Perhaps as a testament to our collective impatience in 2018 — mine included — there has been a fair amount of idle grumbling recently that the Wild's search to replace General Manager Chuck Fletcher seems to be taking a while.

Fletcher was dumped on April 23, exactly three weeks ago Monday. There were initial reports that Nashville assistant GM Paul Fenton was a front-runner … and then not much concrete detail for a while. Star Tribune beat writer Sarah McLellan wrote late last week that the Wild is vetting finalists for the job, including Fenton and Devils assistant GM Tom Fitzgerald.

If fans are getting antsy that a new GM needs to be in place ASAP, with the draft coming in June while more immediate key roster decisions await, perhaps a history lesson will calm them down.

In 2009, the Wild fired Doug Risebrough April 16 and didn't hire Fletcher until May 22 — a little over five weeks after the search began.

Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. michael.rand@startribune.com.