Report: Wild have no intention of firing head coach Mike Yeo

Minnesota Wild  head coach Mike Yeo's job is reportedly safe. For now.

It's perhaps something of a surprise when you consider that the Wild are massively - one might say wildly - under-performing expectations this season.

Following a promising second round appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs last spring, the Wild find themselves eight points out of a Wild Card spot and at the absolute bottom of the extremely tough Central Division with half of the season in the books. 

The club's possession game has fallen off of a cliff of late, something that occurred last season too, and the continued inability of goaltenders Darcy Kuemper or Niklas Backstrom to stop the puck makes getting back into the playoff race a significant uphill climb.

With the wheels falling off in St. Paul, Minn., there's a lot of attention being paid to Wild head coach Mike Yeo, his job security and his future with the club. That attention intensified recently when Yeo laid into his players and ultimately walked out of a Wild practice. 

For now it would appear that Yeo still enjoys the confidence of general manager Chuck Fletcher, according to TSN's Pierre LeBrun.

"The sense from GM Chuck Fletcher, who must be answering this question every single day, is that he has no intention of firing MIke Yeo," LeBrun reported on Tuesday. 

"But (the speculation) is interesting, and the reason is this: The players have not responded well. They continue to play even worse; their body language says it all.

"Meanwhile what will owner Craig Leipold say and do in all this? And that's a pressure point, perhaps, that Fletcher can't control," LeBrun continued. But right now, the GM has no intention of firing his coach."

Yeo, 41, has served as the head coach of the Wild since 2011 and signed a three-year contract reportedly worth close to $3 million this past June. In Yeo's four seasons behind the bench he's amassed a 122-100-31 win/loss record.