Amid the shock and anger among the Wild fan base in the immediate wake of the abrupt end to their 2025-26 season last week, there was some social media clatter calling for coach John Hynes to be dismissed — this despite the fact he led Minnesota to a playoff series win for the first time in more than a decade.

With Hynes sitting next to him at their postseason press conference earlier this week, Wild general manager Bill Guerin put those notions to bed in no uncertain terms, saying he expects Hynes and all of the current coaching staff to be running training camp in September.

“I thought John did a great job this year,” Guerin said. “You guys know I’m a big believer in John and what he does and how he operates. I see it first-hand.”

The Wild under Hynes were 46-24-12 this season, the best single-season winning percentage of his 11-plus years as an NHL head coach. And he got a team to Round 2 of the playoffs for the first time after taking the New Jersey Devils to the playoffs once, the Nashville Predators three times and the Wild once previously.

In an era where players — with rare exceptions — expect more than just an iron fist from a coach, Hynes has drawn praise for the lines of communication he establishes in the locker room, in good times and challenging times.

“That’s why I believe in John. It’s because of the detail in which he goes through and the messaging,” Guerin said. “We sit in his office quite a few times a year and talk about messaging to the players, to the power play, to the penalty kill, to the players as a whole. What’s the message? How are they going to grasp it the best?

“I really think that’s one of the things that separates John from other coaches is the time that he puts into the messaging. It’s not just, ‘This is what I say. I’m cramming it down your throat. Do it.’ He gives them the reason why, why we’re going to do this, why we’re going to have success doing it. He shows it to them, goes through it with them time and time again.”

Guerin’s specific mention of the special teams was not accidental.

Both Hynes and Guerin acknowledged that the penalty kill and the power play were not good enough in the playoffs — even in Round 1, when they dispatched Dallas in six games despite the Stars scoring on 40% of their man-advantage situations. Hynes coached the penalty killers on Team USA in the Winter Olympics, where they did not allow a power play goal en route to the nation’s first gold medal since 1980.

But back home in Minnesota, the challenge was more daunting. Hynes admitted that finding special teams solutions will be a priority as he ponders the season and looks forward to 2026-27.

“You’re playing against five elite players, and sometimes the details — the reads, just being on target, being on time in certain areas — can be a little bit better,” Hynes said. “We’ve got to coach them better. The players have to execute them better. But, yeah, it’s going to be a lot of time again on that. We don’t take it lightly.”

Hynes, who turned 51 in February, was hired by the Wild on Nov. 27, 2023, after Guerin fired previous coach Dean Evason. Hynes signed a three-year contract at the time, which runs through the end of the 2026-27 season. It is widely anticipated that Guerin will offer Hynes a contract extension before then.

He is 128-78-24 as Minnesota’s head coach and has made the playoffs the past two seasons.