The Minnesota Wild Are Still Riding the Clutch

Outlets ranging from ESPN to the Star Tribune reported the Minnesota Wild’s decision to trade Calen Addison and acquire Zach Bogosian as a tandem deal in 2023. 

“It’s not a knock on Calen,” Bill Guerin explained. “It’s just a change in direction.”

Addison had played 100 games for the Wild, and Guerin had seen enough. He was shifting gears. The former Wild defenseman had scored 18 of his 29 points on the power play the year before. His 26 assists were a franchise record for rookie defensemen.

However, Addison’s lousy defense made him a liability, and Guerin was ultimately right to move on from him. Addison was a minus-35 in 60 games for the San Jose Sharks the rest of that season, and the 25-year-old defenseman has spent the rest of his career in the AHL.

Still, the change in direction is significant for the Wild. They made it clear they were prioritizing experience and size over talent and upside. Bogosian, 35, has remained in Minnesota, even as the stakes have changed now that the team no longer has severe cap penalties. 

Bogosian is hardly the player who scored ten goals for the Atlanta Thrashers during the 2009-10 season. However, the Wild feel he’s a reliable defensive player who coaches can depend on to eat minutes. They’ve continued to value veterans like Bogosian, Marcus Johansson, and Gustav Nyquist last year, creating a high-floor, low-ceiling team. 

A team that constantly makes the playoffs and loses immediately once they’re there.

The Wild have been an F-150 trying to win a race against the league’s Ferraris under Guerin. They’re large and built Ford tough, but they’re also slow-moving and cumbersome. Ferraris win playoff games; F-150s don’t.

If Addison represents the gas pedal, a player who’s all go and no brakes, then Bogosian is the clutch. They turn to him when they want to slow things down and control the game. However, a team that continues to rely on past-their-prime players in crucial roles will never contend.

Unfortunately, the Wild developed a bad habit of riding the clutch under Guerin.

In a car with manual transmission, the driver must step on the clutch pedal to change gears. They must also engage the clutch when the vehicle is stopped or slowing down to avoid stalling. In that instance, think of it as the equivalent of placing your foot on the ground when your bike stops.

“Riding the clutch,” or pressing down on that pedal too long while moving, will wear it out. The car will also never shift into high gear because the driver must release the clutch to change gears. The Wild have been stuck in low gear because they continue to ride aging, declining players instead of prioritizing youth and upside.

Guerin’s approach hasn’t yielded results. Minnesota has yet to win a playoff series since he took over in 2019. He created cap hell since buying out Zach Parise and Ryan Suter in 2021, but they have access to most of their cap space this season. Still, the Wild continue to play 30-something veterans in crucial roles in place of their young stars.

They’ve escaped cap hell this year. It’s time for them to prioritize upside over experience. 

It’s time for them to hit the gas.

Bogosian is comfort food for John Hynes and Dean Evason before him. He’s in his mid-30s and offers little upside. Still, Hynes can deploy him as an experienced player, and he fits the mold of what Guerin cherishes. 

“He’s a big guy. He still skates well. He brings heaviness,” said Guerin. “[Bogosian] brings some grit, and we need that. I think the experience that he brings, with all the other intangibles, he's a great teammate.”

As a large player who was more productive in his 30s than in his 20s, Guerin has always valued large veteran players. He’s built the Wild in his image. Large, heavy, gritty. However, they’ve lacked a vital trait he had as a player – enough skill to compete with the league’s best teams.

Guerin has typically valued experience over upside. Matt Boldy had 18 points in 14 AHL games after the Wild signed him out of Boston College in 2021. Still, Minnesota didn’t call him up for the playoffs that year, and he may have been the difference in a seven-game series against the Vegas Golden Knights.

A year later, Marco Rossi made Minnesota’s roster out of camp. However, he only had one point in 19 games, and the Wild sent him to Iowa. Still, they never recalled him, even though he had 51 points in 53 games and 53 points in 63 the year before. 

Last year, they tried to roll with three goalies, only to send Jesper Wallstedt back to Iowa after telling him to get a place in St. Paul. Everyone understands Marc-Andre Fleury’s value to the Wild. Still, trying and failing to roster three goalies with minimal cap space and poorly communicating expectations with Wallstedt set his development back. 

Ultimately, the Wild prioritized winning with a shorthanded roster over player development, a common theme throughout the buyout penalties. It’s continued with higher stakes now. They were never going to win in the playoffs with Suter and Parise’s dead cap on the books. However, they should be able to with access to more cap space.

Unfortunately, we’ve learned that the higher stakes have made it harder for the Wild to release the clutch. It never made sense that they were straining to make the playoffs in recent years, only to exit in the first round. They could have been playing young players to prepare them for this season, when the cap penalties are in effect, and ownership wants them to advance past the first round.

Hopefully, they have accumulated enough young talent that they can trust, because it’s time to look to the future. Eventually, they’ll have to prioritize young players like David Jiricek over Bogosian; Danila Yurov and Liam Ohgren over Johansson. To truly contend, they have to stop riding the clutch and step on the gas. They’ve got to transform from an F-150 to a Ferrari.