Can Bill Guerin Save the Wild's Christmas?

Shortly before the start of the 2024-25 season, Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold had big hopes for this offseason. The Wild would be freed from the strictest part of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter’s contract buyout, and could finally find a way to add to a team with a legit superstar in Kirill Kaprizov.

Leipold said nobody will throw as much money at Kaprizov as the Wild when negotiating a contract extension. However, he had another sound bite that reminded fans of the day they opened a Nintendo 64.

“Next July 1 is going to be like Christmas,” Leipold said. “We’re going to have money available. We’re going to have the resources available to do what we need to get back to Wild hockey. And we’re looking forward to that.”

Another first-round playoff exit later, July 1 is just over a week away, and Bill Guerin looks like Clark Griswold. After months of touting an epic summer, Guerin’s offseason plans may have gone up in flames faster than the Griswold family Christmas tree. But as he executes his five-year plan, Guerin must find a way to save the Wild’s “Christmas,” and he has to do it in the next few weeks.

If Wild fans look under the tree today, they’d find the haul underwhelming. Minnesota brought back Marcus Johansson as a one-year, $800,000 insurance policy. However, he remains on the second line until they find an upgrade. There’s been more talk about getting rid of players (i.e., trading Marco Rossi) than there has been about adding them in a weak free agent class.

Even the Wild’s rivals have contributed to ruining Christmas Morning. The Colorado Avalanche overpaid Brock Nelson, the Dallas Stars kept Matt Duchene, and Jonathan Toews signed with the Winnipeg Jets on Friday.

The free agent class has continued to get shallower as July 1 draws closer. Sam Bennett drunkenly shouted that he’s staying in Florida moments after winning his second straight Stanley Cup. Brad Marchand also feels likely to remain with the Panthers or sign somewhere other than Minnesota.

That may have Guerin as nervous as Griswold when the in-laws came to town. Still, it’s important to remember that Griswold wound up saving Christmas by the end of the movie. Guerin’s challenge will be to do it without getting the SWAT team involved, but that’s become a challenge with how free agency has played out.

The best avenue to improve the team would be through the trade market. Rossi has become the Wild’s biggest trade chip after reportedly turning down a five-year, $25 million deal in the middle of last season. While he would like something closer to the $7 million Matt Boldy is making right now, the Wild don’t seem interested in that number and tipped their hand when they demoted Rossi to the fourth line during last year’s playoffs.

On Friday, Russo noted that the Vancouver Canucks have offered the 15th overall pick in next week’s draft for Rossi. Still, that’s not enough for a team that wants to get out of the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2014-15 and play into May or possibly June. Perhaps a bigger deal for Buffalo Sabres wing JJ Peterka is the answer, but the Wild would have to give up several pieces to get there.

That could lead to an unexpected reunion with Rossi, but it could also backfire if Rossi chooses to sign an offer sheet as a restricted free agent. Even if the Wild didn't send Rossi to the fourth line as a demotion, he was still playing behind Freddy Gaudreau by the end of the Vegas Golden Knights series, perhaps signaling an inevitable split.

If the Wild can’t find a deal in the trade market, they may have to go back to the free agency well. A weak class to begin with is now headlined by soon-to-be 35-year-old John Tavares, who just spent his past few years playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs, who also can't get out of the first round of the playoffs.

Signing Minnesota native Brock Boeser would also tug at Wild fans' heartstrings. Still, even with his favorable age (28) and production (40 goals, 73 points in 2023-24), he needs the players around him to set him up for success. That's an issue for a team built more on toughness than skill, but it could also lead the Wild down a different path.

Perhaps the issue isn’t that the Wild don’t have enough stars but just need the right pieces around them. Would it be wise to throw a ton of money at Boeser or Mitch Marner just to make a splash? Or would it be better to sign lower-tier free agents to add depth and hold the hammer when a bigger move presents itself?

People may have scoffed when the Panthers acquired Marchand and defenseman Seth Jones at the trade deadline, but both became major pieces to their repeat run. Other signings, like former Wild defenseman Dmitry Kulikov, weren’t lauded at the time but helped Florida find a loophole in the system.

We don’t know which players may be willing to come to Minnesota (and forgo the tax bracket that comes with it). Still, we know that Guerin can’t afford to stand pat. 

He’s in too deep when it comes to the “Christmas” narrative, and Leipold’s declaration of adding “one or two really good players” feels more like a directive than a suggestion. The Wild don’t have much time to figure it out, but Guerin needs to find his big, red bow and present it to a team that many feel should be on the rise.