By Chris Schad -
Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin addressed reporters last Friday afternoon. The NHL trade deadline had passed, and all the big deals seemed to come within the Central Division. The Dallas Stars got Mikko Rantanen. The Colorado Avalanche landed Brock Nelson. Draft picks flew through the air while Guerin and the Wild stood idle.
It wasn’t shocking, considering Guerin had traded his 2025 first-round pick to land David Jiricek. The Wild are also still dealing with the final year of massive cap penalties from the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts, meaning the Wild would have had to place Joel Eriksson Ek or Kirill Kaprizov on long-term injury reserve (aka “The Mark Stone Loophole”) to add a significant salary.
It led Guerin to admit the Wild “didn’t even try” to add a big name. But that came with a caveat.
“It’s not our time. We’ll have our time,” Guerin said. “We’ve got a plan going for four years, and I’m not going to screw it up being short-sighted.”
Guerin is referring to the five-year plan that Russo reported at the beginning of the season.
As part of the plan, Guerin said he wanted to sign Kaprizov long-term and treat this summer like Christmas. Wild fans anxiously awaited this part of the plan, anticipating the extension and free-agent spending like buried lost treasure at the end of a Disney movie.
But while Guerin has an eye on the future, he must have one eye focused on the present.
PuckPedia projects the Wild will have roughly $22 million in salary cap this offseason. However, we must factor in Kaprizov's eight-figure extension. Therefore, Minnesota will still have $10 to $12 million to spend, leaving Guering to fill in the pieces of a roster that has been one of the worst teams in hockey since the start of the calendar year.
It’s a wonderful fantasy, but Guerin hasn’t been effective when he’s had money to spend. It started in the days leading up to the 2023-24 season when he signed Marcus Foligno, Ryan Hartman, and Mats Zuccarello to contract extensions. Since putting pen to paper, Foligno and Zuccarello have been fine relative to their salaries. However, Hartman has had troubles on and off the ice that could lead to his departure next summer.
There’s also the Jake Middleton deal that was signed last summer. Middleton looked like a bargain when he put up 13 points and a plus-22 rating in his first 29 games. However, his production has fallen off since returning from a finger injury. He has five points and a minus-10 rating in his past 24 games. At $4.35 million, you could do worse for a top-four defenseman. Still, there are too many skilled but flawed players like Middleton on this roster.
Yakov Trenin was the next player in this group when he signed a four-year, $14 million contract in free agency last summer. The Wild didn't sign to be a scorer, but his lumbering presence hasn’t added much else, with 13 points and a plus-1 rating in 58 games.
Minnesota's recent signings have created a predicament, leaving Guerin scrambling to save his team at this year’s trade deadline. He coughed up a 2026 second-round pick to acquire Gustav Nyquist from the Nashville Predators. However, the 35-year-old won’t make up for the loss of Eriksson Ek and isn’t likely to be part of their long-term plans.
There’s also the Justin Brazeau trade, which cost the Wild Jakub Lauko and Marat Khusnutdinov. Lauko’s injuries somewhat validated the deal, but Khusnutdinov is only 22 years old. Although he was set to become a restricted free agent next summer, bringing him back on a bridge deal wouldn't cost much. The Wild should have been targeting young players with upside like him the past few years.
Even the Jiricek trade looks like it’s for the future. Still, it's rooted in the present because the 21-year-old sits in the press box and watches Zach Bogosian and Jon Merrill flounder on the third defensive pairing. If the Wild trade Bogosian or Jared Spurgeon this offseason, you could see a path for Jiricek to get playing time. Still, as hockey's Santa Claus, it’s more likely Guerin will seek another 30-year-old to fill his spot in free agency.
Even if you’re (rightfully) excited about Zeev Buium and Danila Yurov, they could be stuck in the black hole that has become the Iowa Wild if Guerin continues prioritizing veterans in free agency. Is spending a bunch of money on John Tavares (34), Jamie Benn (35), and Claude Giroux (37) worth it? Or would the Wild be better off getting younger and building a core to compete in hockey’s toughest division?
The Stars and Avalanche took the opposite approach, building the foundation and supplementing it with big free-agent moves. But while Guerin hypes up his future, it’s all about the present, satisfying this franchise’s desperation to get out of the first round.
It makes pointing to the future seem like a crutch for a front office that should have built a foundation two or three years ago. And it could make a summer that’s supposed to be filled with excitement feel significantly underwhelming.
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