one game where Maroon was killing the U.S. with penalties and sluggish play. He was an established NHL player, but Hynes didn’t care. He benched him in the second period. After the game, Maroon stood up and told the team it was deserved and he had to play better.

And when Maroon was acquired by the Devils, despite that experience, he was excited to play for Hynes.

“He’s going to give us everything we need,” Maroon said. “He’s engaged into the players. He wants the best for the players. He brings the best out of players. He’s going to lean on us, and I think he’s gonna be good for us. He’s an intense coach. He’ll bring some life back into this room that we need. And he’s got energy, and he’s got structure.

“Now we just have to go out there and do it. You never want to say hopefully a new voice will change it, but hopefully ... I think he’s gonna come in and help us a lot here.”

Guerin said the Wild lost their swagger from the team that recorded back-to-back 100-point seasons. Hynes hopes to help them get that back.

The Wild got a bump from John Torchetti taking over for Mike Yeo on one Valentine’s Day morning, and they made the playoffs. The Wild got a bump from Evason taking over for Bruce Boudreau one Valentine’s Day morning, and they looked on their way to getting back into a playoff spot before the pandemic put them in the summer bubble’s qualifying round.

It’s not Valentine’s Day. Hynes has a lot more time with his new team. So can Hynes perform that magic, too, just by being a different voice than the Wild players have been hearing?

Filip Gustavsson and Marc-Andre Fleury haven’t looked remotely close to what Saros provided him. And the Wild’s blue line, usually their strength, hasn’t been great, especially on special teams where Spurgeon has no power-play points and has been on the ice for six penalty-kill goals in six games and Jonas Brodin on for a mind-boggling 15 of 23 penalty-kill goals.

The Wild still have the $14.7 million in dead cap money and a lack of flexibility for the new coach to call up players or scratch underperformers.

“Right now, they’re in the foxhole,” Hynes said. “They’re trying to dig their way out, and I’m gonna jump in with them and the rest of the coaches and Billy, and we’re gonna fight our way out of it.”

Hynes, who was part of a Boston University team that beat up on the Gophers in 1995, has a lot of friends in the area because his wife, Sarah, a former standout volleyball player at the University of Wisconsin, is from Hammond, Wisconsin.

She’s a Packers fan, by the way.

When that came out, Guerin jumped in and asked his old friend to pipe down.

“I’d be very careful,” Guerin cautioned.

Hynes has Guerin’s support. For him to succeed in Minnesota, he’ll need his players.

“It’s on us as players in here,” Spurgeon said. “When someone else comes in from the outside, it’s a different eye. They have their spins on things, what they see. For us, we’re really looking forward to working with John and going from here.”

(Top photos: Bruce Bennett / )