Mizutani: Bill Guerin built the Wild his way and he deserves his flowers

The celebration from general manager Bill Guerin was rather subdued after the Wild earned a 5-2 win over the Dallas Stars on Thursday night at Grand Casino Arena to advance to the second round for the first time in more than a decade.

As a multiple time Stanley Cup champion himself, Guerin understands better than most that this was only the first step in a journey that will require so much more blood, so much more sweat and so much more tears.

That said, Guerin seemed to briefly let himself soak in the moment when the final buzzer sounded, watching proudly from his perch in the press box as the Wild celebrated the series win at center ice while the home crowd let out a cathartic roar. It was the type of euphoria that he has been chasing since he arrived in Minnesota.

The most impressive part about Guerin building a legitimate Stanley Cup contender is that he continued to stay aggressive as he completely revamped the roster. He has almost been stubborn as he has remained steadfast in the belief of his vision. He deserves his flowers for that.

The process of Guerin putting his fingerprints on the roster started to unfold about a year and a half after he was hired to help get the Wild over the hump. He named veteran defenseman Jared Spurgeon the captain in January 2021 rather than promoting star winger Zach Parise and star defenseman Ryan Suter.

That might as well have been a shot across the bow, in hindsight, because after watching the Wild bow out in the first round of the playoffs once again, Guerin shocked the world in July 2021 by buying out Parise and Suter. He was willing to stomach that it was going to put the Wild in salary cap hell for the foreseeable future. That’s how much Guerin believed the Wild needed to turn the page on Parise and Suter for good.

It’s probably not a coincidence that the Wild flourished the following campaign without Parise and Suter on the roster. They finished with a franchise record 113 points in the standings, and while it resulted in another early exit in the first round of the playoffs, it finally felt like the Wild were headed in the right direction.

That was a turning point, and it coincided with Guerin making some of his biggest moves to date. He acquired future hall of fame goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury for a draft pick in March 2022, young defenseman for dynamic winger in June 2022, and unproven goaltender for veteran goaltender in July 2022. Those deals were all viewed as questionable in real time and have worked out better than anybody could’ve ever imagined.