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Wild Tried To Bring In Yzerman As GM

According to the Buffalo News, the Minnesota Wild made an attempt to bring in a hockey legend to run the club a few years back after firing Doug Risebrough.

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Wild owner Craig Leopold apparently made an offer to former Detroit Red Wing center Steve Yzerman to take the team’s general manager spot following the 2008-09 season, when Risebrough was fired. However, he chose to stay with the Detroit Red Wings because it allowed him to tend to his other job. . .managing a Hockey Canada outfit that went on to win Olympic Gold.

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“Doing both jobs was my fear,” Yzerman said. “I think at the end of the day Craig and I both realized, ‘I don’t know if this is the right time to do this.’ To take over a team for the first time and build an Olympic team, it definitely can be done, but it was a lot of responsibility there.”

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So, the Wild ended up with Chuck Fletcher, which seems to have worked out okay thus far.

Photographs by Micah Taylor, clairity, and Fibonacci Blue used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.