The Minnesota Wild are not retaining longtime assistant coach Darby Hendrickson, it was announced Friday.
Hendrickson, 51, was an original member of the Wild franchise as a player from 2000 to ’04 and joined the team’s coaching staff in 2010.
“I would like to thank Darby for all his hard work and commitment to the Minnesota Wild during his long tenure with our organization,” general manager Bill Guerin said in a statement. “He has done a tremendous amount of good things for our team and the State of Hockey as a player and a coach. I wish Darby and his family all the best in the future.”
Hendrickson has been an assistant for every head coach in Wild history except for original coach Jacques Lemaire, whom he played for as a forward for four seasons.
A Minnesota native, Hendrickson was named the state’s Mr. Hockey in high school in 1991 and played two seasons at the University of Minnesota.
A fourth-round pick by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1990, he registered 129 points (65 goals, 64 assists) in 518 games with five NHL franchises. He had 60 points (29 goals, 31 assists) in 182 games with Minnesota.
The Wild selected him from the Vancouver Canucks in the 2000 expansion draft, and he scored the team’s first goal at Xcel Energy Center on Oct. 11, 2000, against the Philadelphia Flyers.