As the rest of the teams in the NHL worked to sign free agents on Saturday, the Wild hired Jason King as the newest member of their coaching staff. The opening was created last month when former assistant coach Brett McLean took over the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League.
Asked about King shortly after the announcement, general manager Bill Guerin confirmed that he will run the power play next season.
“He came very highly recommended from a lot of people,” Guerin said. “Just a high character guy.”
The 41-year-old King served as an assistant coach with the Vancouver Canucks from 2020-23. He’s also been an assistant coach with the Utica Comets of the AHL from 2016-20 and the St. John’s Ice Caps of the AHL from 2013-15.
As a seventh-round pick in the 2001 NHL draft, King spent most of his professional career in the AHL. He played briefly in the NHL, too, seeing game action with the Canucks and the Anaheim Ducks. He also spent some time playing overseas in Germany.
The rest of the Wild coaching staff features head coach Dean Evason, assistant coaches Bob Woods and Darby Hendrickson, goaltending coach Freddy Chabot, video coaches Jonas Plumb and TJ Jindra and strength and conditioning coach Matt Harder.
Wild still negotiating with Filip Gustavsson
In a perfect world for the Wild, they would have already worked out a deal with goaltender Filip Gustavsson. They extended him a qualifying offer on Friday afternoon so he wouldn’t go to market, with an ultimate goal of keeping him around for the foreseeable future.
“We know with Gus where his salary should fall in our minds,” Guerin said. “I think we’ll eventually get there. Just sometimes it takes a little longer. And that’s OK.”
The fact the Wild don’t know the exact number for Gustavsson is impeding their ability to negotiate with restricted free agents like winger Brandon Duhaime and defenseman Calen Addison.
Wild announce development camp schedule
After wrapping up the 2023 NHL draft in Nashville, Tenn., the Wild announced that they will host their annual development from July 7-9 at TRIA Rink in downtown St. Paul.
The following 36 players will be at development camp next week:
Forwards: Hunter Haight, Riley Heidt, Sam Hentges, Adam Zidlicky, Ryan McGuire, Rieger Lorenz, Louis Boudon, Michael Milne, Liam Ohgren, Casey Dornbach, Charlie Stramel, Carson Latimer, Rasmus Kumpulainen, Sammy Walker, Caedan Bankier, Servac Petrovsky, Pavel Novak, Danila Yurov and Jimmy Clark.
Defensemen: Brock Faber, Simon Johansson, Ryan Healey, Ryan O’Rourke, Daemon Hunt, Jack Peart, Landon Kosior, Nate Benoit, Carson Lambos, Kyle Masters, David Spacek, Aaron Pionk and Kalem Parker.
Goaltenders: Harrison Meneghin, Henry Welsch, Chase Coward and Zach Stejskal.