It's Starting To Feel Like 2023 Again For the Minnesota Wild

In an interview with The Athletic, Dean Evason revealed how emotional he and Bill Guerin got when Guerin fired him in 2023. Evason said he walked into Guerin’s office and immediately knew why Guerin had summoned him. 

“Are you firing me, bud?” Evason said he asked Guerin. 

“He said, ‘Yeah,’ and he stood up, came around the desk, and we hugged, and he just started crying,” Evason said. “And so did I. I said, ‘Billy, I didn’t expect it to happen, but I’m so grateful and so honored to have the opportunity,’ and I thanked him.”

It had to be a tough conversation for Guerin. In 2018, Paul Fenton hired Dean Evason as an assistant on Bruce Boudreau’s staff. However, Guerin fired Boudreau in 2020 and elevated Evason. Still, Fenton hired Evason, and Guerin had a closer connection with John Hynes, the coach he hired as his replacement.

“This is the business. We weren’t winning. I got fired,” said Evason. “Billy felt we needed a spark. Do I think we could have sparked another way? Yeah. But we’ve tried a lot of ways, right? And that’s what you do. You try to spark.”

The Wild had a 3-5-2 record through 10 games in 2023. They have a 3-5-2 record through 10 games this season. Guerin fired Evason after Minnesota’s 4-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on November 26, its seventh in a row. 

Thanksgiving was on November 23 that year, and we typically know which teams will make the playoffs by then. The Wild went 34-24-5 under Hynes, a .579 winning percentage. However, they still finished sixth in the Central Division and missed the playoffs.

Two years later, the Wild are off to a similar start. They lost their 11th game to the Winnipeg Jets in overtime this year; in 2023, they won their 11th game over the New York Rangers in a shootout. Minnesota beat the New York Islanders in its next game, then lost seven straight, costing Evason his job.

If a collapse is imminent, Guerin can’t put off a challenging conversation with Hynes.

It had become evident that the Wild needed a coaching change after Peter DeBoer out-coached Evason with the Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas Stars in the playoffs. St. Louis Blues bench boss Craig Berube had also out-schemed Evason in 2022. 

Evason alone isn’t culpable for the Wild losing in the first round in eight of the past ten years. As Guerin will gladly remind you, the problem predates his run. He just hasn’t done anything to change it since Minnesota hired him in 2019.

Still, Guerin put off a difficult conversation with Evason after the 2023 playoffs, and it cost the Wild the 2023-24 season. 

He can’t afford to make the same mistake again.

Minnesota may snap out of its early-season funk. However, the Wild have given up the first goal in five consecutive games, and seven of their past eight. Winnipeg has beaten them in nine straight games, and the Dallas Stars have a 15-game point streak against them (10-0-5). Minnesota has lost four straight division games since beating the Blues on opening night. The Wild are seventh in the Central Division, one spot ahead of St. Louis.

The Wild are a lousy team, and they can’t blame the league’s cap penalties anymore.

Guerin must act fast if the Wild start to collapse. Peter DeBoer is one of the few difference-making coaches in the league. Minnesota can’t simultaneously miss out on the coach who kept beating them in the first round and suffer a lost season.

Otherwise, Guerin must double down on Hynes. That means riding out a collapse and committing to Minnesota’s young players. Forget the playoffs, lean into upside. More Liam Ohgren and David Jiricek; less Marcus Johansson and Zach Bogosian.

It’s what the Wild should have been doing during cap hell, when they had no chance of winning in the playoffs. Instead, they leaned on veterans to squeeze wins out of a shorthanded team just to say they got to the postseason, at the expense of player development. Now they’re paying the price as they try to ingest multiple young players into crucial roles.

If Guerin chooses to fire Hynes, it will be a harder conversation than with Evason. Guerin inherited Evason; Hynes is his buddy. Hynes is also on his third job, and his teams have never finished higher than fourth in their division. The Columbus Blue Jackets hired Evason. The Wild might be Hynes’s last head coaching job.

Minnesota is off to a familiar start because it refuses to change. Guerin has been the GM since 2019, and the Wild promoted him to president after they lost in the playoffs. They still lean on players past their prime and struggle to integrate prospects into the NHL. 

The Wild remain in a vicious cycle because they keep doing the same thing while expecting a different result. At some point, they need to embrace change.