When Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin pulled the trigger on divorcing from the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter contracts this past summer, he unofficially announced the Wild were heading towards a rebuild.
Why a rebuild?
Minnesota takes a cap hit of $12+ million in 2022, and $15 million for both the ’23 and ’24 seasons . The decision to buy out Parise was an easy one considering his declining performance (averaged only 13:57 minutes per game), and the behind the scenes rift with Wild management (there is no secret that Parise had worn out his welcome).
As a fan, this hurts, but with any divorce, it’s better to think with your head and not your heart. That is what Guerin did.
The Suter buyout did not make as much sense.
From an on ice perspective Suter recorded 19 points (3-16=19) in 56 regular-season games, averaged 22:11 of ice time per game, and finished with a +9 plus/minus rating. Suter was not signed to lead the league in scoring. He was signed to lead the league in ice time and shut down the opposing team’s best lines.
How would @mnwild GM Bill Guerin sum up this philosophy of his team? "In one word, it would be aggressive."
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) February 17, 2022
That goes for their 3rd ranked offense and the moves he's made in creating a Stanley Cup contender. My column on the Wild: https://t.co/OpnoXR1MJx
Why would you cut ties with a solid defenseman and essentially still be on the books for his salary and have to find and pay his replacement? Suter was deemed “uncoachable”. Guerin had enough and decided to say “take whatever you want, we are getting divorced”.
He chose a fresh start and salary cap hell over Suter’s presence in the locker room and having the ability to re-sign the upcoming free agents. With that we say goodbye to the other half of the greatest July 4th in Minnesota sports history. Just like that, both of the saviors were gone, and a new leadership group in the locker room was appointed.
The Wild actually did save money this season, and were subsequently able to keep the franchise’s new face, Kirill Kaprizov (5 year- $45 million), however, the State of Hockey is now facing a state of emergency.
Strapped with the cap hits from Parise and Suter, the Wild are in real trouble next season.
Can the unproven talent that has looked serviceable thus far (Connor Dewar, Brandon Duhaime, and budding super star Matthew Boldy), carry the team moving forward? Or do the Wild need to make more roster moves in order to keep the big ticket names that otherwise might not be around past this season?
Time will tell.
The Wild have roughly $10.3 million in cap space next season for re-signing current stars Kevin Fiala and Kaapo Kahkonen, and the roster upgrades needed.
No team in NHL history has won a Stanley Cup without a No. 1 center and strong goaltending. The Wild possess one of the two and moving forward are going to need to get creative if they are going to seriously take a run at bringing a Stanley Cup parade down West Kellogg Boulevard.
Here are three unpopular roster moves that could help the Wild escape salary cap hell, compete for the Cup, and avoid wasting the best years of Kaprizov’s career.