Hendrickson has been on the Wild coaching staff since 2010.
After 14 seasons on the Minnesota Wild coaching staff, Darby Hendrickson has been fired.
The team announced that Hendrickson has been “relieved” of his duties in a decision made by general manager Bill Guerin.
“I would like to thank Darby for all his hard work and commitment to the Minnesota Wild during his long tenure with our organization,” Guerin said in a prepared statement. “He has done a tremendous amount of good things for our team and the State of Hockey as a player and a coach. I wish Darby and his family all the best in the future.”
Why fire Hendrickson now? Speculation from Michael Russo and Joe Smith of The Athletic points towards head coach John Hynes creating his own staff after inheriting Dean Evason’s staff midway through last season, but also it being “likely” that Guerin “simply felt it was time considering Hendrickson has been the one constant on the coaching staff the past 14 years.”
Hendrickson, 51, spent 14 seasons on the coaching staff. He was an assistant for every coach in Wild history with the exception of inaugural head coach, Jacques Lemaire, for whom Hendrickson played for four seasons during his 10-year NHL career.
Hendrickson played from 2000-04 with the Wild and he scored the first goal in franchise history at the Xcel Energy Center on Oct. 11, 2000.
Hendrickson grew up in Richfield, Minn., and later played for the University of Minnesota before being drafted 73rd overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1990.
