Normalcy will wait for Wild, Guerin ahead of busy summer

For Wild General Manager Bill Guerin, there's been something normal about the abnormal.
Hired to be the fourth full-time GM in franchise history two years ago in August, Guerin's time in Minnesota has been anything but routine.
He was brought in about a month before the start of training camp for the 2019-20 season. He inherited his predecessor's roster and was able to make some notable changes in-season, but was left little time to make monumental changes to the roster.

About 3/4 of the way through his first campaign with the Wild, COVID-19 hit, the season was halted and his first true offseason was as far from normal as the NHL has seen in recent memory.
As the summer of 2021 begins, it'll again be an adjustment for Guerin and his staff. This offseason won't be a normal one either ... but it'll be a whole heck of a lot closer to normal than either of his first two with the Wild have been, and that's a good thing.
"We just find a new flow, find a new routine," Guerin said. "Plan out meetings, set dates, all that stuff. Check our boxes and just prepare."

That preparation is already well underway.
Despite the fact that the Wild's season ended in Game 7 against the Vegas Golden Knights just three weeks ago, Guerin didn't have much time to settle into the offseason.
In a normal year, there would be around two months between the end of the First Round and the start of the NHL Draft. And about 2 1/2 months before the start of unrestricted free agency.
Those time frames have been cut roughly in half in 2021 ... and, oh yeah, there's an Expansion Draft for the League's 32nd team, the Seattle Kraken mixed in there too.
Budgetary meetings and pro scouting meetings are already in the rearview mirror, and Guerin has commenced contract negotiations with his crop of young and talented restricted free agents, Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Kevin Fiala.
Getting those three under contract are his top offseason priorities, but they are far from his only priorities.
"These things don't just come up after the season ends," Guerin said. "We've planned for each guy. Each guy that needs a contract, we have that planned out. We have it planned out for a couple years and what our cap will look like and who fits in where, who's going to get what, all those things, so it's just a matter of getting the process rolling with the players' agents and hopefully getting things done sooner than later."
Fitting together the puzzle pieces, between getting those three under the salary cap, figuring out expansion, making any potential trades and signing free agents won't be an easy task because they all have ramifications on one another.
As it stands, the Wild has roughly $22 million in salary cap space.
But a big chunk of that will be eaten up by Kaprizov, Fiala and Ek.
After that, Guerin has a couple of options regarding expansion. He can simply acknowledge that he's going to lose a good player and try and remedy that after, or he can make a trade with Kraken GM Ron Francis to dictate which player or players he's going to lose ... like former Wild GM Chuck Fletcher did when he traded Alex Tuch to the Vegas Golden Knights in order for them to select Erik Haula.
The move allowed Fletcher to protect valuable assets on his blue line, and later allowed for additional flexibility when acquiring current Wild forward Marcus Foligno.
Who the Kraken takes will certainly have an effect on the salary cap.
But the Wild may be forced to make other trades or sign additional players to fill that hole.

"We're going to do what we have to do to protect everybody we want to and can and are able to," Guerin said. "Of course, we're going to lose somebody that we like because we like everybody and we're going to do the things that we need to do to preserve what we have here and to make our team better for next year and for the future.
"Side deals are real. I don't know what's going on. I haven't talked to Ron, but I'll talk to him and see what they have going on, what their ideas are for us. But, yeah, there's a lot of planning involved and a lot of strategizing and a lot of going through our options."
Then there is the business of trying to upgrade, both the current roster and the future roster.
Trade speculation is already swirling around the Wild and Guerin has never been shy about swinging a deal with other franchises.
"Like I've said all along, if the right deal comes across the table and it makes sense for our team where we are right now, we'll do it," Guerin said. "If I feel it doesn't make sense, I don't feel it's going to make us better now, or more importantly, in the future, to make us a good team for a long time, then we won't do it."
Minnesota could be in the market for added center depth, but it'll be far from the only team in the marketplace looking for help down the middle.
The evolution of Eriksson Ek is a big development for the Wild, but Minnesota also has pending unrestricted free agents in Nick Bonino and Nick Bjugstad, who each played pivot for the Wild at various points this season.
Victor Rask has one year remaining on his contract before he's scheduled to be a UFA.
Minnesota's No. 9 pick in the draft last fall, Marco Rossi, hasn't played much competitive hockey over the past year because of complications recovering from COVID. Even so, Guerin is in no rush to elevate the 19-year-old to the NHL until he's ready.
"Would we like more depth at center? Of course we would. Do I feel like the guys this year did a good job? No, they did a great job, and we have a couple guys in Kaprizov and Fiala on the wing that drive the offense for the top two lines, Mats] Zuccarello, a winger, drives offense for us, doesn't necessarily have to be the center," Guerin said. "It's not 1986 where wingers go up and down the wall and centers pass them the puck.
"We need centers to play a 200-foot game like Ek does and create offense in his own way. There's a lot of different ways to skin that cat."
Generally speaking, most monumental trades - if there is one coming - are completed by the time the NHL Draft rolls around.
The Wild will be busy at the draft, currently possessing nine picks, including two first-rounders and two third-rounders as a result of trades consummated by Guerin since his arrival.
Minnesota could choose to use all nine picks on prospects, trade some of them to move up in the draft, or deal them for veteran talent to help fill holes.
And after that, unrestricted free agency offers Guerin another opportunity to add talent to the Wild roster.
Signing players to long-term deals in unrestricted free agency rarely works out, but it can be a good way to supplement any short-term holes Guerin can't fill in the next few weeks.
"If you get to free agency, it all depends on the deal that you sign the player to. How much money it is, the term, all those things," Guerin said. "You can also make some big mistakes if get fixated on something and you have to have it and you'll do whatever it takes to get it. Well, there's a good chance you're going to make a mistake.
"We're preparing for that, we're gonna try not to make any mistakes, we're gonna try to do what we really need to do for right now and for long term. I just think the focus on playing as a team is just as important as going out and getting the sexy free agent."
That will make for a busy July for Guerin, who should finally get a chance to breathe by the time the calendar flips to August.
But that breather won't last long.
The back half of the offseason schedule is about six weeks shorter than normal too.
About three months from now, the 2021-22 edition of the Wild will be gathering at TRIA Rink in St. Paul, ready to commence another months-long grind to deliver a Stanley Cup.
If everything goes well, however, that journey will have some much needed normalcy ... for once.
"More than anything I wish the draft was live, but I understand that part of it," Guerin said. "I'd like to have a normal summer. It'll be good. We'll get back to it in September and get back to normal."
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