Minnesota Wild Hire Bill Guerin As GM

The Minnesota Wild have finally found their next general manager.

Michael Russo of The Athletic reported earlier today that the team has hired Penguins assistant GM Bill Guerin. The Wild recently fired Paul Fenton from that position after just 14 months on the job.

For the Penguins, this marks the second assistant GM that has left them to take over their own team. Back in 2017, Jason Botterill was hired away by the Buffalo Sabres to be their GM. Guerin eventually filled that role when Botterill left and was most notable for taking over as GM of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL and was responsible for the development of the players as they made their way up to Pittsburgh.

While Guerin does not have any experience being a full-time GM on the team, there was a lot of confidence that he was on the path towards running his own franchise and he'll take over a Minnesota team that has gone through turmoil in the last 14 months under Fenton.

With Guerin taking the task in Minnesota, he'll have to rescue this team and try to bring it back to prominence. Despite the cracks, the team still has some young talent and veteran talent but have been on shaky ground, going between rebuilding and contending. It has not been a great direction for either.

One of the players that Fenton signed before being fired was Mats Zuccarello to a five-year, $30MM deal. This deal comes with a bit of risk that found its way outside of the playoff race come the end of the last season.

What is more interesting about this hire is that it comes last than a few weeks before training camp is scheduled to open. It is unclear whether or not head coach Bruce Boudreau and the rest of his staff will be around long-term, but my guess is that he will stick around towards the final year of his contract and then Guerin will most likely pick his own guy. Tom Kurvers, who was the interim GM, is most likely to stay in some capacity, though it will not be in some GM role.

There are now three names that I know of that have left the Penguins in the last couple of years that have had mixed success so far. There's Botterill, who left for the Sabres, but has yet to lead them to the playoffs. Then there's Rick Tocchet, who left the Penguins to become head coach of the Arizona Coyotes and have yet to make the playoffs there. Now there's Guerin, who is inheriting a team with a lot of dysfunction in its front office.

It's a smart move for the Wild, because I believe it's time for a guy like Guerin to finally have his own team to run. He's obviously had a lot of success in Pittsburgh, both as a player and then as an executive, so it's clear the Wild need somebody with that role. I believe he will be able to turn around his front office and turn it back into a world-class organization. However, it will take time so I don't expect the Wild to make the playoffs for at least 2-3 seasons. If they can make it in two, that would be great. However, I still see a lot of rebuilding that needs to be done, and I believe Guerin is the guy that can do that and do it well.

The Wild picked the right guy to lead this bunch out of the abyss they're in. As I said, though, it will take a while to bring it back to prominence. At least Guerin knows he has a long road ahead of him with this Minnesota team.