After coaching the Wild to the playoffs in two of three seasons, Mike Yeo is close to being rewarded with a multiyear contract extension.
Final details were being worked out Friday night, but all signs pointed toward an agreement soon, multiple sources said. Yeo, General Manager Chuck Fletcher and other members of the front office are due to leave for owner Craig Leipold's home in the Bahamas on Saturday for meetings.
The NHL's youngest coach is 104-82-26 (. 552) in the regular season and coached the Wild past the first round for only the second time in franchise history this spring.
Yeo, 40, is nearing the end of a three-year contract. Fletcher said May 16 that his first offseason priority was to re-sign Yeo, then address the two dozen others whose contracts also expire June 30.
That includes members of his front office like Andrew Brunette, the scouting staff and the medical and equipment trainers. The trainers and many of the scouts have since been re-signed.
However, Yeo's entire coaching staff — assistants Rick Wilson, Darryl Sydor and Darby Hendrickson, goalie coach Bob Mason and video coordinator Jonas Plumb — is in the final year of contracts. Yeo needed to first be re-signed before their situations could be addressed. Unlike when Yeo was promoted from the Wild's then-American Hockey League affiliate in 2011, this contract required actual negotiations.
Yeo, who was unavailable for comment, showed multiple examples of growing as a coach.
Behind an impressive defensive structure, the Wild navigated through a turbulent goaltending situation that including four No. 1 (Niklas Backstrom, Josh Harding, Darcy Kuemper and Ilya Bryzgalov) starters at different points of the season. No goalie played more than 29 games.