Bill Guerin spent the summer chasing a version of the Minnesota Wild that looked a lot cleaner on paper than the one he’s about to hand over for the home opener.
In the dream version, Quinn Hughes is the first player out of the locker room, meets Guerin at center ice and signs a new deal on the spot while 18,000 fans at Grand Casino Arena roar and chant “BILLY, BILLY, BILLY!” That’s the scene Guerin wakes up from. The actual version is a lot less satisfying: Hughes is still unsigned, and the Wild’s major trade target still hasn’t arrived.
That leaves Guerin’s offseason looking a lot shakier than the one he surely imagined in May, when he was the reigning, defending winner of the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award. One of his biggest jobs was to get Hughes extended, and by every report Minnesota was willing to go all-in to make it happen.
Michael Russo has reported that the Wild were prepared to do whatever it took. When the team could have offered an eight-year contract before the new collective bargaining agreement took effect, owner Craig Leipold was ready to go that route. After Cale Makar signed for an average annual value of $20.4 million with the Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota was even willing to go above $20 million per season to keep Hughes.
That’s why Russo has framed the talks less as a negotiation and more as a matter of Hughes deciding what he wants to do. The defenseman has spoken positively about the coaches, teammates and organization, but he still hasn’t signed, and he has “ no rush ” to do it.
That unresolved situation is already enough to make people squint. Add in the chatter from New Jersey Devils fans about Hughes potentially wanting to head east and play with his brothers Jack Hughes and Luke Hughes, and the noise only gets louder. Guerin can say everything is fine, but an unsigned star tends to keep the rumor mill spinning.
Still, the Hughes situation is only part of the problem.
The other major swing Guerin was supposed to take this summer was at a No. 1 center, the kind of piece that would push Minnesota closer to where it wants to be. That hunt turned into a long summer stare-down after Dylan Larkin’s trade request from the Detroit Red Wings became public. The result, at least so far, is no resolution.
There is still a path for Guerin to wait out the market and pounce on the next unhappy star. But teams around the league don’t appear convinced that Danila Yurov and Charlie Stramel are ready to become true foundation pieces.
And while Minnesota could dangle a mountain of draft picks to grease a deal, the trade market isn’t exactly easy to work in right now. Clubs want to win now, rebuilds are harder than ever, and the talent pool gets thinner every time the NHL expands.
So if Hughes doesn’t sign and Larkin never becomes available, Guerin is left with the other task that should have been front and center all along: making the Wild better as a team.
Minnesota was one of the league’s strongest clubs, but its playoff push showed the cracks. Injuries to Joel Eriksson Ek and Jonas Brodin exposed the depth chart, and Guerin made some moves that were supposed to help, including letting Mats Zuccarello, Vladimir Tarasenko and Marcus Johansson walk in free agency.
The problem is that the answers aren’t obvious. Maxim Shabanov is a player the Wild believe in, but he’s projected to fill a top-line role replacing Zuccarello, who still put up 15 goals and 54 points in 59 games at age 38.
Bobby Brink is another option, though he looks more like a third-line winger than someone who can handle top-six duty. And even if Brink works out, it came at the cost of David Jiricek, a deal that has already come back to haunt Guerin as he tries to gather enough assets for another top-line center.
Then came the hit to the blue line. Brock Faber suffered a fractured skull in the preseason finale against the Dallas Stars and is out for the foreseeable future. That leaves a defense group that already needed work in a tougher spot.
Jared Spurgeon is now expected to take first-pairing minutes alongside Quinn Hughes, while Olli Maatta, Zach Bogosian and Daemon Hunt will probably be asked to do more than anyone wanted. And that doesn’t even factor in Jonas Brodin, who has been a lock to miss at least 20 games over the past few seasons.
A few things could still change. Hughes could sign.
The Red Wings could finally move. Someone could step up on the back end.
But right now, for a team that believes its championship window is open, the offseason looks like a missed chance.
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