Reeling Wild fire coach Mike Yeo in fifth season

Less than two weeks after Minnesota Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher gave coach Mike Yeo a vote of confidence, the team has made a coaching change.

The Wild announced the move on Saturday night following their 4-2 loss to the Boston Bruins earlier in the day.

“I would like to thank Mike for the hard work and dedication he provided behind the bench for the Minnesota Wild organization and wish him the best in the future,” Fletcher said in a statement released by the team announcing the move.

The team has yet to announce who will replace Yeo behind the bench.

Yeo, the head coach of the Wild since the start of the 2011-12 season, had a 173-132-44 record with the team and made the playoffs in each of the past three seasons, advancing to the second round in the past two.

His job had been in danger before, but the Wild were always extremely patient with him over the years. When the team went through a brutal mid-season slide a year ago the team stuck with him and gave him an opportunity to turn the season around with a new goalie (Devan Dubnyk). Even this season it seemed like the Wild were willing to give him a longer leash than a lot of teams would have given their recent slide. It started to reach the point where a former player and his pet rabbit were even calling for a coaching change.

Eventually, though, it reached a point where the team had to do something.

With their loss on Saturday, the Wild are just 1-11-2 in their past 14 games and have lost eight games in a row.

They are three points out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference but have three teams between them and the final Wild Card spot.

Mike Yeo has been fired by the Minnesota Wild. (USATSI)

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