The Wild have hired Greg Cronin as head coach of their minor-league affiliate in the American Hockey League. He replaces Brett McLean after McLean left Iowa earlier this month to become an assistant for the Vancouver Canucks.
Cronin, 62, spent the last two seasons coaching Anaheim’s rebuild, going 62-87-15 and finishing with the Ducks’ highest point total (80) since 2017-18 after they went 35-37-10 last season. He was still fired in April, with Anaheim bringing in NHL veteran Joel Quenneville.
Before that, Cronin was in the AHL with Colorado for a five-season run that saw his teams make the Calder Cup playoffs four times. Overall, Cronin is 242-165-51 in 458 career AHL games.
His nearly 40 years of experience also includes stints with the New York Islanders (as an assistant and associate coach in the NHL, minor-league coach and director of player development), Toronto and Northeastern University where Cronin was head coach for six seasons and named Coach of the Year by Hockey East in 2009 after leading the Huskies to a 25-12-4 record and their first NCAA tournament berth in 15 years.
A native of Arlington, Mass., Cronin played at Colby College in Maine from 1982 to 1986 before starting his coaching career there as an assistant.
He went on earn a master’s degree in business at the University of Maine while serving as a graduate assistant for the hockey team and was a co-founder of the United States National Team Development Program. Cronin was the inaugural director of player development in 1996 before moving behind the bench the following season.
He’s also coached Team USA as an assistant at the World Championship and World Junior Championship, including helping the Americans win a silver medal in 1997.
McLean was Iowa’s head coach for two seasons after three seasons as an assistant for the Wild on Dean Evason’s staff.
