Wild Superstar Heaps Praise On Ex-Isles Head Coach

One of the top stories of the 2026-27 season thus far for the New York Islanders has been the deployment of Matthew Schaefer and his ice time.

It's been an overly demanding workload for the 19-year-old. The lion share of ice time Schaefer has commanded has only been matched by the very best in the sport.

One of those includes Minnesota Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes.

Hughes is one of the very best players in the entirety of the sport, and was dealt to the Wild last season.

Since his arrival, his head coach has been John Hynes, with ex-Islanders Head Coach Jack Capuano serving as Hynes' associate head coach. Capuano runs the defense for the Wild.

The Wild have been one of the best teams in the NHL this year, and Hughes has been one of the main reasons why. 

Hughes passed along the credit for how well he's played to his coaches, specifically praising Capuano.

"But one thing that Cappy's unbelievable at is managing the bench and understanding, 'Oh, their fourth line's out there,' and getting me on with Kirill [Kaprizov] and matchups," Hughes said. "He's the best I've seen at that. He is on it. I'm out there with Kirill because he's so dialed in.

He gets me out there," Hughes continued. "And same thing with Hynesy. They manage the bench better than anyone I've seen, and it's helped us win games this year. I don't know why all teams don't do that... It's like there's missed opportunities. So Cappy and Hynesy do an unreal job with that with us, and they should be acknowledged for."

Capuano last served as a head coach at the NHL level with the Islanders when he was fired midway through the 2016-17 season.

Capuano coached the Islanders for 7 seasons, and has since been an associate coach for three different NHL teams without taking a single season off since his dismissal from New York.

He also served as head coach for Team USA at the 2021 World Championships, where the USA won Bronze, going 8-2 in the tournament. All 8 wins came in regulation, the best of any team in the tournament.