Wild fire longtime assistant coach Darby Hendrickson

After a down year on the ice that included a head coaching change, the Minnesota Wild are now shaking up other parts of the staff.

Friday, the club announced that longtime assistant coach Darby Hendrickson was fired.

He was with the team through multiple coaches dating back to 2010.

The Richfield native is well-known in the State of Hockey, starring at Richfield High School, where he won the 1991 Minnesota Mr. Hockey award, before playing two years at the University of Minnesota. He went on to play parts of 10 seasons in the NHL with Toronto, the New York Islanders, Vancouver, Colorado and the Wild, where he was an original member of the franchise and scored the team’s first goal at Xcel Energy Center.

After his playing career and prior to joining the Wild, Hendrickson also served as an analyst for KSTC’s high school hockey tournament coverage and a studio analyst for Fox Sports North.

“I would like to thank Darby for all his hard work and commitment to the Minnesota Wild during his long tenure with our organization,” Wild President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Bill Guerin said. “He has done a tremendous amount of good things for our team and the State of Hockey as a player and a coach. I wish Darby and his family all the best in the future.”