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Wild lock up Jared Spurgeon to 7-year contract extension

By Brennen Rupp

TAMPA, FL - MARCH 7: Tyler Johnson #9of the Tampa Bay Lightning against goalie Devan Dubnyk #40 and Jared Spurgeon #46 of the Minnesota Wild at Amalie Arena on March 7, 2019 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Scott Audette/NHLI via Getty Images)"n"n
TAMPA, FL - MARCH 7: Tyler Johnson #9of the Tampa Bay Lightning against goalie Devan Dubnyk #40 and Jared Spurgeon #46 of the Minnesota Wild at Amalie Arena on March 7, 2019 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Scott Audette/NHLI via Getty Images)"n"n /
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When the Minnesota Wild hired Bill Guerin to be the team’s fourth general manager in team history there was one question that everybody wanted to know the answer to. What direction was he going to take? Was he going to tear down the roster and go into a full on rebuild? Or was he going to forge on with the current core and make minor tweaks?

The Jared Spurgeon contract situation was going to give the fanbase a good look into what Guerin was thinking. If he gets a deal done for Spurgeon it meant that he could be opting to forge forward with the current core. No deal likely meant that moves were coming and Spurgeon likely would have been the first one out as the most attractive trade chip Guerin had up his sleeve.

Guerin tipped his hand today as the Wild have signed the talented defenseman to a seven-year, $53.025 million extension. It’s Guerin’s first big move as the Wild general manager and keeps the Wild’s best player in the State of Hockey for the foreseeable future.

“We love Jared,” Guerin said. ‘He’s a homegrown guy. He’s been here for his whole career and we want him to be here his whole career. It was very important for us to get this done.”

In a meeting with the media after the extension was announced Guerin said that getting Spurgeon locked up was his top priority upon coming the general manager for the Wild.

“This was thee priority,” Guerin said. “We are really happy we got it done. He’s excited about it. We’re excited about it. It’s a perfect fit. We didn’t want him going anywhere.”

A word that Wild fans often use to describe Spurgeon is underrated. After a season in which Spurgeon posted career highs in goals (14), assists (29) and points (43) he may be coming a household name. Guerin said that it’s pretty well known around the league what type of player Spurgeon is.

“I think it’s pretty well known around the league what a good player he is,” Guerin said.

With Spurgeon locked up the question now becomes what will be Guerin’s next move? Whatever it is, it’s safe to say that the Guerin era is off to a much better start than the Paul Fenton era.

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