Leipold Gets His Man

Apparently tired of the defensive, trapping style of his team, Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold hired Chuck Fletcher as the Wild’s general manager. Fletcher, who learned his hockey while bouncing on the knee of his father, Hockey Hall of Famer Cliff Fletcher, in the front office of the Atlanta Flames in the 1970s, signed a multi-year contract. The younger Fletcher recently served as assistant general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“Chuck has the qualities I was looking for in a general manager,” Leipold said. “He is organized, well spoken, has a strong scouting background, has worked toward the development of young prospects, and has negotiated many NHL contracts. Along with his past experience, Chuck has excellent leadership qualities and management skills that will certainly help him move quickly into this position.”

Fletcher, 42, has been to the Stanley Cup finals in management with three different teams (Florida, Anaheim, and Pittsburgh). Since 2006, he worked closely with Penguins general manager Ray Shero on the team’s hockey-related matters, including scouting, overseeing the development of young prospects, and contract negotiations. Fletcher also managed hockey operations for the club’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Under Fletcher’s leadership, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton reached the AHL’s Calder Cup finals in 2007-08, and the division finals in 2008-09.

Fletcher had extensive NHL management experience before he joined the Penguins in July 2006 – including a four-year stint with the Anaheim Ducks from 2002-06 as director of hockey operations, assistant general manager, and vice president of amateur scouting and player development.

The Montreal native also spent nine years in the front office of the Florida Panthers from 1993-2002, working seven seasons as assistant general manager and one season as interim general manager. (In 1996, the Panthers advanced to the Stanley Cup finals.)

Fletcher graduated from Harvard in 1990. “My dream since I was eight years old was to be a general manager in the National Hockey League,” he told the audience at the Wild press conference. “I was not a very good hockey player.” Part of his preparation involved working as a player agent for Newport Sports Management.

“My goal is to again make the Minnesota Wild a team that’s a hard one for opponents to play.” He envisions the Wild as playing an “up-tempo, aggressive, and fast style of hockey,” featuring “aggressive pursuit of the puck,” and players willing “to pay the price.”

“We have a new guy with new ideas and new energy, looking at a new system and a newer way to develop our younger players,” Leipold said. “If you look at the teams he has been a manager on, they’re up-tempo kinds of teams. He’s coming in as a person who has been part of winning franchises. I want this to be another one of those winning franchises he’s been a part of -- we just want to take it one level further than he’s been.”

The transition is one that should be familiar to Minnesota sports fans. When the cross-town Minnesota Timberwolves initiated play as an expansion team, the style of play, as dictated by coach Bill Musselman, was a cautious, defensive game that, on offense, bled nearly every second off the 24-second clock. The front offense grew weary of that approach even though it kept the Wolves competitive, and Musselman was dismissed. (It’s interesting to note that Musselman’s immediate successors produced teams that were worse.)

Under former general manager Doug Risebrough and coach Jacques LeMaire, the Wild favored a conservative approach to the game with defensemen seldom cut loose to create on the offensive end. LeMaire’s “neutral zone trap” system was designed to keep Minnesota in the game. Most of the time it worked, but not to the satisfaction of Leipold.

“I don’t think I’m taking a high risk,” he said. I’m investing in a general manager who manages the way I hoped we could find somebody to manage. I’m real excited that he’s the guy. He’s coming in with great credentials and coming from a great system, and I’m hopeful he can take that and put it into our team. You look at the experience that he has, then you compare it to all the other candidates, and I can’t think of any other candidate who had more.

“How’s the chemistry between the two of us? We have to be able to work together, the same kind of styles, the same business philosophy – which is to hire the best people you can and let them do their jobs.

The former general manager oversaw a 2009 club that was one of 14 teams who did not qualify for the playoffs. “Not making the playoffs is not acceptable,” Leipold said. “It’s not acceptable from a fan standpoint. We have too good a team. And, once you’re in the playoffs, anything can happen.

“That’s really our hope. In terms of how much more fun can it be, it can be a lot more fun. Chuck’s going to go out and get a coach who believes in up-tempo play, and you build our team around that.”

According to Fletcher, while it would be nice to get a coach with head-coaching experience in the NHL, it isn’t necessary.