Wild hire Stu Bickel as Iowa Wild head coach
Stu Bickel’s Minnesota ties and playoff-tested AHL background put Carson Lambos, David Spacek and Iowa’s young core at the center of a development reset in Des Moines.
The Minnesota Wild turned to a familiar face in Des Moines, hiring Stu Bickel as head coach of the Iowa Wild and tying their primary AHL affiliate to a coach who knows the state, the league and the organization’s development lane. Bill Guerin and Iowa general manager Matt Hendricks made the announcement on June 29, and Bickel arrives with a Chanhassen background, University of Minnesota roots and a playing résumé that includes 76 NHL games and 310 AHL games with the Iowa Chops and Iowa Wild.
This is not a routine bench shuffle. Bickel spent the past five seasons as an AHL assistant, first with Springfield in 2021-22 and then with Coachella Valley from 2022-26, and every one of those seasons ended in a Calder Cup playoff berth. Springfield reached the 2022 Calder Cup Finals, while Coachella Valley made the Finals in 2023 and 2024 and won Western Conference titles in both seasons, giving Bickel a run of high-pressure environments that most development coaches never get to see.
The hire also fits an organizational structure that was already built around development. Greg Cronin was brought in on June 23, 2025 with 38 years of coaching and player-development experience, and Hendricks remains responsible for Iowa’s day-to-day hockey operations while continuing to support the Wild’s player-development department. Iowa’s own season preview described the roster as retooled with veterans added at every position to lead on-ice play and guide developing players, which gives Bickel a bench designed to demand both growth and results.
The first players likely to feel that shift are the ones closest to the NHL line. Carson Lambos already earned top-pairing minutes and assignments against opposing top lines, while David Spacek played all 72 games last season, led Iowa defensemen with 27 assists and 31 points, and is expected to compete for a power-play role. Jack Peart is trying to keep building a steady 200-foot game, and on the forward side Caedan Bankier is being pushed to use his size more physically and add production. Rieger Lorenz, Riley Heidt, Rasmus Kumpulainen and Hunter Haight are also on the Iowa roster, with veteran anchors like Tyler Pitlick, Gerry Mayhew and Nicolas Aubé-Kubel giving Bickel room to test the younger core without giving away the nightly standard.
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