The Minnesota Wild are hiring Stu Bickel he is the head coach of the Iowa Wild, the main team development organization in the American Hockey League.
A Minnesota native, Bickel returns to Des Moines where he played for both the AHL’s Chops and Wild during his 10-year career.
Bickel, 39, spent the past five seasons as an assistant coach with the Springfield Thunderbirds (2021-22) and Coachella Valley Firebirds (2022-26), including three consecutive trips to the Calder Cup Finals in 2022, 2023 and 2024. (2020-21) as head coach and assistant general manager of the Minnesota Magicians of the North American Hockey League.
After three minor seasons with Green Bay and Sioux Falls in the USHL and Southern Minnesota in the NAHL, Bickel spent the 2007–08 season in the U.S. of Minnesota before signing as a free agent with the Anaheim Ducks and starting his professional career with the Iowa Chops. A defenseman, Bickel went on to play 310 games in the AHL with the Chops, San Antonio Rampage, Syracuse Crunch, Connecticut Whale/Hartford Wolf Pack, Iowa Wild and San Diego Gulls, recording 12 goals, 42 assists and 919 penalty minutes.
Bickel also skated in 76 regular season games in the NHL with the New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild, and appeared in 18 Stanley Cup Playoff games with the Rangers in 2012.
