By this time next year, Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin will be mostly free of the cap constraints that came with buying out Ryan Suter's and Zach Parise's contracts three summers ago, but that doesn't mean the executive will sit idle this season.
"We're trying to win," he said Tuesday during an appearance on KFAN FM 100.3. "We've got some salary-cap obstacles, but you know, I think we have performed well under the situation that we put ourselves in. I'm looking forward to it, but ... I'm not like, 'Oh my God, we'll just wait till next (year).' No, we have this year."
The buyouts currently account for $14.74 million in dead cap for the second straight season. In 2025-26, Suter and Parise will combine for just under $1.67 million.
The Wild finished the 2023-24 season with a 39-34-9 record and missed the postseason for the first time since 2019. Despite their ongoing cap issues, Guerin believes Minnesota can be one of the last 16 teams standing come next spring.
"My expectations are to get back into the playoffs and win the Stanley Cup. ... I think there are some teams that are in a rebuild or whatever, but we are not," he said. "The one thing that really hurt us last year were injuries. If we can stay healthy, we can get back to our 100-plus-point seasons and get back into the playoffs and improve on what we've done."
He added, "Players have bad years, coaches get fired, teams miss the playoffs. That happens. The big thing is is that we bounce back."
A handful of key players missed significant time for Minnesota this past season, including captain Jared Spurgeon, forward Marcus Foligno, and rearguard Jonas Brodin.
Guerin also called for more offense from some of his forwards.
"What we need is the guys that scored 10 (goals) but usually score 20 to get back to 20. (Marcus) Johansson's got to have a better year. (Frederick) Gaudreau's got to have a better year. (Matt) Boldy has to have a better start. (Kirill) Kaprizov has to have a better start. (Ryan) Hartman can have a better year. ... Foligno, if he can stay healthy, we need him in the 15-20-goal range," the GM said.
"These are guys you know, if you've done it once, you can do it again. They're capable."
The Wild have had a modest offseason, but it sounds as though the franchise is banking on some of its youngsters taking big steps. Guerin thinks 2022 first-round pick Liam Ohgren can be an "impactful player" this year, while the plan is to get top goalie prospect Jesper Wallstedt into some "more action."
