Minnesota Wild President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Bill Guerin explains what Zach Bogosian brings to the lineup is something they really need.
Minnesota Wild President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Bill Guerin explains what Zach Bogosian brings to the lineup is something they really need.
The Wild made two trades today in hopes of improving on their 5-5-2 record. First Calen Addison was sent to San Jose in exchange for a 2026 fifth-round pick and forward Adam Raska.
Then, Wild President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Bill Guerin traded a 2025 seventh-round pick to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for veteran defenseman Zach Bogosian.
The thought of acquiring Bogosian didn't just come after the Wild traded Addison earlier in the day. These moves were associated together and acquiring Bogosian was something Guerin was working on for a couple of weeks.
"A little while," Guerin said. "Not months and months but a couple of weeks. I know Zach was looking for a change and we were one of the teams interested in him. I think everything just lines up nicely. He'll fit in good with our group."
Bogosian, 33, brings a ton of physicality and veteran leadership to the group which is something the Wild felt they needed, especially on their back end.
The 6-foot-3 defender will play tomorrow against the New York Rangers. Jared Spurgeon has been out since October 5th and will not play against the Rangers or Buffalo Sabres on Thursday or Friday but there is a good chance he plays on Sunday against the Dallas Stars back in Minnesota, according to Guerin.
The move felt to be necessary for the Wild despite how they have rebounded a bit from their slow start. Bogosian will bring size and a winning pedigree to the Wild's lineup.
"We need to defend. We need to be able to defend and that's what Zach can bring to the table," Guerin said. "He's bigger, he's heavier and I just think that's something we need to improve on and that goes for protecting our goalies too."
Bogosian will fit in pretty quickly with the Wild as he already knows most of the guys. He played with Pat Maroon in Tampa and won a cup together but he also lives in Minnesota in the offseason. His brother, Aaron, also works for the team.
As for Addison, Guerin felt that with the young defender falling in the Wild's lineup, a change would be good for him and his development which led to the trade to San Jose as the Sharks will likely give him more minutes than the Wild would or have given him.
“Honestly I feel Addy was kind of just dropping in our lineup," Guerin said. "I think at this point in time in his career, a change was going to be good.”
Addison started the year on the top power play but after the unit struggled a bit, Wild head coach Dean Evason shook up the two power-play units and went with a five-forward number one power-play unit.
This bumped Addison to the second unit. With Spurgeon coming back and Jonas Brodin showing he could play on the power play as well, the Wild feel comfortable enough to get rid of Addison to fill a hole on the third pair that they believe is much needed.
Once Spurgeon is back I'd imagine he would play with Jake Middleton again and Brodin will stay with Brock Faber. This will lead Bogosian to play with either Dakota Mermis or Jon Merrill with Daemon Hunt likely being sent down.