Detroit Red Wings Coach Mike Babcock was selected to coach the Canadian men's hockey team in the 2010 Olympics in British Columbia. Team Canada Executive Director Steve Yzerman, who played for Babcock in the final season of his Hall of Fame career, made the appointment official Thursday.

Minnesota native Todd Richards was introduced Tuesday as the coach of the NHL's Minnesota Wild. Richards, 42, replaces Jacques Lemaire, who was the team's coach for the first eight seasons of its existence. Lemaire amassed 293 wins, including 40 last season, as coach.

Minnesota Wild Coach Jacques Lemaire, the only coach the club has had since joining the NHL in 2000, has decided to step down. Lemaire, 63, made the announcement after Saturday's season-ending 6-3 win against Columbus, the Wild's third straight victory. I think it's time for the team, the organization, to get a new coach, he said during a post-game interview with Tom Reid, Minnesota's radio analyst. He said he wasn't retiring but doesn't know what his next job will be. The Wild played in the post-season in each of the last two seasons, but finished out of the playoff race this season with a 40-33-9 record (89 points), ninth in the Western Conference. In his eight seasons (2004-05 was locked out) with Minnesota, Lemaire had 293 wins, 255 losses, 55 ties and 53 overtime losses.

A desperate move by a desperate coach breathed some life into the Minnesota Wild.

By Brian Murphy, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn. Apr. 1--VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Jacques Lemaire has read it all about the evils of his defensive strategy for years, so the Wild coach was hardly discouraged by the latest round of barbs hurled by local writers.