September 19, 2023 | 3:05pm ET
By Anthony Di Marco, TheFourthPeriod.com

EXPECTATIONS RAISED IN MINNESOTA

Wild GM Bill Guerin

MONTREAL, QC — Going back the last decade, it is hard to find a team more consistent at playoff qualification than the Minnesota Wild. Since the 2012-13 lockout-shortened season, the Wild have qualified for the playoffs in all but one season (2018-19); a rate over 90%.

Making the playoffs at such a pace is an incredible feat, especially in a league that, since 2021-22, has seen just 50% of its teams qualify for the postseason. With so many teams sharing the “get in and anything can happen” belief, the Wild giving themselves a spot in the dance nearly every spring over the course of a decade is commendable.

But after a certain point, the question needs to be asked as to what is going on beyond playoff qualification.

In the case of Minnesota, despite being almost a guaranteed lock for postseason play every year, anything beyond that has been a big “if.” In their last seven playoff berths, the Wild have lost in the First (or Qualifying) Round in every year; they last won a playoff round versus the St. Louis Blues in 2014-15. Going back two decades, the Wild have not made it out of the second-round since a Western Conference Final loss to Anaheim in 2002-03.

Entering his fifth season as General Manager, Bill Guerin knows that, despite regular-season success, the expectations need to be greater.

“For me, (the expectations) continue to get higher,” said Guerin during an exclusive interview with TFP. “I think we’ve all grown a lot here the last four years, we have a lot of things going in the direction that we want to go. We’ve improved a lot, and everybody has bought into what the formula and plan is.

“I’m really excited about that; the expectations keep growing.”

Inheriting a team that made its second GM change in as many seasons, it took Guerin some time to put his fingerprints on the group and start shaping it to his liking. That has come in the way of some significant roster moves, but also in the way of the NHL Draft.

Guerin’s highest draft pick to date is Marco Rossi, who was selected eighth-overall by the Wild in 2020. Rossi, who played his second full season in North America last year, had a disappointing year at the NHL level – he tallied just one assist in 19 games with the Wild. But like the rest of the team, the bar has been raised a notch for the soon to be 22-year-old Austrian.

“We just want Marco to come in confident, we want him to have success and do well,” said Guerin. “He got a little taste of the league last year, which is always good experience, he’s done all the right things; he just has to put it all together and we need to help him. We need to help put him in positions where he’s going to be able to succeed and gain confidence to be the player we know he can be.”

As mentioned, Guerin’s fingerprints on the Wild go way beyond the draft – though it is important to note that he and Director of Amateur Scouting Judd Brackett have done a tremendous job building a stacked pipeline – and no decision(s) was more significant than the duel buyouts to Zach Parise and Ryan Suter in 2021.

After two seasons on the job, Guerin’s decision to buyout the team’s most expensive contracts and franchise cornerstones shocked the hockey world, especially in the midst of the Covid 19 pandemic and a flat salary cap. The bold move spoke volumes to Guerin’s vision of the team and setting a good culture, one that has paid off 26 months later.

But even with the moves paying dividends on the ice, it has created financial hurdles when navigating the salary cap. The Wild are operating with a little more than $14.7 million in dead cap space this season (and next), which has proved to be difficult entering a fourth straight year of no significant salary cap increase. Once the penalty drops significantly (by $13 million) in 2025 and the cap starts moving in the right direction, it will open up a lot of avenues for the Wild.

“It’s something that we manage; when we’re finally out of this we will continue to operate as we have been, but with more money to deal with,” said Guerin. “Most important thing is that we have players here that we really like and are a part of our future. We’re going to have to get some of those players signed and, whether it be the Free Agent or Trade market, we’re going to try and improve our team as we go along (with more cap space).

“It’s really important that we do it methodically and make smart decisions.”

Entering next summer, the Wild have two significant players set to become unrestricted free agents: Marcus Foligno and Mats Zuccarello.

A member of the Wild since 2017, Foligno has become one of the elder statesmen of the team’s forward group and has developed into one of the more effective bottom-six, role players in the NHL. Zuccarello, who was signed weeks before Guerin took over as GM, has become a staple among the Wild’s top forwards and has formed a bond (on and off the ice) with superstar Kirill Kaprizov.

“We haven’t really started talking (contract) but those two have been so important in the turnaround here,” said Guerin. “We love both guys, as people and players. They’ve been so committed to the team.

“We want to take our time with things and hopefully we can get something done.”

This summer was relatively quiet for the Wild, with the main order of business being locking up goaltender Filip Gustavsson; he ultimately inked a three-year, $11.25 million deal at the end of July.

Gustavsson, 25, was acquired from the Ottawa Senators for goaltender Cam Talbot last summer, which has proved to be a home run transaction for the Wild. Gustavsson, a former third-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins, finished the season with a sparkling .931 Save Percentage and went 22-9-7.

With a firm grasp on the starting job entering the season and forming a stellar duo with Marc-Andre Fleury, the Wild are in exceptional shape in the crease – especially when you consider that 2021 first-round pick Jesper Wallstedt is waiting in the wings.

“(Gustavsson) has had a huge impact; he and (Fleury) are great partners together and complete each other on and off the ice,” said Guerin. “But Filip coming in last year and playing the way he did made it a luxury. The fact that we can now take our time with Jesper and make sure he develops the right way; there’s a lot of good things that came from the way Filip played last year.”

With the stage set for the Wild roster wise and a ton of talent up and down the lineup, it feels like this is the year where a major step needs to be taken for Guerin’s club. Making the playoffs on a close to yearly basis is impressive, but at a certain point the standard needs to be elevated – something we should be prepared for this season.

Guerin added some playoff experience this summer with the addition of Patrick Maroon, who brings three Stanley Cup Championships and four Cup Final appearances of experience to a team looking to breakthrough in playoff success. Fitting the mold of the type of player the Wild like to have in their bottom six, Maroon’s addition will surely help the Wild during post season play.

Once the class of the NHL, the Central Division enters the 2023-24 campaign as arguably the weakest division. Save for the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars, there is no team that figures to be close to a lock to finish in the top three of the division and avoid a battle for a Wild Card spot. The path is seemingly clear for the Wild to, once again, lock down a spot among the top trio; the next step will be translating that success into the spring.

Guerin and his staff have put in a lot of work the last four years and it is now time for the club to reap the rewards in playoff play. The question needs to be asked: will we see the Wild beyond the first-round in nine years? Or even more significantly, will we see them among the final four for the first time in more than two decades?