"Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher has boarded a lot of airplanes since his team finished its third consecutive season outside the NHL playoffs in early April.

His top priority has been finding a coaching successor to Todd Richards, who was fired by Fletcher on April 11.

He's closing in on a decision, he said this week.

"I'm still open minded, still speaking to people," he said.

Fletcher, who traveled from the Twin Cities to Boston on Tuesday for league general manager meetings this morning and Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals tonight at TD Garden, has had his schedule consumed by a coaching search, scouting and preparation for the upcoming NHL draft June 24-25 at the Xcel Energy Center, as well as upcoming free agency.

"It has been kind of a whirlwind spring," he said this week, ticking off numerous trips to Canada, places in the United States and even Europe to see young hockey players, coaching candidates and the Wild's American Hockey League affiliate Houston Aeros in the Calder Cup playoffs.

One of the people Fletcher wants to discuss the Wild coaching job with is Mike Yeo, a former Pittsburgh Penguins assistant who earned consideration by coaching the Aeros into the Calder Cup Finals.

"We owe that to Mike Yeo," Fletcher said of an upcoming interview. "