Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold has said that general manager Chuck Fletcher’s position is not under threat, as the franchise heads in to Friday’s Game 5 clash with Dallas facing possible elimination from the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Speaking to Jim Souhan of The Minnesota Star-Tribune, Leipold said “There is absolutely no way Chuck is not going to be here next year”, despite Minnesota scraping in to eight place and facing elimination in the first round of the post season.
“He is our guy. I continue to have a high level of confidence in Chuck and his staff and we’re already talking about next year … Chuck knows he is not on any hot seat with me.
So if there are rumors (about Fletcher being replaced) – and I haven’t seen them – then they aren’t something Chuck or anyone else should be worried about.”
Fletcher was hired as Wild general manager on May 21 2009, having spent three years as an assistant general manager in Pittsburgh under Ray Shero.
During his time at the helm, Minnesota signed stars such as Zach Parise and Ryan Suter and have qualified for the post season for four straight seasons.
But they have also failed to get past the Western Conference semifinal stage of the playoffs during Fletcher’s tenure and carry one of the highest payrolls in the league, already on the hook for $63 million next season.
Fletcher has also hired, and fired, two coaches (Todd Richards and Mike Yeo) and had several high profile acquisitions fail to live up to expectations, including Thomas Vanek.
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