When Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher's eyes welled Monday, it was proof positive how excruciating a decision this was for him to make.
Fletcher and Todd Richards are friends. Some of their best professional memories are shared.
Monday's was the worst.
After only two seasons, Fletcher fired Richards, saying the first-time NHL head coach he hired in the first place turned out to not be the "right fit" for the team he's trying to build.
"I really do believe in sports that not every coach is the right fit for every team," Fletcher said a day after the Wild missed the playoffs for a third consecutive season and two hours after calling Richards into his office to deliver the news of his dismissal. "Teams have different personalities. There's different talent levels, and not every coach fits with every team, just like every player doesn't fit with every team.
"It comes down to a feel and what you feel you need to do going forward, and I felt that to get the most out of this group of players -- certainly the players that are coming back -- we needed a new voice and a new direction."
Fletcher wouldn't get into why he felt Richards, who was supposed to bring an up-tempo, entertaining style to the Wild after eight seasons of Jacques Lemaire, was not the right fit.
Under Richards, the Wild had 13th- and 12th-place finishes and went 77-71-16. He was marred by inconsistency for two seasons and for a second consecutive March, the Wild crumbled to pieces during crunch time.