BREAKING: Goodbye Chuck Fletcher; Frontrunner Already Reported for Open Wild GM Position



Broken by the great Michael Russo, it looks like the Minnesota Wild have finally given up on Chuck Fletcher. After 9 years as General Manager, Fletcher was informed this morning that he will not be given another contract after his last one came due at the end of this season.

The rumors and question marks have been flying but that’s been the case for many years now. What made the Owner, Craig Leipold make the move now? Hell, this is just a breaker and it’s only Monday. We’ll jump back in here once all of this is dissected, with some takes from Zak and others who know much more about hockey than me. Obviously Russo breaks it down like nobody else can in his story with The Athletic.

I do know this. Fletcher has taken the Wild to the playoffs for 6 straight seasons but the biggest complaint is that his top players and prospects consistently underperform. Trading away Brent Burns for Charlie Coyle has also haunted him for half of a decade.

It’ll be interesting to see where the Wild go from here. In the interim, Russo is reporting that Brent Flahr, “Fletcher’s right-hand man”, will take over.

Russo is already reporting that there is a front-runner for the now-open GM job. Nashville Predators’ Assistant GM, Paul Fenton, is apparently the guy to beat.

Here are some other reportedly possible replacements:

– Bill Guerin (Pittsburgh),

– Tom Fitzgerald (New Jersey)

– Martin Brodeur (St. Louis) and assistant GM’s that include

– Julien BriseBois (Tampa Bay Asst. GM)

– Norm Maciver (Chicago Asst. GM)

– Bill Zito and (Columbus Asst. GM)

– Kelly McCrimmon (Vegas Asst. GM)

– Dean Lombardi

– Don Maloney

Stay tuned Wild Fans.

Eric Strack
MinnesotaSportsFan.com (@RealMNSportsFan)

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