Bill Guerin suggests Wild's issues need to be fixed internally, not with trades
The Minnesota Wild is currently in a playoff spot, but after losing six of their past eight games, they look like they need some help.
Minnesota is currently tied with the Colorado Avalanche for third place in the Central Division and the Calgary Flames for the final Wild Card spot. In previous years, this situation would lend itself to a deal at the trade deadline to boost their hopes of a postseason run, but according to general manager Bill Guerin, the Wild's issues may need to be fixed internally.
"I don't think there's a trade out there that can fix exactly what's going on," Guerin said on an episode of SKOR North's "Judd's Hockey Show" earlier this week. "What is going on needs to be handled internally. Nothing's coming from the outside and [going to] snap your fingers and...it's all fixed. This has to be taken care of internally."
One of the Wild's biggest issues at the moment is scoring goals. After ranking fifth with 305 goals last season, Minnesota ranks 22nd with 151 goals scored this year. The scoring woes have intensified during the Wild's cold streak as they have one 5-on-5 goal since a win over the Arizona Coyotes on Jan. 14.
A big reason for this has been the regression of several key players. Ryan Hartman and Marcus Foligno combined for 57 goals and 107 points last year but have just nine goals and 30 points this season.
While Hartman's pectoral injury earlier this season has limited him to 29 games, regression is something the Wild should have seen coming. Prior to last season, when he scored a career-high 34 goals and recorded 65 points, Hartman's previous career highs were 19 goals (2016-17) and 31 points (2016-17, 2017-18).
Foligno has had a similar trajectory, with the 31-year-old scoring 23 goals and recording 42 points last season, but had previous career highs of 13 goals (2016-17) and 23 points (three times).
Perhaps an even bigger indication of regression was the duo's shooting percentage. Hartman shot a career-high 14.2 percent last season despite a 10.2 percent clip over his nine-year career. Foligno led the NHL with a career-high 23.5 percent rate last year but shot 13.3 percent over his 12-year career.
This season, Hartman is shooting 7.0 percent while Foligno is shooting 7.3 percent.
Guerin didn't mention names but noted that some players had tailed off from last year's production. While that's the case, he still believes that some of those players can contribute down the stretch.
"A lot of guys last year had career years [but] we're not looking for that," Guerin said. "That's too much to ask for. Everybody has one of those years, but we can get a little more from everybody."
Guerin went on to mention that this year's team is different than last year's because of their scoring issues, but there was still more to like.
"We're big and we can play with speed," Guerin said. "We can play it any way you want to play it. We have good goaltending. We have good defensemen. The one thing that everybody's talking about is [that] we're struggling to score goals and that's the biggest thing that we've missed from this year to last year, but I think there's a lot more to what this team can deliver and to be quite frank, we're going to have to do more."
Despite Guerin's claims, there are other issues that may not be fixed with a trade. The blue line has been inconsistent throughout the season as several players haven't lived up to the level of play they had one year ago.
Jared Spurgeon's plus-minus rating has dropped from +32 last year to +16 this year. Jonas Brodin has just eight points (2 G, 6 A) in 43 games. Calen Addison has 25 points (3 G, 22 A) but a -18 plus-minus rating in 50 games. Even Matt Dumba, who has been seemingly untouchable in trade talks throughout his career, was benched for a pair of games last month.
This has Wild fans eagerly awaiting the day that current Gophers captain and Wild prospect Brock Faber makes his debut, but there are several other prospects that could make their way up I-35 in the coming weeks.
One of those prospects is Marco Rossi, who has 27 points in 28 games in Iowa and has put up 11 points in his past 10 games. The ninth overall pick of the 2020 draft didn't record a single point in his 16 games with the Wild to open the season, but the Wild haven't been able to find a No. 1 center spot since.
Sam Steel initially replaced Hartman on the top line when he was injured but hasn't recorded a point since Jan. 14. Frederick Gaudreau has just one point since Jan. 17. Although Joel Eriksson Ek has 43 points (19 G, 24 A) in 51 games, the Wild have been reluctant to place him on the top line between Mats Zuccarello and Kirill Kaprizov.
Still, Guerin says there currently isn't a roster spot for Rossi.
"I'm not going to bring him in here to save the day," Guerin said. "You can't do that. That's too much pressure to put on a kid and it's not going to happen. But that doesn't mean that somewhere down the line, he doesn't come back up and contribute."
Rossi's stint in the minors has increased speculation that the Wild could make a big move at the deadline but to Guerin's credit, no trade is going to solve all of the Wild's problems.
Those types of trades were the ones that Chuck Fletcher made routinely during his tenure with the Wild, giving up prospects and draft picks in exchange for Johnny Pominville, Matt Moulson and Martin Hanzal. Those deals eventually got Fletcher fired and stripped the Wild of depth in their minor league system, but Guerin along with Director of Amateur Scouting Judd Brackett have built the Wild into The Athletic's top-ranked organization in the NHL.
"I'm very protective over it," Guerin said of his wealth of prospects which includes goalie Jesper Wallstedt, Rossi and fellow center Liam Öhgren. "These young players that we're talking about are a big part of the future. We have to protect it and it's not that we don't want to give away our picks, it's just that maybe the timing isn't right. Maybe we have to wait a couple of years to do that."
With the Wild still slated to incur a cap penalty of over $14 million the next two seasons due to the buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, it wouldn't be wise to make deals involving prospects to make a run at a first-round playoff victory.
That makes this an interesting deadline for the Wild and one where it's probably best to let their young players develop, allow the team to run its course and adjust in the offseason.
