John Hynes in Danger of Being Fired by MN Wild?

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John Hynes - Minnesota Wild head coach
Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

The 2025-26 Minnesota Wild are done, a difficult reality to swallow for a squad with by far more talent than has ever been assembled in St. Paul previously.

And when they jumped out to a 3-0 first period lead Wednesday night in Colorado, it felt like we would, at the very least, see a Game 6 back in Minnesota this weekend.

Unfortunately, the Avalanche scored the game’s next four goals, the last of which came in overtime and put the Wild away with nothing more than a light whimper, mustering just one win during what was supposed to be a seven-game series, but wound up being just five.

John Hynes takes it easy on Minnesota Wild players

So it was a bit surprising after the game, when John Hynes met with media and took the opposite approach to his team’s effort, compared to what we saw after Game 4, when he ripped them for making the conscious decision to (essentially) play loser hockey.

Instead, the third-year MN Wild head coach instead praised his players for their effort throughout the season and during their playoff run, and pretty much refused to give any negative input specifically related to Game 5.

Reporter: “How disappointing is it to let a 3-0 lead in the playoffs disappear to end the season?”

Hynes: “Yeah, you know, I think our guys competed hard. This group is a pleasure to coach. You go nine months together, basically, right? Great competitors, great character, they gave it everything they had. And that’s all you can ask as a coach.”

“I think both teams put up a real competitive effort on the ice. They had stretches where they pushed and we had stretches where we pushed and I think that’s what you expect when two types of teams like these go at it.”

“Guys laid it on the line, and you know — when you go after something like this, there’s going to be two sides of the coin. One is, you’re gonna win, which is a great feeling; and you’re going to lose, which is an empty feeling.”

John Hynes after MN Wild Game 5 loss

Hynes’ change in tone isn’t unprecedented. Now that the MN Wild are eliminated from the postseason, there are no games left to motivate players for. Not to mention, Hynes isn’t one to rip his team publicly in the first place.

However, given his team had just surrendered a three-goal lead, his lighthearted mood swing did raise antennas among some reporters in attendance, including Wild beat writers Michael Russo and Joe Smith (The Athletic), who were not fans of the head coach’s positive demeanor during his postgame presser.

Could John Hynes’ job be in danger…?

In fact, Russo even floated out into the internet ether how blowing playoff leads in historic fashion, like the Minnesota Wild did Wednesday night, “is the type of thing that can get a coach fired”, regardless of how hot their seat was or wasn’t beforehand.

…to see this team crumble into smithereens after playing so well in the first 20 minutes is the type of thing that can get a coach fired, even with the built-in excuse of no Eriksson Ek and Brodin.

“I think our guys competed hard,” coach John Hynes said, avoiding the opening question of the news conference on what the heck happened. “This group is a pleasure to coach. You go nine months together, basically, right? And great competitors, great character, gave everything they had. And that’s all you can ask as a coach.”

You can also ask them not to blow a three-goal lead for the first time in Wild playoff history. And maybe to try to skate the puck over the red line once or twice in the second half of the game.

The Athletic

Related: MN Wild Forward Answers the Retirement Question

If you are wondering how realistic it is that president of hockey operations, Bill Guerin, would actually pull the trigger on firing the head coach he hand-picked, let’s look at the numbers.

Since Hynes was hired part-way through the 2023-24 season, taking the place of Dean Evason, the Minnesota Wild have gone 125-78-24 (.577) in the regular season and 7-10 (.412) in the playoffs.

Do MN Wild have precedent to fire John Hynes?

His aforementioned predecessor went 147-77-27 (.639) in his five seasons and 8-15 (.348) in the playoffs, numbers that absolutely would lend precedent to Guerin moving on from his head coach.

To add more evidence to the case for an offseason firing, take a peek at the head coach’s previous playoff coaching experience. For those who don’t know, Hynes has coached three different teams during his NHL coaching career — for a total of 12 seasons.

In that time, not only is Hynes a feeble 11-25 in the postseason, but he is 1-6 all-time in playoff series and 0-6 in elimination games.

Related: MN Wild Splitting Up Practice to Keep Avalanche Off Ice?

Before John Hunes landed the Minnesota Wild job, he led the Nashville Predators for four seasons (2020-23), and the New Jersey Devils for five seasons before that (2015-19). His all-time regular season point percentage is .546 (409-333-87), which isn’t terrible, but that postseason resume is difficult to look past.

While it might have been far-fetched to foresee Geurin firing John Hynes before yesterday’s loss, immediately following the deepest MN Wild playoff run in over a decade, a longer look makes you quickly realize that, if nothing else, the precedent is there.

Thus, you have to imagine that Minnesota’s cold-blooded PoBO, if nothing else, has thought at least about it after Game 5’s devastating loss.

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