Both the Timberwolves and Wild have struggled mightily the past few seasons, and both made the obvious choice to fire its own inept coach: Kurt Rambis for the Timberwolves and Todd Richards for the Wild.  Each was hired without head coaching experience at the pro level, and both likely won’t get another head coaching job anytime soon.

The Timberwolves changed their approach in hiring a new coach, and looked for a proven coach who could mentor and get the most out of their young talent.  They explored possible candidates such as Larry Brown, Don Nelson, Bernie Bickerstaff, and Sam Mitchell, but they surprised the league by ultimately persuading Rick Adelman to join the team.  Adelman, whose .605 career winning percentage is the ninth highest in NBA history, is 65 years old and was thought to be done with coaching for good.  However, a previously-established relationship with Kevin Love, a very large contract, and the opportunity to mentor young players such as Ricky Rubio, Derrick Williams, and Wes Johnson convinced Adelman to coach the Timberwolves, who have become the laughingstock of the league after a posting a 32-132 over the past two seasons.

The Wild set out on their coaching search with the similar idea of finding a veteran coach with NHL head coaching experience.  However, Mike Yeo, the coach of the Houston Aeros, the Wild’s American League Affiliate team, was chosen to coach the Wild.  Yeo, now the youngest coach in the NHL at 37 years old, led the Aeros to the AHL Calder Cup finals.  Yeo is more likely to build an instant contender with the Wild than Adelman is with the Timberwolves, as the Wild acquired top-line forwards Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi.  Despite these acquisitions, they gave up a top defenseman and solid forward in Brent Burns and Martin Havlat.

Neither coach will have huge expectations placed on them this year, or even next year, but the general consensus is that each will be able to compete for a playoff spot sometime in the future.