In perhaps the most dramatic moment of the Minnesota Wild’s 2024-25 campaign, they needed a single standings point in the regular-season finale to clinch a playoff spot — and literally got it in the final seconds of regulation when Joel Eriksson-Ek scored to force overtime.

Greg Cronin had an up-close view of all the drama, although he didn’t enjoy it much.

That night was one of Cronin’s final evenings in the employ as the Anaheim Ducks’ head coach. He was fired less than a week later, ending a two-year stint running the show in Southern California for the Boston-area native.

On the opening day of the Wild’s prospects camp last week, Cronin was working as head coach of Minnesota’s AHL affiliate in Des Moines, Iowa. The pronounced New England accent has stayed with him through coaching s

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