\n\tIn 2007, Taco Bell tried to open a location in Mexico. It failed again.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tDo you know why Taco Bell failed in Mexico? Because they were bringing fake tacos to Mexico. They have real\u00a0in Mexico. They\u2019re cheap, authentic, and tasty! Taco Bell meat is mostly sand<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \n\tMexico also has plenty of that, except it\u2019s on the beach.\n<\/p>\n \n\tTaco Bell is a tasty snack. It\u2019s fine for a quick dinner if you\u2019re coming home late for work and have a hankering for a Mexican pizza. But it\u2019s not real food.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tLike Taco Bell, the Wild are a good product after sipping on one too many Mich Goldens. However, they\u2019re mostly gritty and coarse. They don\u2019t contain much substance. Still, in an altered state of mind, you can convince yourself they\u2019re contenders.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe Wild would have gotten out of the first round if the St. Louis Blues hadn\u2019t goalie\u2019d them in 2016-17.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tThey were one game\u00a0away from eliminating the Vegas Golden Knights in 2020-21.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tWhat if they just kept the second-round pick and not traded for<\/a> Gustav Nyquist<\/a> at the deadline last year?\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s easy to fall into the trap of doing mental gymnastics to believe that the Wild are a contender. Minnesota deserves one! Where else in the world do 21,000 people gather to watch a high school hockey championship?\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tStill, the Wild are looking like they\u2019re headed for another first-round playoff exit this year. They don\u2019t have<\/a> a No. 1 center. They\u2019ve recently lost to three irrelevant Eastern Conference teams: the Philadelphia Flyers, the New York Rangers, and the Toronto Maple Leafs.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe Chicago Blackhawks beat them in regulation for the first time since 2019. The Tampa Bay Lightning dumped them into the Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n\tBy beating the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars earlier in the season, they told us they could take a game or two in a series. However, by playing down to non-competitive Eastern Conference teams when they should be pushing for home-ice advantage against the Stars, they told us they could easily slip against lesser first-round competition in a better format<\/a>.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tBill Guerin<\/a> likes to emphasize grit\u00a0because you can\u2019t quantify it. Like Taco Bell, his teams are full of sand. He\u2019s using 1990s ideology in the analytics era to cover for his mistakes \u2013 like trading for Calen Addison<\/a> and David Jiricek<\/a>, or not tanking for a No. 1 center. In doing so, he\u2019s encouraging fans to believe his \u201cscrappy\u201d team can win as an underdog.\n<\/p>\n \n\tHowever, the Wild aren\u2019t an underdog. They play in Minnesota! It\u2019s like calling the Detroit Red Wings or Boston Bruins a plucky franchise. The Toronto Maple Leafs, the Montreal Canadiens, and the Vancouver Canucks don\u2019t contend because they\u2019re mismanaged. They have all the resources in the world. People in Canada love hockey!\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe same goes for the Wild.\n<\/p>\n \n\tInstead, Sun Belt teams with better general managers have filled the void<\/a>. Random teams based in Florida and in the desert\u00a0are outwitting the better-supported teams and reaping the benefits.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tTrading for Quinn Hughes<\/a> shouldn\u2019t be an opportunistic attempt to cover for mediocre management. He should be the final piece to a championship team. He moves the puck, but he\u2019s not a No. 1 center. That\u2019s an unfair ask of a defenseman\u00a0who, by the way, can leave<\/a> as a free agent after next season.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tWe can\u2019t quantify grit, but we can measure the Wild\u2019s chances of winning a Cup this year. Per MoneyPuck, they have a 48% chance of advancing to the second round and 23% chance of reaching the Western Conference Finals. That’s the same odds as\u00a0the Anaheim Ducks.\n<\/p>\n \n\t \n\tThe betting markets tell a similar story. Colorado is +300 to win the Stanley Cup, where they\u2019ve been most of the year. Dallas is +1000, and the Edmonton Oilers are +1100 \u2013 they\u2019re fringe contenders. The Wild are +1800. Vegas is giving the Buffalo Sabres\u00a0better odds of winning a championship.\n<\/p>\n \n\t \n\tBill Guerin will have excuses ready if the Wild lose in the first round again. He\u2019ll complain about<\/a> the playoff format and argue the semantics<\/a> of advancing to the second round. He\u2019ll talk up how he can build around Hughes, who might be playing for another team in a year. Guerin will always value \u201cgrit\u201d over skill because you can\u2019t quantify grit, and therefore, hold him accountable for losing in the playoffs.\n<\/p>\n \n\tHe\u2019s trying to sell Taco Bell in Mexico. Don\u2019t buy it! The Wild are a tasty snack, but mostly empty calories; a nice complement to a Mich Golden on a cold winter\u2019s night. But they\u2019re not a contender, and they haven\u2019t ever been under Guerin\u2019s watch.\n<\/p>\n![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/hockeywilderness.com\/uploads\/monthly_2026_03\/Screenshot2026-03-25at2_28_59PM.png.b56a315426c832e0385615da3cc5ec79.png\")
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