Welcome, once again, to a new edition of the THN Hot Seat, a continuing series of THN.com columns in which we identify a member of each NHL organization who will face massive pressure during the 2022-23 season. The person we identify as being on the Hot Seat will be an NHL player, head coach, GM, or franchise owner. In this edition, we’re breaking down the Minnesota Wild.
WILD HOT SEAT: BILL GUERIN, GENERAL MANAGER
WHY: It’s well known by now that Guerin and Wild ownership took an incredible gamble in July of last summer when the team bought out the final four seasons of the contracts of star veterans Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. The unexpected move gave Minnesota wiggle room in the 2021-22 season, but there was a looming ricochet that would begin in the 2022-23 campaign, with a combined dead salary cap hit of $14.743 million for two consecutive seasons.
A clear and shocking: Minnesota Wild announced two more departures just now
The result was a fairly successful regular season last year, but the Wild failed to move beyond the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. And here we are now, with the day of reckoning here for Minnesota’s cap situation. The reduction in allowable payroll cost the services of star winger Kevin Fiala, who was traded this summer to the L.A. Kings in return for Minnesota-area prospect Brock Faber and L.A.’s first-round pick in the 2022 NHL entry draft.
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