Minnesota Wild signs John Hynes to multi-year contract extension

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - John Hynes is staying in St. Paul with the Minnesota Wild.

Wild signs John Hynes to multi-year extension

What we know:

Minnesota Wild President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Bill Guerin announced Tuesday the team has signed head coach John Hynes to a multi-year contract extension.

Hynes is heading into his fourth season behind the Wild bench, and his 12th overall as an NHL head coach. Since taking over on Nov. 28, 2023, he has guided the team to a 125-78-24 record in 227 games, good for a .604 winning percentage. That stretch ranks eighth in the NHL with 274 points, according to the team.

The 2025-26 season was a milestone year for the franchise. Hynes led the Wild to a six-game first-round series win over the Dallas Stars — the team's first playoff series victory in 11 seasons. Minnesota finished third in the Western Conference with 104 points, tied for the third-highest point total in franchise history.

The Wild also set a single-season franchise record with a 25.2% power-play percentage. It was also the first season in franchise history to feature multiple 40-goal and 80-point scorers, with Kirill Kaprizov finishing at 45 goals and 89 points and Matt Boldy at 42 goals and 85 points.

The season before, in 2024-25, the Wild earned a franchise-record 51 points on the road with a 23-13-5 mark and posted a perfect 29-0-0 record when leading after two periods. The team also opened that season without trailing in regulation for 391 minutes and 31 seconds — the second-longest season-opening mark in NHL history and the second-longest such streak at any point in team history.

A decorated coaching career

Why you should care:

Hynes owns a career head coaching record of 409-333-87 in 829 regular season games across three NHL stops — the Wild, the Nashville Predators and the New Jersey Devils. He ranks fourth in NHL history among American-born head coaches in both wins and games coached, and enters the 2026-27 season ranked 40th all-time in wins and 44th in games coached.

Before joining the Wild, Hynes spent parts of four seasons with Nashville from 2020 to 2023, going 134-96-18 in 248 games. His .577 point percentage with the Predators ranks second all-time among franchise head coaches. He was also the fastest coach in Predators history to reach 100 regular season wins, doing so in 183 games, and led Nashville to three consecutive playoff appearances from 2020 to 2022.

Hynes also has a long history with USA Hockey. He served as an assistant coach for the U.S. Men's National Team at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Italy, where Team USA won its first gold medal since 1980. He also served as an assistant at the 2025 NHL 4 Nations Face-Off, where Team USA earned a silver medal, and at the 2004 IIHF World Junior Championship, where Team USA won gold for the first time and earned its first medal in the event since 1997.

Hynes was head coach of Team USA at the 2024 and 2016 IIHF World Championships, an assistant at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and an assistant at the 2019 IIHF World Championship. Earlier in his career, he spent nine seasons on the coaching staff of USA Hockey's National Team Development Program, serving as an assistant from 1998 to 2000 and from 2001 to 2002, and as head coach from 2003 to 2009. Team USA won four medals during that stretch at the IIHF World Under-18 Championships, including gold in 2002 and 2006.

What we don't know:

The financial terms of the multi-year contract extension have not been disclosed.

What's next:

Hynes and Guerin are expected to speak with reporters at a 2 p.m. news conference on Tuesday in St. Paul.