ST. PAUL — Patrick Dwyer is joining new Minnesota Wild head coach John Hynes' coaching staff as an assistant, the team announced Tuesday.
Dwyer replaces Bob Woods — who was fired along with head coach Dean Evason on Monday — behind the bench. Dwyer was named the Iowa Wild's — Minnesota's American Hockey League affiliate — assistant coach under Brett McLean on July 5.
Almost five months later and less than two months into AHL Iowa's season, Dwyer has been promoted to Minnesota with the task of running the defense and the NHL's worst penalty kill (66.7%) as an assistant under Hynes.
Dwyer has been in charge of Iowa's penalty kill this season, which ranks No. 24 in the AHL at 78.9%.
"In his short time in Iowa, he's been very impressive," Wild President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Bill Guerin said at Tuesday’s press conference. ... "We're excited to bring him on board, you know, another fresh face and fresh ideas."
Before Iowa, Dwyer served as an assistant with the Charlotte Checkers in 2019-20 and with the Chicago Wolves for three seasons from 2020-23.
In addition to his four years of AHL coaching experience, Dwyer recorded 93 points in 416 NHL games as a player with the Carolina Hurricanes between 2008 and 2015 after playing in the AHL (Chicago Wolves and Albany River Rats), ECHL (Gwinnett Gladiators), NCAA (Western Michigan University) and AWHL (Great Fall Americans).