Wild part ways with GM Risebrough

The Minnesota Wild announced Thursday that they will not renew the contract of president and general manager Doug Risebrough.

The club said it will begin the search for a new GM immediately, and that assistant GM Tom Lynn will take over from Risebrough in the interim.

"The entire Minnesota Wild organization is forever indebted to Doug for his substantial efforts in establishing this franchise's solid foundation and winning tradition," owner Craig Leipold said in a prepared statement.

"The positive impact of Doug's service will be felt for many years to come. We wish Doug the very best."

Thursday's announcement comes less than a week after coach Jacques Lemaire resigned.  

When a new GM is in place, his first order of business will be to hire a new coach, the team said.

A former first-round pick (seventh overall) of Montreal in the 1974 draft, Risebrough won four Stanley Cup with the Habs and ended up playing 13 NHL seasons with the Canadiens and the Calgary Flames before retiring in 1987.

After retirement, he went into coaching and management before being hired as the Wild's first GM in 1999.

Together with Lemaire, who took over as coach during the team's first NHL season in 2000-01, Risebrough built the Wild into a competitive side that reached the Western Conference final in 2003 and won its first Northwest Division championship last season.

However, this past season was anything but successful, as Minnesota finished in ninth place in the West with a 40-33-9 record and failed to make the playoffs.