Six weeks ago, Bill Guerin was not happy.
The Wild general manager was disappointed in his team, which had struggled out of the gate to a 1-3-1 start. He didn’t like the Wild’s compete level, their defensive play, their goaltending. There were some red flags.
Now the Wild are one of the hottest teams in the league, having won nine of 12 games. They’ve won seven of their past eight at home, and they have a favorable schedule until the holiday break, with the Blackhawks and Senators at home, then the Ducks and Kings on the road.
What’s changed?
“I do think that health has played a big part in it,” Guerin said on Thursday The Athletic‘s “Straight from the Source” podcast. “We’ve got some guys back. We’re waiting on (Ryan Hartman) and (Brandon Duhaime). (Jordan Greenway) is back. I really think the coaches have done a good job of messaging, and the guys have listened and really dialed in their individual games. The goaltending has been much better.”
Hartman, sidelined since sustaining a shoulder injury during a fight in Chicago on Oct. 30, could be back sooner than later, with last season’s top-line center practicing on his own Thursday. He had 33 even-strength goals last season and could either pop back in between Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello or go alongside Matt Boldy and Freddy Gaudreau.
Guerin said Hartman is more likely to return Sunday: “You’ve got to make sure he’s ready to go.”
Duhaime isn’t expected to return until after the Christmas break. But when he does, the Wild will have some difficult decisions on their hands.
“That’s a coach and GM’s dream,” Guerin said. “You have to make tough decisions. It’s so much better than, ‘Oh God, take this guy out. He’s been brutal.’ This is what you want. The internal competition and things that drive you — you have to compete. Our guys are doing it right now.”
Guerin discussed a range of topics during our chat, from trying to trade for a top-six forward, to Matt Dumba’s future, to the upcoming salary cap crunch and how it’ll affect offseason decisions, to Marco Rossi’s future, to the emergence of Filip Gustavsson and Sammy Walker, to Brock Faber’s anticipated arrival next spring, to Ryan Reaves’ impact on the lineup.
Give the podcast a listen for all the juiciness, but here are some of the greatest hits.
The odd man out
It certainly looks like the odd man out when Hartman returns will be Walker, the former Gophers captain and Minnesota Mr. Hockey who has impressed in his first few NHL games.
What did the Wild learn about Walker?
“That he can play,” Guerin said. “I just really like this kid. I saw him (Wednesday) night after the (Red Wings) game. He brings energy. He’s full of energy. He’s excited to be in the game. It’s what a young kid should be like when he’s playing in his first few NHL games. He has great composure. His biggest asset is his speed. He’s definitely brought that. He can make some plays. That’s a really nice trait for a young player.
“Even if he’s the odd man out and spends more time in Iowa this year, so be it. He’s done well with his time this year, made a big impact and earned his call-up.”
Guerin said the coaches would likely keep Sam Steel on the top line at the start and insinuated Hartman would play with Boldy. Now, when Duhaime comes back, if the Wild are healthy, somebody’s going to have to come out of the lineup. It’ll be a tough decision because Steel’s currently the first-line center, Dewar and Shaw are two of the Wild’s best penalty killers and we all saw the impact Reaves can make on a lineup against Detroit.
What next for Rossi?
Rossi, the Wild’s prized forward prospect, was sent to AHL Iowa on Nov. 28. He played well defensively in the NHL but couldn’t find his scoring touch, with zero goals in 16 games. The idea was for Rossi to go to Iowa and regain his confidence, then come back up. But the way it looks, especially with everyone healthy, Rossi could be down for a while.
“He’s still very important,” Guerin said. “He’s still in the mix. We haven’t forgotten about him. But he’s got to go through the process. It’s not always easy. It doesn’t always go super smooth. You know, that’s OK. Sometimes, you travel down the tough road, it makes you a little stronger, makes you a little better. You really have to work for it. It’s not just given to you. You really have to earn it. He’s been up and down (in Iowa). When I say he’s got to figure it out, we’re helping him figure it out. But he’s got to figure it out on his own a little bit.”
Marco Rossi (Marc DesRosiers / USA Today)
What were the Wild not seeing in Rossi? Walker, albeit a little older, made a more noticeable impact.
“That’s what we want,” Guerin said. “Some jam. Some excitement. Some ‘f— you’ in your game. That’s what you need to survive in this league. It’s not a league for the nicest guys. You can be a nice guy, you can be a great guy. But when there’s a game to be won, 50-50 battles, you have to have some jam to your game. And that’s what we’re looking for.”
The salary cap
The cap might be going up only $1 million for next season, and the Wild currently have only $15.5 million in cap space for 2023-24, with pending restricted free agents in Boldy, Mason Shaw, Duhaime, Steel, Calen Addison and Gustavsson, and Dumba, Freddy Gaudreau and Reaves are pending unrestricted free agents.
“Is that it?” Guerin deadpanned.
“We’re prepared for everything. You prepare for the worst, and we’re prepared for it to go up a million. If it goes up four, then we’ll definitely be ready for that (laughs). That’d be great. But we’re prepared for both scenarios. And we know what it’ll look like, what we’ll be able to do — and now it’s really just a matter of the dollars and the escrow and all that stuff and seeing what happens. There’s really not much we can do but watch and wait.”
Guerin said he has not started negotiations with any player yet.
“We’re discussing a lot of it internally right now and just kind of mapping it out,” Guerin said. “There are different scenarios for different players and different personal circumstances that we all want to discuss. And although we make the decisions in hockey ops, we want to get the coaches’ feelings on certain players and things like that, because you want to see how far you go with guys (and) Dean (Evason)’s gonna be here, and if he likes a guy a lot, that’s great. If he’s not so keen on him, well, then we have to adjust our expectations. But we’ll make the final calls on that, but, yeah, we’re constantly preparing for the future.”
Boldy will almost certainly have to sign a bridge deal this offseason, but Guerin’s hope is that the culture the Wild created will entice players to play ball and perhaps leave some money on the table, as Hartman did two years ago when he took a pay cut. to avoid free agency.
“We’d like to think we’re gonna make the decisions. But it’s a two-way street,” Guerin said. “The guys have to be in on this, too. But I think we have a group of guys that really like to play here. … When Ryan Hartman took that deal and sacrificed a couple bucks on the AAV and took the extra year because he knew he was in a good place for him personally, that proved to me that this is a really good place — this is a great place to play It’s a great place for the guys to live. They all like it here. And we want to keep them together.”
Dumba’s future
University of Minnesota captain Brock Faber all but said on the podcast that he will sign after his season and play right away on the team. The Wild have a number of other blueline prospects that will be here eventually, as well, so the common belief is that this will be the end of the road between the Wild and Dumba. They’d either trade him by the March 3 deadline or let him walk in free agency.
Dumba got off to a bad start this season, and one wonders if his contract situation was on his mind.
“Matt and I had a short discussion earlier in the year,” Guerin said. “And we both know the situation. We don’t have to BS each other. We don’t want to be on pins and needles. I don’t want him to be on pins and needles. Just play, and it’ll all work itself out in the end. I think maybe at the beginning of the year, maybe — and I’m assuming this; this is not anything I’ve heard — that maybe it was bothering him a little bit. And I think the last six weeks or month or whatever, I think he’s really settled down and really played some good hockey.”
Trade possibilities
Last month, on the night the Wild acquired Reaves and Guerin discussed the option of sending Rossi to Iowa, the GM was transparent that he was in the market for a top-six forward in the hope of adding offense to make up for the loss of Kevin Fiala and helping a struggling Matt Boldy.
But with Hartman’s return likely coming Sunday and Duhaime close, the Wild are now in a situation where they could have to sit a regular when healthy.
If Hartman, who scored 34 goals last season, can return to form, Guerin said there’s less pressure to add a top-six forward.
“I would probably like a little more scoring if we need it,” Guerin said. “Hartzy coming back, if he can regain his scoring touch again, then we probably won’t need it. I think in order for us to go further, (our previous problems) weren’t because we couldn’t score… it was because we didn’t play the right way in a critical time. And I think that’s the main thing that our coaches and our players have been working on this year, is playing the right way in tough games, in tight games and not just being too loosey-goosey.
“So I think that’s more the thing for advancing rather than just players.”
So, again, the need for a top-six forward has “definitely calmed down a bit,” Guerin said. “But again… you know how I always say it: If we can make the team better, we will. You have to be careful because this is a team big on chemistry, big on working together, and if we’re going to do something like that, you have to weigh it out. Like who’s going out? How big of an impact would that be? Who’s coming in? What kind of guy are they? What kind of teammate? All that stuff. So you gotta be really careful.”
(Top photo of Ryan Hartman: David Berding / Getty Images)
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