In sports like baseball and college hockey, playing multiple consecutive games versus the same opponent is common. In the NHL, it’s a decidedly unique set of circumstances.
Minnesota Wild coach John Hynes played college hockey at Boston University and was a college assistant coach at UMass Lowell and at Wisconsin for one season each, so he may get reacquainted with the whole “familiar foe” concept over the next few days.
With the Wild hosting the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, then visiting the Devils in Newark on Monday to begin a three-game road trip, Hynes was reflective on the pros and cons of seeing the same opponent twice in a row. Most notably, for a team with the expectation of making the playoffs, where you face the same opponent between four and seven games in a row, it could be good prep for next month.
“It’s a little bit like playoffs in the sense that you get prepared for the team, and then you play them and then you’re focusing on that game again going into the next game,” Hynes said. “So, sometimes the adjustments or teaching points are truly specific to the other team.”
Hynes, 50, got his first NHL head coaching job nearly a decade ago when the Devils hired him, and he spent parts of five seasons there. So, if the Wild need to play a back-to-back foe, at least it’s a familiar one for the coach. It’s also a well-known sweater for Wild general manager Bill Guerin, who began his NHL career in New Jersey and played nearly 400 games for the Devils over seven seasons, including winning a Stanley Cup there in 1995 when they posted a four-game sweep of the Detroit Red Wings to claim the franchise’s first NHL title.
“It’s a little unique, but I don’t mind it,” Hynes said.
Three more Gophers NHL-bound
In addition to hanging another Big Ten champion banner over the summer, the wall inside 3M Arena at Mariucci which honors Minnesota Gophers who have played in the NHL will need some notable updating. One day after Gophers leading scorer Jimmy Snuggerud signed a three-year contract with the St. Louis Blues to forgo his final season of college eligibility, another trio of prominent players traded in their maroon and gold sweaters for NHL duds, and the accompanying paycheck.
On Saturday morning, the Chicago Blackhawks announced their signing of forward Oliver Moore and defenseman Sam Rinzel to entry-level contracts.
Moore, who won a gold medal for Team USA at the 2025 World Juniors, was fourth on the Gophers’ stat sheet offensively this season as a sophomore, after Chicago picked him in the first round (19th overall) in the 2023 NHL Draft.
Rinzel, who Chicago grabbed 25th overall in 2022, was named the Big Ten’s defensive player of the year as a sophomore after putting up 10 goals and 22 assists in 40 games for the Gophers. Both players practiced with the Blackhawks in Chicago on Saturday and are expected to make their respective NHL debuts on Sunday when the Utah Hockey Club visits the United Center.
A few hours after Chicago’s announcement, the Nashville Predators inked Gophers forward Matthew Wood to an entry-level pact of his own. Wood, who played his junior season at Minnesota after transferring from UConn, was a 2023 first round pick of the Predators and was second on the Gophers offensively last season with 17 goals and 22 assists in 39 games.
Nashville and Chicago have already been eliminated from the Western Conference playoff race meaning that the season for Wood, Rinzel and Moore will end in mid April. Snuggerud may get a taste of playoff hockey with the Blues, who have made a furious charge late in the season under midseason replacement coach Jim Montgomery and are in a good position to grab a wild-card spot.
