Leipold on Fletcher decision: 'This is not a rebuild'

ST. PAUL -- Every general manager has hits and misses during his tenure. For Chuck Fletcher, one thing is for certain: He has shaped the entirety of the Minnesota Wild's roster.
For better or for worse, there isn't one player who played for the Wild this past season that Fletcher himself didn't draft, sign, trade for or extend at one point during his nine-year tenure as the team's general manager.

The Wild was one of three teams in the NHL to make the playoffs each of the past six seasons. But for a team focused on winning the Stanley Cup -- and not just reaching the Stanley Cup Playoffs -- the inability to advance past the first round of the postseason each of the past three seasons became too much to overlook.

That's why Wild owner Craig Leipold announced on Monday that he would not be renewing the contract of Fletcher.
"My feeling is that the last couple years, we just have not been good enough," Leipold said. "The decision had nothing at all do to with the Winnipeg playoffs. Nothing. When you're without two of your best players, it's pretty hard to be successful. That was really not a factor. It was a tough decision, but I'm very comfortable with it."
The Jets beat Minnesota 4-1 in the teams' First-Round series that concluded Friday. Defenseman Ryan Suter missed the postseason due to a right ankle fracture, and winger Zach Parise in Game 3 suffered a sternum fracture that kept him out of the final two contests.
Fletcher's fingerprints are all over Minnesota's roster, and will be long after the team announces his eventual replacement.
That includes Parise and Suter, Fletcher's landmark accomplishments with the club, whom he signed to matching 13-year contracts in 2012.
And goaltender Devan Dubnyk, whom he sent a third-round pick to Arizona for in January of 2015.

And forward Eric Staal, whom he plucked from free agency during the summer of 2016.
And Mikko Koivu, the Wild captain whom he re-signed to a seven-year contract extension in July of 2010, a little over a year after taking the job.
Mikael Granlund, Jonas Brodin and Matt Dumba were consecutive first-round selections by Fletcher in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Nino Niederreiter was acquired in the summer of 2013, a former first-round draft pick of the New York Islanders who needed a change of scenery.
One thing is for sure; Leipold doesn't believe the new GM will be stepping into a full rebuild.
"What I want is a new set of eyes and take a look at where our strengths and our weaknesses are," Leipold said. "Somebody will come in that doesn't feel an ownership to certain players, and I want someone to take a look at what we can do to tweak our team.
"This is not a rebuild. And I'll be very direct about that when I'm interviewing a general manager."
And what if the new GM wanted to come in and rebuild the roster?
"I wouldn't hire that person," Leipold said. "They'll know exactly how I feel, and I would expect any general manager candidate coming in to talk with me to understand our players, to know where the strengths and the weaknesses are, and the direction we're going in. And if they don't have the same feeling that I do, that we are not far from being the team that we need to be, then that would probably not be a candidate that I would choose."
Leipold said he's been agonizing over the decision to potentially replace Fletcher for months.
"The fact that I didn't renew Chuck's contract last year, so he was in his last year of his contract, would be an indicator that my antennae's been up," Leipold said. "And Chuck and I have had numerous conversations all year about that I wanted to wait until the end of the year to assess everything, to understand how I feel about where we're going.
"Are we still in the window to win the Stanley Cup? I believe we are. He believed we are. But my personal feeling was that I wanted someone new to come in and kind of shake it up."

Related:
- Wild will not renew Fletcher's contract - 'Good isn't good enough' for Wild moving forward - Boudreau hopeful fresh set of eyes can boost team next season