Imagine, if you will:
After grinding away for three months ahead of the trade deadline, Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin needed a break. He headed down the highway to a local show where a mind reader was showcasing his talents in front of a sold-out crowd.
As he hit the stage, he noticed Guerin and started reviewing his approach to the trade deadline.
“Bet you felt pretty accomplished, huh?” The mind reader said. “You revamped your bottom six. You got Quinn Hughes. But I still sense some nervousness. Like an annual traumatic event in…late April? You’ve always had a good team, and you make the playoffs! But every year, you find yourself saying, ‘It wasn’t supposed to end like this! It wasn’t supposed to end like this!”
Guerin started sweating. Somehow, this mind reader knew about his internal battle. The Wild once again have a good team, and Guerin added to it at the deadline. But without a big deal, it’s uncertain whether they’ll get through Gary Bettman’s playoff gauntlet featuring the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars.
In a lot of ways, Guerin has done his job, but he also may have missed his chance to help the Wild go from good to great.
The Wild have the foundation of a Stanley Cup contender. Kirill Kaprizov is turning in another strong campaign. Matt Boldy could score 50 goals. Quinn Hughes has given Minnesota a true superstar, and, as any Wild fan will tell you, it has two good goalies in Jesper Wallstedt and Filip Gustavsson.
This wasn’t a team that needed a Hughes-sized bombshell at the trade deadline; they just needed to fill in the gaps.
To that end, Guerin overhauled the fourth line by trading for Michael McCarron and Nick Foligno. He added some speed and scoring ability by acquiring Robby Fabbri off waivers. He acquired a depth defenseman in Jeff Petry and could have another mini-acquisition when Marcus Foligno returns from injury.
Even the most controversial move could be a net positive, trading David Jiricek for Bobby Brink. The first-, second-, third-, and fourth-round picks it used to bring Jiricek to Minnesota proved disastrous. Still, Guerin was able to acquire a good player in return, as the 24-year-old Brink brings scoring and strong defense to the middle six.
But despite all that, something feels missing.
The Wild have been searching for a No. 1 center since their inception, and once again, they went into the trade deadline looking for that piece. Jack Hughes and Robert Thomas were floated out as pipe dreams, but the one realistic move was acquiring Vincent Trocheck from the New York Rangers.
Trocheck isn’t a No. 1 center, but he provides what the Wild need. He can kill penalties. He has a 54.2% win rate on faceoffs. He does just enough offensively, eclipsing 50 points in each of the past five seasons. Trocheck has a rapport with Guerin after Guerin selected him for the United States Olympic team last month.
Ultimately, Guerin and other GMs made a collective statement that the prices were too high. In any other year, that makes sense. But the Avalanche didn’t blink, pulling off a buzzer-beating deal for Nazem Kadri.
A former Stanley Cup champion with the Avalanche, Kadri left as a free agent following the 2021-22 season to sign with the Calgary Flames. Since his departure, Colorado unsuccessfully tried to fill his role as a top-six playmaker with speed, skill, and a little bit of an edge to his game.
Colorado could have balked at the price and rolled into the playoffs as a team with a shot at the President’s Trophy. Instead, they went for it, acquiring Kadri — Calgary will retain 20% of his salary — and a 2027 fourth-round pick for their 2028 first-round pick, 2027 second-round pick, winger Victor Olofsson, and forward Max Curran.
If you’re a Wild fan, you’d argue that Guerin already made his big move by acquiring Hughes last December. But Minnesota also got a front-row seat to see Kadri’s impact, forcing a turnover that led to a Nathan MacKinnon goal in a 3-2 loss to the Avalanche on Sunday afternoon.
Of course, by saving assets, the Wild can try to pull off a big trade this summer. But that was their plan last year. Minnesota heavily pursued Brock Nelson as a penalty kill and defensive center before the Avalanche acquired him at the deadline. While many believed Guerin would pounce to sign Nelson in free agency, the Avalanche beat them again by signing Nelson to a three-year, $22.5 million extension before the market opened.
Looking at the Wild now, Nelson could have fit in. He has scored 30 goals and 53 points while winning 49.8% of his faceoffs in 61 games this season. Passing on Nelson allowed Guerin to wait until Hughes became available. Still, Minnesota is waiting to fill that role and running into prices you normally see at gas pumps, and may end up empty-handed.
The Wild are going to make the playoffs again, and they’ll have a good shot at getting out of the first round. But they’re also unlikely to be favored for the first time since they had home-ice advantage in a 2021-22 playoff series against the St. Louis Blues. (Also, the Wild lost that series)
For the longest time, the Wild have considered getting out of the first round as a step forward. But with Hughes needing a contract extension and Minnesota potentially needing a big move to keep him around next summer, it would have been the perfect message to go all in, even if it meant overpaying for Trocheck or whoever they deemed to be the missing piece.
It makes the Wild’s trade deadline a success while also being a disappointment that could continue to haunt Guerin and the rest of the franchise when the playoffs roll around.