Wild coach John Hynes' steady, calm demeanor big reason for turnaround: 'I trust the team'
SOURCE:The Athletic|BY:Michael Russo
Hynes was never rattled during Minnesota's rough start, and his team found its footing because of it, leaping to third in the NHL standings.
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Back in October, when the Wild struggled out of the gate, when they were mismanaging pucks throughout games, not working hard enough, not scoring enough goals and giving up way too many, the one constant was John Hynes’ calm demeanor behind the bench, behind the scenes and in front of the media.
As everybody else was freaking out, from the fans and critiquing reporters to even key players such as Brock Faber punching walls and slamming doors and Kirill Kaprizov having trouble finding answers, it was the Wild coach who never seemed rattled.
And as it turned out, the veteran coach wasn’t.
Night after night, almost defiantly, he maintained that the Wild weren’t, as some claimed, terrible, old and slow. There were pockets in games where they played great hockey, he insisted. They just weren’t doing it consistently enough to win more than they lost.
Hynes’ only objective was for him and his staff to help the team find a way out.
“I wasn’t worried … because it’s a good group,” Hynes said during a sitdown with The Athletic on Sunday in Las Vegas — a day before Minnesota smoked the Golden Knights, 5-2. “Like, I trust the team. You know what I’m saying? I trust the team that we’ll work through some s—. Some things are gonna happen. Not always gonna be rosy. But I think there’s enough of a relationship and respect two ways that we’ll work through it.”
Hynes, 50, is a career coach. The former Boston University center started coaching at BU at age 21 and has coached at every level of hockey — internationally for the United States, the U.S. national team program, two other colleges, the American Hockey League and 11 years in the National Hockey League as a head coach with the Devils, Predators and Wild.
This is his third year with the Wild and he’s got a pulse for how this team ticks.
So he may be the only one not shocked that the Wild are 21-4-3 since Nov. 1 as they’ve leapt to third in the NHL standings.
“I’ve been around long enough to know teams are going to struggle at times,” he said. “Like it’s gonna happen. Unless you have a year where everything goes right for you, you are gonna go times where you struggle. To me, it’s, ‘Are you communicating with the players? Is the message getting across? Are they committed to what we’re doing? Is there internal conflicts that are going on?’
“When those things start to happen and you’re not doing well, then you’re like, ‘OK, this is getting a little tenuous.’ But I never felt in October that there was any of that going on.”
That’s why Hynes trusted the process, trusted his players and never at all worried about his job security when the team got off to a 3-6-3 start.
“You don’t coach long in this league if you can’t coach through adversity,” Hynes said. “Like it doesn’t happen. It doesn’t happen if you get rattled by media, social media, fans. If that gets into your psyche, then you’re not gonna last long. You’re the head coach. You’re gonna take heat. So it doesn’t affect me. It honestly doesn’t affect me. What affects me is what’s going on with my coaches, what’s going on with the players, how am I with them?
“My belief as a head coach is you’re guiding the ship. So if you’re up and down and you’re emotional and flying off the handle, the players are going to sense that. Sometimes you’ve got to be steady on the rudder.”
And, by the way, Hynes’ job was never on the line.
“He shouldn’t have been worried because there are some people that have been here a lot longer than him and it hasn’t worked,” Wild president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Guerin told The Athletic. “So if anybody was going, it wasn’t him.
“But I’m extremely happy with the job John and the staff has done. I mean, they’re a big part of it. I think the coaches and the players have worked together to correct what was going on in October. They all have. The coaches and players all have the biggest part. They work together and got us out of the (muck).”
Here’s a glimpse into the two hours Hynes spent with The Athletic as the 24-10-6 Wild wrap up the first half Wednesday afternoon against the Sharks:
Quinn Hughes was traded to the Wild by the Canucks on Dec. 12, 2025. (Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
When did Billy first tell you Quinn Hughes was a target?
It wasn’t that long of a timeframe. He runs it by you, like, “What are your thoughts on this? If we were to do it, what do you think?” And then I give him my opinion, and then he kind of goes and does his thing. I’d say the day before, he’s like, “Hey, there’s a little bit of traction, but not sure. I’ve got to wait for a call back, but we’re in the mix.” And then the next day it was like, “I had a really good call. I would start to prepare for this later today.” Normally, how he does it with me, is we’ll talk, and he’s not like a daily update guy. We chat and he says, “OK, I’ll go back to ya.”
What was your reaction, because obviously, taking three players off your team leaves a hole?
Obviously, we lost three good young players that I did enjoy coaching. But, in order to get Hughes, you’re giving up something big, but what you’re getting in return is worth it. He’s a difference maker. And I also felt for the guys on the team, it was going to be a little bit of a jolt in a real positive way.
How big of a ripple effect does this have on the lineup, because it feels like he touches everything, from Jake Middleton to the third pair to the ability to have a great shutdown pair in Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon, to what it’s done for Faber, to how he gets the puck out of your own zone?
When you’re adding that caliber of a player, the things that he can bring to the team, there’s not a lot of players in the league that can drive play like he can. That’s why you were so excited to get him. But I think it also makes the D corps deeper, but it also has a ripple effect with … the forwards. When you have a player like Quinn that can drive play like he drives, I think it invigorates the forward group as well to know that you have a guy like that. And I also think that when you have really high-end players on your team, it does push the team to a different level at times, just as far as execution or the pace of play or the speed in which they play with. Guys see it, they practice against it, they play with it. I think it speeds up the team. It’s almost like a (Nathan) MacKinnon and (Connor) McDavid; it affects everything within a team.
Going back to October, when you start a season and win only three of 12 games, it’s so much more magnified than if it happened in January. So deep down, how nervous were you about the team and just the way it was playing and the way it was playing out? Could you have ever imagined what we’ve seen over the last two months at that moment?
When we were going through what we were going through in October, I felt like there were pockets and times of really strong hockey. The consistency wasn’t where it needed to be. I think the emotional investment, like there was no issue. There weren’t really issues. It was hard to put your finger on it because training camp, the guys were dialed in. We (shut out) St. Louis (in the opener), but then it was just like there were days we were good and played well, but then the next game, or the next day, it was off and on and we were very bad. So I was confident that we were going to get going. It just was trying to get through, like, “Why are we not getting going?” Obviously (Nico Sturm and Mats Zuccarello) were out. But, to me, individual guys weren’t playing as well as they needed to and it was like, “We know we’re better. I know we’re better. How do we get it? And why is it as inconsistent as it is?” If we were always average to bad, now you’re like, “Are we good enough or what’s going on?” But it’s just here it is. Why are we not committing to it?
Goaltending, the analytics say you had the second-best goalie on the ice most nights in October. So for Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt to turn it around the way they have, that almost seems to be the most unexpected part of this.
So that’s a great point. It’s not that the goalies were playing bad. It’s just like they were one save short … every night. But I will say, I thought that we became more committed defensively. The penalty kill got a little bit better. Our net-front play was way more consistent from a defensive standpoint. Less odd-man rushes. So I think the goalies played better, but I think the commitment level we were missing that makes us a good team, we weren’t as good as we needed to be in front of them, and they weren’t as good as they needed to be. But I think the team and the goalies got some traction, and then it kind of grew from there.
Kirill Kaprizov signed an eight-year, $136 million contract with the Wild on Sept. 30, 2025. (Sergei Belski / Imagn Images)
Kaprizov has also been so much better. In October, he was so east-west and turned a lot of pucks over and it felt like there wasn’t a buy-in.
There was a lot going on, training camp, coming into the season, obviously, with the contract stuff. I wouldn’t call it buy-in. I think it’s trying to do too much to help the team, and because he’s prideful. You go through the contract thing, you come in and it’s just like (convincing him), “You don’t have to do everything. You don’t have to do all these (risky) plays. You’re a great player. Come in and play the right way.” We don’t win a lot of hockey games when he’s not playing really well for us. I think it was just more mindset, high aspirations, I think individuals had on themselves. We hit a little bit of some individual inconsistencies and a little bit of team inconsistencies, and we just ironed it out. And now we got ourselves back to what we need to be.
Do you feel Matt Boldy is every bit as good as him? Like his first goal the other night, the way he wins a puck battle, fights to the net and gains position on the defender?
Bolds, I think he’s really coming into his own. I think both he and Kirill are team drivers. They’re a little bit different style of players, but I think what helps the two of them is they’re both extremely competitive. They both have some nuances and differences to their game, but they’re both elite players. What is nice when you have two guys like that that have high compete and high-level skill, … you can put them together and they work really well, and you can spread them apart, and they can still be fine on their own.
Is it fair to say you guys don’t trade Marco Rossi if you don’t believe in Danila Yurov?
Yeah. He’s a young guy that has emerged. We brought him along the right way. He continued to play well and progress. We recognized that, and put him in different roles, up, down, sometimes a scratch, come back in and play. He’s emerging as a good skating, smart, two-way centerman with a high compete level. I think there’s a lot more growth for him. From an offensive perspective, you’re starting to see more and more confidence there. I think he’s done a good job when he’s played with, say, a Zuccarello and Kaprizov. It was a good fit. (Vladimir) Tarasenko and (Yakov) Trenin, for a while, that line was pretty hot. So now you’re looking at a player, and you’re like, “OK, you put him here, it’s a good line. You put him here, it’s a good line.” And I think there’s also growth for him, probably in some special team situations moving forward. So his emergence, and our trust in that emergence and belief in it, makes you feel a little bit better about losing a guy like Marco.
What’s going on with Marcus Foligno?
Moose, in October, he was OK. But when we started going, he was a big factor. He was very physical, very engaged, playing the right way. Then he got hurt. I don’t think there’s really anything going on with him. I think he’s been a little bit snake bitten with the goals, but I will say, the turnaround of our team, he was a pretty big factor in playing to his identity and then I think getting the team rolling.
For you personally, is there a satisfaction with Trenin because I’m sure you were a big reason why you guys got him and now we’re all seeing why he’s such a valuable piece?
It’s interesting because when you coach a player and you see him play (like I did in Nashville), and you know what he’s made of, like his mental mindset, and his commitment to the game. He scored (17) goals the one year in Nashville, and you’re like, “This guy’s gonna be a pretty productive player.” But at the time, I think when you looked at our team, we kind of got pushed around. Like we weren’t big enough, hard enough, against some of the Western Conference teams. He’s a guy that brings those elements with the ability to produce, and now that he’s playing the way that he’s playing, that’s the “why” we made the move, because this was the impact that he can have on a team.
Billy has indicated that you’re not done, that he could be in the market for a center after trading Rossi. Do you feel the Hughes trade has elevated expectations and put you into true contender status, or are you a player away?
My focus as a coach is to coach the team that I have, and in order for us to be a true contender, intricacies of the game and special teams will be major factors in getting in and getting through. Faceoffs are a key factor and really making sure that we try to continue to build our game, to play with the habits and the style that will give you a chance to win. Not just we have a good record and we’re winning games, we have a good team. Like, can we continue to push and get better individually, play a style of game that can win, the discipline you need to be able to win? So whether mentality, habits, how you win, all those little things, they have to continue to get better, so when you go into one of those environments in a series, you can go blow for blow with teams. But also you have this staying power and the habits and the mentality in your game that can win. That’s the goal.
