Bill Guerin's Four-Year Anniversary As Wild GM: What Are His Best Moves?

The Minnesota Wild hired Bill Guerin four years ago today on Aug. 21, 2019 as their fourth general manager in franchise history and the successor to Paul Fenton. Guerin has since transformed the organization with sweeping changes, namely the buyouts of franchise cornerstones Zack Parise and Ryan Suter.

The Wild have managed to stay competitive since buying them out despite the significant dead money on their payroll. Minnesota hasn't missed the playoffs and holds a 169-90-30 record under Guerin, in fact. The former NHLer and Pittsburgh Penguin executive hasn't been afraid to make major changes and difficult decisions, evidenced by the decision to buy out the two faces of the franchise. 

Guerin also made significant moves by trading core players like Jason Zucker and Kevin Fiala, while signing others who fit his future plans to long term deals. Young players like Luke Kunin, Ryan Donato, Kaapo Kahkonen, and most recently Jordan Greenway, have all been traded since Guerin took over — and not one of them has made him regret it.

Guerin's judgement of knowing when to invest and when to cut ties has been an important factor in his success. Everything from trades to contract management to drafting, Guerin has been prudent and meticulous in his decision-making.

What are Guerin's best moves over the past four years as general manager?

Ever since taking over, Guerin has made signing the Wild's best players long term a priority. He extended Jared Spurgeon (in 2019) and Jonas Brodin (in 2020) to seven-year deals and signed Kirill Kaprizov in 2021 to a five-year contract. While all three are good value deals, the Boldy and Eriksson Ek long-term contracts are Guerin's best.

Boldy, who signed a seven-year deal worth $7 million annually in January, scored 32 goals and 63 points last season, while remaining strong defensively. The 22-year-old took off at the end of the season with 15 goals and 23 points in the last 20 games and looks poised to reach the next level in 2023-24.

Eriksson Ek signed a eight-year deal worth $5.25 million annually in July of 2021. His response? Two 20-goal seasons in a row where he's continued to be one of the league's best defensive centers. The 26-year-old scored 26 goals and 49 points during the 2021-22 season before recording 23 goals and 61 points last season. He has proven he's more than just a selke-caliber center over the past two years.

There's no question the Wild saved money by investing in Boldy and Eriksson Ek early and now have them both locked up long term. The Athletic's Dom Luszczyszyn's model has Boldy worth $11.4 million and Eriksson Ek at $8.7 million. It's safe to say their contracts are bargains, especially when you account for how many prime years the Wild are getting out of them.

When the Wild traded a frustrated Talbot to the Ottawa Senators, Minnesota acquired a young goalie in Gustavsson who didn't have a track record or experience — having started just 23 games in his career with a .905 save percentage.

That didn't turn out to be a problem. A year later, Gustavsson signed a three-year contract extension worth $3.75 million annually with the Wild to stay in Minnesota. The Swedish netminder broke out and had a career year in his first season with the Wild, finishing with a 22-9-7 record and a .931 save percentage.

Gustavsson, a second-round pick by the Penguins in 2016, solidified himself as the team's No. 1 goalie by the end of the season and proved to be one of the league's most capable goaltenders despite falling short of earning a Vezina Trophy vote. The 25-year-old saved 30.4 goals above average (third) and 24.54 goals above expected (seventh), according to Evolving-Hockey.

It's Gustavsson's job to prove again this upcoming season that he can be a No. 1 caliber. If he starts where he left off, him and Marc-Andre Fleury, who is approaching a career milestone, will form one of league's best tandems.

Gustavsson finished with a .922 save percentage in his first postseason, which included a 51-save win in his playoff debut, giving the Wild a chance to win with his play between the pipes.

With Ottawa last season, Talbot ended with a 17-14-2 record and a .898 save percentage with a 0.3 GSAx (57th in the league). The 36-year-old signed a one-year contract with the Los Angeles Kings this summer.

This trade turns out to be one of the best in Guerin's tenure so far. He replaced an aging veteran with average numbers with a legitimate — and most importantly young — bonafide starter.

Guerin has traded two core players since taking the reigns as Wild general manager: Jason Zucker and Kevin Fiala. 

Guerin traded the final remaining piece from the previous core in Zucker to the Penguins on Feb. 10, 2020 for Alex Galchenyuk, Calen Addison (drafted in the second round in 2018) and a first-round pick (Carson Lambos). 

While Galchenyuk didn't pan out in Minnesota and Addison found himself scratched at the end of last season, this trade has remained a win for the Wild. Lambos is one of the organization's top defensive prospects, and Addison has proven to be a valuable power play specialist. 

Zucker on the other hand just got his career back on track last season with a healthy 27-goal season after scoring 17 combined goals in his first two full seasons in Pittsburgh where he dealt with injuries.

The Wild then traded Fiala last June to the Los Angeles Kings for Brock Faber and a 2022 first-round pick, which turned into Liam Ohgren. 

While trading Fiala, who scored 72 points in L.A. last season, wasn't ideal, it had to be done due to the cap restraints. That's unless the Wild traded away several pieces, something they obviously didn't want to do. The Wild also have to prepare for a few years down the line when Kaprizov and other young players will need new deals.

Faber showcased his poise and defensive acumen in the playoffs and already looks ready to handle a top-four role, and Ohgren is progressing well. Wheeler recently rated the Swedish forward as the NHL's 40th best prospect. Considering other teams knew of the Wild's financial situation, getting two solid prospects in Faber and Ohgren with the little leverage they had should be seen as a win.

The Wild hired Brackett to be their director of amateur scouting in July of 2020 after he parted ways with the Vancouver Canucks, which ended his 12-year stint with the organization. He served as their director of amateur scouting for his last five years with them. The Canucks drafted Brock Boeser late in the first round in 2015 and drafted high-end talent in Elias Pettersson (2017) and Quinn Hughes (2018) during that time.

Brackett also helped the Canucks find talent outside the first round like Adam Gaudette in round five in 2015 and Nils Hoglander in round two in 2019, among others who have played NHL games. The Athletic's Scott Wheeler released his prospect rankings in January and three prospects in Vancouver's top 10 are Jack Rathbone (round four in 2017), Aidan McDonough (round seven in 2019) and Arvid Costmar (round seven in 2019), all of whom were drafted in late rounds.

Brackett has been one of the key faces behind the Wild's rise in the prospect pool rankings; Wheeler had Minnesota at No. 1 in January. Under Brackett, the Wild have drafted top-tier talent but have also stockpiled a ton of depth at every position. It's safe to say the Wild wouldn't have the prospect pipeline they have now without Brackett and Guerin, who has used draft picks sparingly. The Wild have a ton of exciting talent with the likes of Jesper Wallstedt, Marco Rossi, Ohgren, Danila Yurov, Lambos and Marat Khusnutdinov, among many others.

The Wild bought out the final four years of both Parise and Suter's identical contracts on July 13, 2021, ending their tenure with the organization after nine years. It ushered a new area of Wild hockey and leadership group. It also gave the front office cost certainty rather than potentially facing cap recapture penalties if for some reason Parise or Suter would've retired prematurely.

Parise's play started trending in the wrong direction, which culminated in him being scratched at the beginning of the 2020-21 playoffs. Rather than see if the same would happen to Suter, then 36, the Wild cut ties with both, creating opportunities for others with two empty spots in the lineup. The Wild also got $10.33 million in cap relief in that first year. In the end, there wasn't enough upside to them finishing their contracts in the State of Hockey.

Since then, the Wild have made the playoffs every year and remained competitive and will look to continue that this upcoming season.