For Iowa Wild, winning is ‘not the mandate' — but how does that affect player development?

New York Times

21-05-2025

DES MOINES, Iowa — A sobering start to the 2024-25 season sparked several different emotions for the Iowa Wild.
For general manager Matt Hendricks, the feeling was of his hair getting grayer by the day. For coach Brett McLean, it was shock and frustration, considering how good he felt about his group. After finishing near the league basement in 2023-24, an 0-6-1 start to 2024-25 was a tough hole to dig out of.
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'I would say it was almost a bit of confusion,' veteran defenseman Ryan O'Rourke said. 'We knew we had a good team. We just couldn't click. The good thing was, it could only go up from there.'
Indeed, the Minnesota Wild's AHL affiliate did make a late push, but it still missed the playoffs for the third time in the past four years. Iowa was near the bottom of the league in many categories, including power play (32nd), penalty kill (32nd), goals for (28th) and goals against (31st), similar to the year before. For some prospects, it's been several years since tasting the postseason, dating back to their junior days.
'Playoffs in hockey are the best thing in sports,' 2021 first-round pick Carson Lambos said. 'Missing out on that opportunity sucks. There's no other way to put it.'
Hendricks told The Athletic that winning is 'not the mandate' in Iowa, with the focus instead on developing prospects into NHL players. He feels they're in a 'different cycle' than other teams, wanting to play prospects versus building a veteran-laden team that might be more playoff-ready. They see smaller 'wins' like signs of growth in Lambos and Hunter Haight, who had a great first year as a pro. Liam Ohgren played NHL games again and should push for a regular roster spot with Minnesota next season.
The question, though, is: Even if winning is 'not the mandate,' isn't it critical to player development?
Two-time Stanley Cup-winning Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper swears by the belief that it is — backed by his former AHL Norfolk team helping spark the Lightning's decade-long contender run. If players learn winning habits in the minors, they can bring them to the NHL, where the Wild are still figuring out how to get past the first round.
The Wild brass said they've studied and watched what they consider models for AHL development programs in Syracuse (Tampa Bay) and Milwaukee (Nashville Predators). But Syracuse — despite the Lightning making just two first-round picks in the past six years — has qualified for the postseason the past seven years the league held one. Milwaukee has made seven of eight, winning five series over the past four years.
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The Lightning have the 24th-ranked prospect pool, according to The Athletic's Scott Wheeler, with the Predators eighth — and the Wild second.
Wild president of hockey operations and GM Bill Guerin has said it's 'always better to develop through winning' but also noted that the AHL is a developmental league for coaches. He made it clear after the season there would be no changes to the staff, including McLean, who finished year two of his first head coaching job.
'Brett is a young coach that still has a ton to learn,' Guerin said. 'He is going through the process right now. We'd like to see them have a better year next year.'
McLean is quick to say, though, that he does believe winning is 'extremely important' to development, which is why he's taking these losses hard.
'I feel disappointed in myself that we're not able to give these young men the opportunity,' McLean told The Athletic. 'I feel a huge responsibility to get these young men, these prospects, to meaningful games this time of year and playoff games at this level — put them in the fire so they're ready to do that at the next level.
'Even though there's real positives this year on the development side, I wore (losing) last year and I wore it again this year doubly.'
So what's been the problem?
Veteran players say the Wild do a lot of things the right way in Iowa, from providing breakfast and lunch every day to a great equipment staff, solid facilities and comfortable travel. The development staff is present and hands-on: Hendricks is a regular sight at games, as are director of player development Brad Bombardir, assistant director Cody McLeod and player development coach Derek Stepan. Wild assistant GM Mat Sells gives the staff a 15-minute analytics breakdown before each game.
Aaron Bogosian, the organization's human performance specialist, gets rave reviews for his work with Lambos, Jesper Wallstedt, Marco Rossi and others.
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'You have all the things you need in the AHL to succeed,' said Brendan Gaunce, 31, a 2012 first-rounder and veteran of four AHL teams.
Is it talent? Is it coaching? Is it culture? The Athletic spent time in Iowa late in the season to get a better read.
When the Wild decided to part ways with Iowa coach Tim Army two years ago, they didn't open up a national search for a replacement.
Guerin looked internally and offered the job to McLean, who was then finishing his third year as a Wild assistant after a 385-game playing NHL career. He was young, now 46, and had previous experience as an assistant with Iowa. It wasn't a slam-dunk for McLean to take the job, though. He and his wife, Brenna, have three kids, who were ages 7 to 16 at the time, so it meant McLean uprooting from his family. He's made the four-hour drive back from Des Moines often on off-days during the past two seasons.
The idea behind the hire was for him to bring more 'fun' to Iowa. To help change the culture. And, Guerin said, to win.
Army, now 62, had led Iowa to playoff appearances in two of his five seasons there. He pushed players hard. He had prior experience as an AHL and college coach, as well as an NHL assistant. He had a blueprint.
McLean was starting from scratch, and he's admitted there are growing pains.
The @IAWild finished near the bottom of standings. The touted defense prospects didn't develop as fast as many hoped.
We got asked, 'What's wrong?'
I spent several days behind the scenes in Iowa late in season to get better feel on next wave for #mnwild https://t.co/zwy92KHooB pic.twitter.com/PLclpsmeLr
— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithNHL) May 30, 2024
What you notice being around McLean in Iowa is how positive he is — in chats with his staff and in meetings with players. His assistants all have roles and are asked for input. The systems and structure McLean has put in place are very similar to Minnesota's, to hopefully make for a smoother transition for prospects.
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Hendricks said McLean's strengths are that he manages a good pro game and cares about his players as people — but isn't swayed by emotions.
'He's done a really good job,' Hendricks said. 'In terms of managing his coaches, managing his players, then the constant turmoil and turning of players in and out of here? The list is long. Would we have liked to have won more games than we've lost? Of course. Is that reflected on Brett right now? No.
'There's never been a mandate to win hockey games down here. We want to play a winning brand of hockey. We want to try to push ourselves to get to the playoffs. But that's not the mandate. The mandate is to develop the draft picks and get them ready for the big club.'
To that end, Ohgren looked ready this year to make the jump, Haight scored 20 goals and was trusted in all situations in his first year as a pro and Lambos took on larger responsibilities after the Daemon Hunt/David Jiricek trade. But there was still something missing.
Hendricks points to Minnesota's injuries and the resulting call-ups. Devin Shore played 55 NHL games and Gaunce 12. They were supposed to be leaders and top-six players. Promotions for players like that mean a scramble for a farm club, snagging players on PTOs or from the ECHL team. Hendricks is in constant communication with college scouts to find players with pro readiness that can help out.
But every team deals with injuries and call-ups. Should losing Shore, Gaunce and Ohgren for stretches derail a season, like a year ago when Vinni Lettieri and Jake Lucchini were often absent?
NHL scouts and analysts said they saw a lack of 'jam,' energy, identity from Iowa. The young blue line struggled to move the puck and defend. The touted goalie prospect Wallstedt struggled.
'It's a hard watch sometimes,' one scout said.
The same NHL scout, given anonymity to speak freely about another team, said during the Army years, there seemed to be more fight to the end. Last year, Iowa was one of two AHL teams to have zero wins when trailing after two periods, going 0-27-3. It is playing a lot of young prospects, by design, but perhaps the lack of experience and leadership played a role.
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'You've got to surround your kids with some veterans to teach these guys the way,' the NHL scout said. 'You want them to realize there's a process here, enjoy being around the game and enjoy the process of trying to get better on a daily basis. I don't think you want to get overwhelmed loss after loss.'
Iowa players brought up the fact that they made a late push, winning five of the first six games in April. That was the team they had hoped to be. And it did reflect well on McLean's approach that the group didn't give up when there wasn't much to play for.
'(McLean's) attitude as a head coach has been great,' said veteran Travis Boyd, who won a Stanley Cup with the Washington Capitals in 2018. 'Whether we're on a four-, five-game losing streak or found a way to win two of the last three, his message has been the same.'
After four years at the University of Minnesota, Boyd played two full seasons with AHL Hershey, appearing in 33 playoff games and making it to the Calder Cup final before his first call-up to the Capitals.
He sees the benefits of prospects winning in the AHL. He might not still be playing pro without it.
'You can get better without winning, but winning changes a lot,' he said. 'You learn that it's really the small things that separate winning teams versus non-winning teams. It might be a random play in the second period, but if you don't execute that play or you fall asleep for a half-second and it leads to a goal for the other team, all of a sudden the game changes.'
He also sees the positive in what's happening in Iowa, praising the 'effort and time they put into developing young guys.'
'They're doing a lot of the right things,' he said.
Hendricks has seen winning cultures in the minors, too. He went to the Calder Cup final as a rookie in 2004 with Milwaukee, playing just one game in the regular season and none in the playoffs but learning by watching. He also went to a Kelly Cup final in the ECHL.
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He repeats, though, that development is the priority. Winning is a byproduct.
'Winning is at the end,' Hendricks said. 'After all these things and details you put into your game, the preparation you do in practice, the work ethic, the commitment levels.'
But are they seeing the development?
Asked about concerns that the once-touted defense prospect group hasn't made an NHL impact, Hendricks said, 'Whose job do they take? Look at (Minnesota's) top four.'
'You can say you're a patient person, but are you?' Hendricks said. 'Where our team, our organization, is, the cycle we are in with young prospects and young players, it's part of it. We're learning. The players are learning.
'Do you accept losing? By no means. But it's part of what we're going through.'
Patience can be challenging for players, too. Just ask defense prospect Spacek, who bounced back after a rough first pro season before Jiricek was acquired and jumped ahead of him on the organizational depth chart.
'It's definitely frustrating when you don't win a lot and the team chemistry isn't there,' he said. 'The guys are feeling down about themselves.'
You can see it in Wallstedt, who admitted to having a 'terrible' season and hit an 'all-time low' mentally. And in Lambos, who desperately wants to play pro playoff hockey.
McLean feels the pressure to get them there. He realizes winning isn't everything, but the losses are personal to him, especially in his first chance at being a head coach.
Is he worried about his job?
'We've been at the bottom of the league for two years now — of course you think about it,' McLean said. 'Our mantra is to do our best for the young men each and every day, and we'll do that to the very end.'
And that means building this group into winners.
'Meaningful games this time of year, pressure-filled games, that's where you really get to see the player and where they're at,' McLean said. 'Can they handle the stress of waiting three days to play a do-or-die game? Does it translate into playoff games? Prospects are always going to get ice time throughout the year, but you've got to earn it at that time of year.
'They go hand in hand, development and winning.'
(Top photo of Brett McLean courtesy of the Wild)