The Bill Guerin era is officially upon us. On Thursday the Minnesota Wild held a press conference to officially announce the hiring of the fourth general manager in franchise history.
“This is a team that can make the playoffs,” owner, Craig Leipold said. “As we went through this process we learned a lot about our team…Billy is excited about this team. You could feel the passion for coming into this market and being the general manager.”
Guerin was in the running to become the general manager last year when the Wild were going through the interview process. It was clear in the press conference that The State of Hockey is a place where he thinks he can succeed as a first-time general manager.
“Who wouldn’t want this job? There is everything here to win. Everything,” Guerin said. “I’ve seen it as a player. I’ve seen it in management…Everything is here…We have a committed owner. We have a great fanbase here…We have a good team. This is a good team. My job is to make it better.”
It may have all been smoke and mirrors, but the new general manager mentioned multiple times in the 28 minute press conference that he believes they have a good hockey time on their hands. O
“Take a step back and you look at the names,” Guerin said. “There are good players. We have a lot of good hockey players…I think if you look at the past 10 years of what’s gone on in Minnesota, they are consistently a playoff team. We missed last year. That happens to the best of teams…We have a coach that’s won a ton of games. We got Stanley Cup winners…I’m confident that this group is going to bounce back.”
Those players that are candidates to bounce back are, Jason Zucker and Eric Staal. Zucker is coming off a solid 42 point season for the Wild. He scored 21 goals and recorded 21 assists. The Wild are expecting a version of Zucker more in line with his performance from the 2017-2018 campaign. That season he had a career-year, posting a career-high 64 points, with 33 goals and 31 assists, both of which were career-highs. Staal’s 22 goals and 52 points were the lowest of his Wild tenure. Expect Staal to post near the 30 goal mark this season and once again have another 30 or more assists.
Guerin’s predecessor was not big on analytics and tore down the analytics department before his firing. It sounds like Guerin does not share in the previous general manager’s disdain for the analytics department.
“I think it’s great,” Guerin said. “I’m all in with it. I can’t do the reports myself…It’s another way to look at whats going on…the more information you have the better.”
The timing of Paul Fenton’s firing was less than ideal, with the start of training camp so close. However, these are exciting times for the Wild as they start a new era. Guerin brings a winning pedigree to the franchise. He’s won two Stanley Cups as a player and he’s been apart of two more as a member in the front office. Now it’s all about chasing that fifth one as the general manager of the Minnesota Wild.