With Wild energized by Quinn Hughes blockbuster trade, Bill Guerin likely not done
SOURCE:The Athletic|BY:Michael Russo and Joe Smith
Hughes' addition has given the Wild a boost in the room and on the ice, fueling a turnaround that has the team sitting third in the NHL.
ANAHEIM, Calif. — The moment Kirill Kaprizov passed that puck to Quinn Hughes on Saturday night, he knew exactly where it was going: right to Matt Boldy for a tic-tac-toe overtime winner before the Winnipeg Jets could even blink.
“It’s like we think the same,” a jovial Kaprizov said during a long, laid-back interview with The Athletic after practice a few days ago in San Jose. “Quinn knew what to do.”
That Kaprizov-to-Hughes-to-Boldy goal, on which the three were on the same wavelength and it ended with the quick release off Boldy’s lethal blade, was exactly what Bill Guerin envisioned, not just for the now, but also for many years to come, the moment he pulled the lever and traded four massive pieces — Marco Rossi, Zeev Buium, Liam Ohgren and a 2026 first-rounder — for the 2024 Norris Trophy winner in a Dec. 12 blockbuster that shocked the hockey world.
“Those guys play hockey at a high level,” Guerin said. “It’s just different. Kirill, Quinn, Bolds, intellectually and skill-wise, they think and play at the same level.”
The Wild are 7-1-2 since the Hughes trade — 6-1-2 with him in the lineup, scoring at least five goals in five of those games — and it’s provided a jolt for a team that has gone from near the Western Conference cellar to third-best in the NHL with a 21-4-4 run heading into the start of the second half Friday night against the Ducks.
This is a stark contrast from the “mellow and vanilla” group that won three of its first 12 games. It feels like a completely different team.
The Hughes trade has provided the excitement inside the room that Guerin dreamed of the moment Kaprizov texted him after the trade with a simple, “Wow!!!”
Kaprizov’s recent bright and sunny mood has been emblematic of exactly what he feels.
“Quinn is so good,” Kaprizov said in San Jose. “Playing against him and watching him on TV, I knew how good he was offensively, the way he can make plays and get the puck out. But I didn’t know how good he was defensively. I just love it.”
That was evident a few days earlier, after the morning skate in Las Vegas, when Kaprizov and Hughes were stall mates. Watching the two chumming it up and seeing how much Kaprizov was laughing and genuinely enjoying the conversation, it was obvious how tight they are becoming.
There’s mutual respect there. Kaprizov loves having another upper-echelon player around, feels he can win with Hughes and loves getting to know him.
“I love that he lives in my building (in Minnesota),” Kaprizov said. “It’s nice to have somebody back there after (Marat Khusnutdinov was traded). It’s nice to have somebody to do stuff with and go to dinners and talk about things, like hockey and life.”
As Guerin put it after signing Kaprizov to the record extension in September, “Great players like to play with great players.”
But it’s not just Kaprizov. The fans have been patient. The players have been patient, and Guerin has been just waiting to pounce.
“In fairness to (the players), they’ve been dying for this,” Guerin said. “They’ve been super patient. They’ve understood the road that we went down and our journey, but they’ve been waiting for something like this, and they’re so excited because they know that we believe in them and they know that they can do something special.”
But at the start of the season, when the Wild won three of their first 12 games, Guerin was not happy. In fact, a few days before Jared Spurgeon’s Halloween morning players-only meeting that has largely been credited with turning the season around, Guerin called Spurgeon and Marcus Foligno and met individually with Kaprizov. He also held some meetings with a few other unidentified players at which he pretty much threw down the gauntlet and insinuated big changes could be coming — changes that did not include firing head coach John Hynes.
Guerin insisted at the time that he wasn’t nervous and that the issues were “fixable” and they’d get through this together.
“I’ll tell ya, I was confused,” Guerin said. “I was very clear with the guys: ‘I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s going to go one of two ways. If you want help, there’s a way to get it. But if you’re not going to do yourselves any favors, then we have a business to run, too.’
“They were fantastic. I talked to a couple of the guys in my office, and we had a very up-front conversation.”
The fact the Wild’s veteran core stepped up and rewarded Guerin’s faith also gives him motivation to put them further into “serious contender” category.
You can bet Guerin isn’t done.
Think of this logically: Just like the fans, just like his players, Guerin is tired of waiting. The four-year window of buyout pain is over, the Wild just made Kaprizov the highest-paid player in NHL history starting next season when he’s 29, Boldy is on the verge of stardom, Joel Eriksson Ek is one of the best net-front guys in the NHL, Brock Faber is on the rise, and they have two elite goalies.
You don’t move four huge pieces to get Hughes, who is unsigned past next season, if you’re not trying to win right now.
So Guerin’s not messing around. He almost certainly wants to and plans to take one more big swing, probably for a center, and likely use more picks and prospects to do so. While it might be scary to consider mortgaging more of the future, the reality is that those picks and prospects were accumulated not just for potentially the future, but also to use them as assets if possible once Guerin felt they had the ability to create a championship team. When asked after the Hughes blockbuster if he has enough assets to make another move, Guerin said, “We can do stuff.”
So whether it’s today, tomorrow, next week or next month, Guerin will be on the prowl for what’s next.
For the record, Guerin simply said, “We’re always looking. I always want to get better, and if there’s something we can do, then yeah, we’ll do it.”
Most NHL teams are preparing for their midseason scouting and front office meetings in the middle of this month. Typically, after that is when teams become ready to make moves, so you can bet Guerin will be trying in the days before and after the Feb. 4 (2 p.m. CT) to Feb. 22 (10:59 p.m. CT) Olympic trade freeze and in advance of the March 6 (2 p.m. CT) trade deadline.
This also gives the team time to see just how good it can become with Hughes as a catalyst on the back end and the power play. As well as Hughes has already meshed with the group, including Boldy and Kaprizov, he feels they’re just scratching the surface.
#mnwild defenseman Quinn Hughes (0-3=3) recorded his 27th career three-assist game and passed Gary Suter for the third most by an American defenseman. He trails Brian Leetch (40) and Phil Housley (34).
“I think we’re just getting going, though,” Hughes said. “You watch (Cale) Makar and (Nathan) MacKinnon and those guys, how they snap it around on their power play. We’re not there right now. They’ve been together for seven years. They know how each other thinks and where each other likes the puck. I don’t know — it won’t take us seven years. It’ll take us a couple games. Just continue to understand each other. That’s what we’ve been preaching the whole time. Even though you’re sitting there and wanting it to happen right now.”
Here’s a look back at the first half:
Even when Minnesota was going through its most difficult times, Matt Boldy was a rare bright spot. (Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
Team MVP
In most years, this is an easy one: Kaprizov. He’s the Wild’s first superstar, their engine, their leader in OT winners. But while Kaprizov has been very good and is second on the team with 23 goals, Boldy — especially lately — has been their most valuable and most consistent player this season. Even when Minnesota was going through its most difficult times, Boldy was a rare bright spot.
Boldy has a team-leading 25 goals, with 47 points in 41 games, a plus-16. There have been several clutch moments, most recently the OT winner against Winnipeg. He’s been a key cog on the penalty kill, which has made improvements over recent seasons. And Boldy has done all this while mostly playing on the team’s shutdown line with Eriksson Ek and Marcus Johansson, who has been sensational.
Turning point
When things were going back south, it was Spurgeon who decided the night after an Oct. 30 loss to Pittsburgh to hold a meeting the next day. It was well thought out and substantive, and as it turns out, healthy and a huge catalyst for the complete about-face.
“I think the timing was good,” Hynes said. “I would say this, the whole group, when we’re going through it, it was pretty steadying. Like it wasn’t like behind the scenes, there was a bunch of yelling, screaming. There were some meetings. There were some individual meetings. How are we going to get through this together? How are we going to do this the right way?
“And I just think eventually, you know, Spurgeon, the leaders, were like, ‘Listen, we can be better. We know we can be better.’ So I think the timing was right, the planning was right out of it, and I think it had some substance to it.
“It wasn’t like a knee-jerk reaction, yeah, ‘Let’s have a meeting and let’s do this or that.’ It was some stuff the guys were able to talk about together, and whether guys are putting too much pressure on themselves or trying to do too much, or whatever it might be — I don’t know everything that was said, but I do think it was a factor in getting going.”
Throughout the time, the one player who maintained confidence that the Wild had a good team and would get out of it was Boldy.
“It was always greener grass,” Boldy said. “I think the guys we have in this room, I think, was the biggest thing. The group of guys we have, how much guys want to win and how competitive they are, that’s the biggest thing. So knowing the character we had and the people in here was what kind of kept us positive.
“Sometimes (meetings) work, sometimes they don’t. I think it comes down to the people in the locker room. Are people going to take it seriously or are they not? But like I said, it’s the people in this room that make us a good team and the character that everyone has. So it’s not easy to go into a room and talk to each other and figure out what’s wrong and be able to accept it and go make changes you have to. But we love each other, and we aired it out, and we’ve made the changes we had to.”
One of the biggest reasons for the Wild’s turnaround has been their goaltending. (Stephen R. Sylvanie / Imagn Images)
Biggest surprise
Danila Yurov’s emergence from an early-season healthy scratch to the Wild’s No. 1 center has certainly been a big one — the Russian rookie has helped the Wild feel comfortable in moving Rossi in the Hughes deal.
But one of the biggest reasons for the Wild’s turnaround has been their goaltending. Jesper Wallstedt has been one of the best goalies in the league, making a dramatic turnaround from last season’s low point in his career with AHL Iowa. Filip Gustavsson, who entered the season as the “clear cut No. 1,” according to Guerin, has taken his game up another level as he’s split the net in a rotation with Wallstedt.
It’s not that the two Swedes were bad in the first month; they just weren’t as good as they needed to be. You could argue that in 11 of the first 12 games of the season, at least based on analytics, the Wild had the second-best goalie on the ice. The Wild were tied for 29th in the league in goals against in October at 3.92. As Hynes put it, it was more that the Wild needed one more big save in a game that could have made a difference. Now they’re getting that, and more.
The Wild’s team save percentage has elevated to second-best in the NHL (.913) thanks to Wallstedt going 10-2-1 since Nov. 6 with a 1.90 goals-against average and .941 save percentage and Gustavsson going 11-2-3 since Nov. 1 with a 1.98 goals-against average and .925 save percentage.
Key questions
There’s no such thing as a perfect team — well, the Avalanche seem pretty close this season. But the Wild still have some needs they could fill ahead of the trade deadline. It just feels as if they’re another center away from being a stronger contender, especially in the meat grinder of the Central Division/Western Conference. Yurov’s play has been promising, Eriksson Ek is a strong shutdown center, and Nico Sturm is a two-time Cup champion and ideal 4C. What the Wild could really use — if they do make the big swing that Guerin is open to — is finding a center who can play on the top line with Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello. Ryan O’Reilly is someone the Wild are likely to at least pursue, if the Predators consider moving the 2019 Conn Smythe winner.
O’Reilly would help one of the Wild’s never-ending weaknesses – faceoffs, where they rank 28th in the league with a 46.6 percent success rate.
While the power play should get better as the team gains chemistry with Hughes, another oddity the Wild must figure out is their penalty kill at home. They are tied for the best in the league on the road, where the Wild have won nine of their past 12 games, giving up six goals on 46 chances (86.9 percent), yet at home they’re ranked last (17 goals on 53 chances, 67.9 percent).
“I think we’re in a good spot,” Zuccarello said. “We want to keep progressing and become a better team, and we’re fighting for playoffs until we get there. We can’t rest. It’s a tough league. Everyone counted out Buffalo and now they won nine in a row (10 after Wednesday). Anything can happen. Just enjoy the new year right now with the team with the dinner (Wednesday night) and day off (Thursday), then we got some important games coming up.”
Added Foligno, “The mentality now is we need to do more. We need to keep rising. It’s not, ‘Hey, good job, we got out of the basement.’ We gotta keep raising our game and doing everything perfect. We brought in a guy like Quinn Hughes for a reason, and the bar needs to keep raising here. That’s the mentality. We don’t want to be a team that just gets in. Realistic or not, you’re trying to aim to be first in your division, first in your conference. That’s the mentality in this room.”
Colorado and its two regulation losses probably have something to say about that, but you get Foligno’s point.
Prospect/asset watch
For Guerin to make another significant move in advance of the March 6 deadline, he’s going to need to dip further into the team’s prospect pool. That group is already depleted a good amount after last season’s David Jiricek trade and the Hughes trade, with Buium and Ohgren sent to Vancouver, along with a graduated prospect in Rossi and a first-round pick.
So what does Minnesota have left? If you were to re-rank the Wild’s system, it’d probably be Wallstedt, Yurov as the top two (though they’re full-time NHLers now). Right behind them would be Charlie Stramel, who is having a really strong season with Michigan State (10 goals, 23 points in 18 games and just named MVP of the Great Lakes Invitational). Jiricek, the No. 6 pick in 2022, would still have value if the Wild consider moving him after giving up a haul to get him in November 2024. Adam Benak has been terrific in his first year in the OHL with Brantford (43 points in 26 games). There’s also Riley Heidt and Hunter Haight in AHL Iowa, and Ryder Ritchie at Boston University. It’s hard to imagine the Wild parting with Wallstedt, who sure looks like the “goalie of the future” label he’s been tabbed with since he was a first-round pick. Of course, they have Gustavsson locked up, and this is a general manager who just parted with Buium, who most felt was untouchable.
Guerin can also dangle the 2027 first-round pick, which could mean three consecutive years of first-round picks dealt.
The good news for the Wild is they have cap space, an estimated $12.9 million of deadline cap space, according to PuckPedia. From a big-picture perspective, they have Kaprizov’s $17 million average annual value extension kicking in after this season and, they hope, an extension for Hughes starting in 2027.
