A team's correct course of action at a trade deadline might never have been so obvious as it was for the Wild this week.
Wild's lack of scoring made it easy for GM Bill Guerin to pull off two trades
Their recent results and clear offensive deficiencies gave Guerin a clear directive, which he followed through on Tuesday. Now the question: Is there more to come?
March 1, 2023 at 6:29PM
For that, General Manager Bill Guerin should thank his players — and they, in turn, should thank him for executing the game plan with two trades Tuesday, as predictable as the moves were.
The Wild approached the deadline with an obvious goal-scoring deficiency coupled with a stingy presence on defense and in goal lately.
They had been winning enough to become firmly entrenched in the playoff race. But the way they had been winning told as much of the story as the results.
In their last 10 games, the Wild have gone to overtime six times. They have points in all but one game in that span. They have not allowed more than three goals in any game, and they have scored four goals just once.
They are a team with some short-term salary cap space, but not one that could take on big long-term contracts (because of the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts) nor one that was in a spot to mortgage the future (because their best chance to win a championship is likely in the future and not the present). Their ceiling this year might be winning one playoff series, but there is still value in that.
All of that made Guerin's course of action very easy, as I talked about on Wednesday's Daily Delivery podcast.
And yes, give Guerin credit for following the obvious trail of bread crumbs and making two deals for offense Tuesday: trading a third-round pick for Marcus Johansson and a fifth-rounder for Gustav Nyquist, a pair of medium-leverage moves that hardly salvage the future but potentially help a goal-starved forward group.
Nyquist is injured and might not help until (if) the Wild reach the playoffs. Johansson figures to slot into a top-nine forward role, perhaps on the second line on the wing opposite Matt Boldy as early as Thursday.
The dealing might not be done, but any other move figures to be along a similar trajectory. "We won't waver from our plan," Guerin said.
Guerin had hinted at the plan earlier in the week, then put it into action. What's obvious isn't always what's correct, but in this case it certainly was.
When he was hired after the disastrous 2016 season to reshape the Twins, Derek Falvey brought a reputation for identifying and developing pitching talent. It took a while, but the pipeline we were promised is now materializing.
