ST. PAUL, Minn. — After the Minnesota Wild reached the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season, Bill Guerin could have kept most of the roster intact and hoped another year together would produce a deeper playoff run.

Instead, he decided it was time for change.

Over the past week, the Wild traded Jake Middleton to the Calgary Flames as part of a deal that brought back veteran winger Blake Coleman and defenseman Olli Maatta, signed Russian forward Maxim Shabanov, and moved on from longtime leaders Mats Zuccarello, Marcus Johansson and Vladimir Tarasenko in free agency.

While those moves drew plenty of attention individually, Guerin made it clear Monday they were all part of a bigger plan.

"We had a good year last year. We made a big step. We are a very good team," Guerin said. "But the one thing we can't do is just be complacent and be satisfied with what we did last year. We have to look forward and see how we can do better going forward."

For Guerin, that meant resisting the temptation to simply bring back the same group.

"Not that we would have been complacent if we brought the same group back, but we've done that for the past number of years," Guerin said. "We did take a step, but I just felt like this was time to maybe get a little younger, maybe get a little faster, maybe a little bit of change because that's good too."

His most telling comment came when explaining why the organization felt the need to reshape the roster.

"You don't want to just keep rolling out the same thing year after year after year and expect different results," Guerin said. "A little tweak here and there is sometimes good. I think it's healthy for everybody."

The Wild believe they've accomplished exactly that.

Coleman arrives as a two-time Stanley Cup champion with a reputation as one of the NHL's premier penalty killers, while Maatta adds another experienced defenseman who has won two Stanley Cups.

Guerin also confirmed Shabanov is expected to be on Minnesota's opening-night roster after the organization pursued him dating back to his time in Russia, two years ago.

"What he brings to a team, his competitiveness, his winning pedigree, the success rate of all the teams that he's played on was something that made him really attractive," Guerin said of Coleman. "He's a competitor at the highest level."

Although the offseason also meant saying goodbye to popular veterans like Middleton and Zuccarello, Guerin said difficult decisions are part of trying to build a championship-caliber team.

"Sometimes you just have to move on," Guerin said. "This is the business part of it. Sometimes it's tough, but you have to move on."

Despite the roster turnover, Guerin believes the Wild are in a better position than they were just a week ago.

"I think it's a really good day for the organization," Guerin said. "I do think we're better today. I think the guys that we're bringing in will provide us with a little bit different look."

And while Minnesota still has salary-cap flexibility to make additional moves before the season begins, Guerin made it clear the goal of this offseason wasn't simply to replace familiar faces.

It was to change the makeup of a team he believes is ready to take another step toward competing for the Stanley Cup.

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