Wild 'definitely looking to get better' ahead of Trade Deadline, GM says

TORONTO -- The Minnesota Wild could be active ahead of the NHL Trade Deadline at 3 p.m. Friday but are reluctant to surrender first-round picks to make that happen unless it makes sense, general manager Bill Guerin said.

"Our group's playing pretty well right now. And I guess if something is logical to us, or we don't have to disrupt the chemistry of the group, we'll definitely look at doing something," he told NHL.com.
"We're definitely looking to get better. I mean, that's the idea. We're not looking to weaken our team, by any stretch, but we're open to a whole bunch of different ideas."
The Wild acquired forward Marcus Johansson from the Washington Capitals for a third-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, and forward Gustav Nyquist from the Columbus Blue Jackets for a fifth-round selection in the 2023 NHL Draft on Tuesday.
Minnesota (34-21-6) is 7-1-2 in its past 10 games and second in the Central Division, one point behind the first-place Dallas Stars following a 2-1 shootout win against the New York Islanders at Xcel Energy Center on Tuesday.
RELATED: [2022-23 NHL Trade Tracker | Johansson traded to Wild by Capitals]
In a wide-ranging interview with NHL.com, Guerin opened up about the state of the Wild, why the team acted as a third party in trades by the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs to help the salary cap crunch for those teams and why so many Eastern Conference teams are loading up ahead of the deadline.
First off, your team has been playing well of late. If prices are too high, how would you feel if you went forward with the roster you have now?
"I like the way we're playing. You know, I think the one thing that I can say about our team, is they play hard every night. You're not going to get a perfect game every night. We're not going to score six goals every night. Our guys will compete every single night and that to me is the first step in creating something special. And that just trickles down through the whole organization. Dean (coach Evason) has done a great job behind the bench as has the whole coaching staff. The core players that have been here for a long time like Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin and Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Foligno, they're really pushing and really leading the way with this stuff. And it's good to see younger guys like Mason Shaw and Connor Dewar and Brandon Duhaime are really starting to contribute. And that's what we need."
You acquired the Maple Leafs' fourth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft and the rights to forward prospect Josh Pillar in the three-team deal that eventually sent forwards Ryan O'Reilly and Noel Acciari to Toronto from St. Louis on Feb. 18. You then received Boston's fifth-round pick in this year's draft and sent forward prospect Andrei Svetlakov to the Bruins as part of the three-team trade where defenseman Dmitry Orlov and forward Garnet Hathaway moved from Washington to Boston. In both cases, you picked up 25% of the remaining salaries of O'Reilly and Orlov so that Toronto and Boston could get under the salary cap. You used your salary cap room to be a third party financial broker both times. What was the thinking here?
"We feel like we got good value for the money, the actual cash that we put out. Neither of the deals, or both of them combined, have taken us out of anything that we want to do at the trade deadline. We have plenty of cap space and it just gives us more assets to deal with. A lot of credit to our assistant GM, Chris O'Hearn. He's the one that brokered those deals and did all the leg work. I've been patting him on the back too much lately. No, joking aside, he deserves a lot of credit."
A lot of teams have been making their moves early. The Islanders picked up Bo Horvat, the New York Rangers got Vladimir Tarasenko and we already discussed the moves made by the Maple Leafs and Bruins. Do you think there is value in making deals way ahead of the deadline if you're able to? Do you see a trend here?
"Yeah. And I I tend to believe in that. I mean, I like to try to go a little bit earlier. That's not to say that we won't do something on deadline day like we did last year. We did. I think I made three deals on that day. But I think the longer you can give a player to adjust to his new surroundings and his new teammates and the new city that he's in, the better. Because it's hard. It's hard to adjust to all that stuff while being expected to perform."
Finally, we discussed how teams in the East have been active. Add Timo Meier to the New Jersey Devils. What's your impression of all these teams in the East?
"They've been loading up. I mean, this is going to be Armageddon. It's like they're all going for it which is great. I know it's not our conference. You know what, though? It's great to see. You have three Original Six teams that are competing and feel like they have a shot. They're going for it, they're big markets, and I think it's great for the game."