Iowa Wild coach Brett McLean focused on player development in first season as head coach
From players to personnel, the Iowa Wild are going to look a lot different than in years past.
Some of last season’s stars — Sammy Walker and Jesper Wallstedt among them — are back for another season, and there are several veterans taking the lead with many young players on the roster.
There is also a new boss in Des Moines, with former Minnesota Wild assistant Brett McLean returning to Iowa’s capital city. He previously spent three seasons (2017-20) with Iowa as an assistant before moving up to the NHL for three years.
“It’s been a lot of fun, to be honest,” McLean said about moving into a head coaching role. “I really enjoy it (and I’m) very lucky that we were able to put together the staff that we were. We wanted experience with our staff, which we definitely have. To lead that staff, so to speak, I feel very fortunate.”
Aside from just fresh faces, Wild fans should also expect more of an offense-first mentality from this year’s group. McLean emphasized that he wants his players to still play solid defense, but he also wants Iowa to control the game on offense.
“It’ll be a different style of game that we play,” McLean said. “Last year, the team was probably a little bit more puck possession. We’re gonna be a little bit more get it moving forward as fast as we can. And then let our forwards play with the puck down there and hopefully get pucks to the net.”
Scoring wasn’t an issue in the Wild’s two preseason games, in which Iowa outscored the Rockford Icehogs 13-5 between the two matchups. Those teams faced off in the first round of the playoffs last season, and it was Rockford who swept the two-game series to advance.
It was only preseason, but there were reasons why the Wild were able to beat a team that ended their season less than four months ago. It’s because there are new parts of Iowa’s game that stand out over everything else.
“Our pace of play and the speed that we have,” McLean responded when asked what stands out to him about the team thus far. “We can really push that, and we’ve tried to really focus on that in practice and we hope that translates into the games.”
McLean’s expectations for the season lean heavily on Iowa’s new style of play, and he wants to see his players institute that change as early as the Wild’s first game against the Henderson Silver Knights on Friday.
The Wild’s new coach also wants to piece together a winning record — as Iowa has in years past. That’s easier said than done for an organization that has won one playoff series in 10 seasons.
But McLean understands that, in order to be successful, development must come first.
“Playoffs (are) a huge goal for us,” McLean said. “But equal to that, if not bigger, is the development of our young players. We want to see that these younger players can step into bigger minutes.
“Of course, we want to win hockey games and make the playoffs. But we also want to do it with the thinking that our young players and our prospects are developing into bigger roles so they’re driving us into that playoff push.”
Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Wild head coach Brett McLean lays out his vision for 2023/24 team
