Split with O’Hearn Comes as Wild Investigate Front Office Issues

As per Michael Russo and Joe Smith of The Athletic, some of the details of why Assistant GM Chris O’Hearn and the Minnesota Wild suddenly split are coming to light. Not everything is known, but from the sounds of new reports, this was not a positive situation.

The #mnwild season already had enough turmoil, with their head coach getting fired. But there’s also been multiple investigations into executives, handled by an outside firm. On that and impact of Chris O’Hearn’s departure, from @RussoHockey and me https://t.co/PyAH6r5K1w

— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithNHL) December 14, 2023

The two scribes wrote in recent article:

What we know about what led to this is this: In recent weeks, there have been two investigations into the Wild front office. Members of the team’s hockey support staff, hockey operations department and business staff began being interviewed regarding the second one by two attorneys Dec. 1 after the team returned from a road game in Nashville.

Related: Minnesota Wild Lose Key Piece of Their Management Team

The Wild organization commissioned multiple investigations into executives by an outside firm. It sounds like what they discovered wasn’t good. That said, the article clarifies that “O’Hearn was not the subject of that latter investigation, and it’s unknown the specific nature of any allegations against him.” They add, “It appears that the first investigation just happened to conclude at the same time the second one was being conducted.”

This Is A Big Change for the Wild

Since the news of O’Hearn’s departure, GM Bill Guerin has not been accessible and has not responded to several messages. O’Hearn was the go-to guy for Guerin and dealt with all of the number crunching for the team. His exit is a big deal inside the organization, one that already has a smaller executive team than most NHL franchises.

Russo asks, who does Guerin consult for contract rules and CBA intricacies? O’Hearn would have played a key role, especially approaching the March 8 trade deadline. He was to negotiate entry-level contracts for prospects like Danila Yurov and Marat Khusnutdinov this spring.

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