Bill Guerin's future is rooted in the present – Minnesota Wild

Minnesota Wild General Manager Bill Guerin addressed reporters last Friday afternoon. The NHL -Handelsdeadline had passed and all major deals seemed to be within the central division. The Dallas stars got Mikko Rantanen. The Colorado Avalanche landed Brock Nelson. Draft choices flew through the air while Guerin and the Wild were stationary.

It was not shocking, given that Guerin had traded His first round pick from 2025 to Landdavid Jiricek. The Wild also has to do with the last year of Massive dop sentences From the Zach-Parouse and Ryan Ster Buyouts, which means that the Wild Eriksson EK or Kirill Kaprizovon should place long-term injuries reserve (aka de Mark Stone-Maas in Kaprizovon to add a considerable salary.

It led Guerin to admit that the game didn't even try to add a big name. But that came with a reservation.

It's not our time. Have our time, guerin said. We have a plan for four years and I am not going to ruin it as short -sighted.

Guerin refers to the five -year plan that Russo reported At the start of the season.

As part of the plan, Guerin said he wanted to sign Kaprizov in the long term and treat this summer as Christmas. Wilde fans anxiously waited for this part of the plan, anticipating the expansion and expenditure for the free-agent as buried estimated at the end of a Disney film.

But although Guerin is noticing the future, he must have focused on the present.

Puckpedia projects the game will have roughly $ 22 million in salary limit this season out of season. However, we must take into account Kaprizov's eight -digit extension. That is why Minnesota still has $ 10 to $ 12 million to spend, which means that guiling to fill in the pieces of a selection that has been one of the worst teams in hockey since the start of the calendar year.

It is a great fantasy, but Guerin has not been effective if he had money to spend. It started in the days before the 2023-24 season when he signed Marcus Foligno, Ryan Hartman and Mats Zuccarello to contract extensions. Since putting on paper, Foligno and Zuccarello are fine compared to their salaries. However, Hartman has had problems on and next to the ice that can lead to his departure next summer.

There is also the Jake Middleton Deal that was signed last summer. Middleton looked like a bargain when he placed 13 points and a plus-22 rating in his first 29 games. However, his production has lost weight since his return of one finger injury. He has five points and a min-10 rating in his last 24 games. For $ 4.35 million you could do worse for a top-four defender. Yet there are too much skilled but inadequate players such as Middleton in this schedule.

Yakov Trenin was the next player in this group when he was signed A four -year contract of $ 14 million in free agency last summer. The game did not sign to be a scorer, but his woody presence has not added much different, with 13 points and a plus-1 rating in 58 games.

The recent signing sessions from Minnesota have created a perilous situation, causing Guerin to clap his team during this year's trade deadline. He coughed one2026 Second round pick to acquire Nyquist of the Nashville Predators. The 35-year-old, however, will not make up for the loss of Eriksson EK and will probably not be part of their long-term plans.

There is also the Justin Brazeautrade, which cost the wild Jakub Lauko and Marat Khusnutdinov. Laukos damage Somewhat validated the deal, but KhusNutdinov is only 22 years old. Although he would become a limited free agent next summer, returning a bridge deal would not cost much. In recent years, the game had focused on young players with top like him.

Even the Jiricek trade looks like it for the future. Yet it is rooted in the present because the 21-year-old is in the press box and Zach Bogosian and Jon Merrill-Bot views the third defending link. If the Wild Trade Bogosian or Jared Spurgeonthis outside season, you could see a path for Jiricek to get playing time. Still, as Hockey's Santa Claus, it is more likely that Guerin will look for a 30-year-old to fill his place in the free desk.

Even if you are (rightly) enthusiastic about Zeev Buium and Danila Yurov, they can be stuck in the black hole that the Iowa has become wild as Guerin prioritizing veterans in the free desk. Is spending a lot of money on John Tavares (34), Jamie Benn (35) and Claude Giroux (37) worth it? Or could the game get better to become younger and build a core to compete in the toughest division in Hockeys?

The stars and avalanche took the opposite approach, built the foundation and supplemented it with large free-agents movements. But while Guerin Verypts his future, it's all about the present and satisfies this franchises despair to come from the first round.

It ensures that pointing to the future looks like a stool for a front office that should have built a foundation two or three years ago. And it could make a summer that would be supposed to be filled with excitement, feels considerably underwhelming.

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