Wild insider: Emptying the notebook after 3 days of exit-meeting availability

ST. PAUL, Minn. — From Sunday to Tuesday, the Minnesota Wild held their end-of-the-season availability, with more than a dozen players speaking to the media, as well as and president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Guerin and coach John Hynes.

As we’ve already covered in those interviews, Marc-Andre Fleury and his teammates spoke about his lasting impact on Wild culture, Kirill Kaprizov addressed his contract situation and Marco Rossi discussed his playoff usage and trade worries.

But there were plenty of interesting news nuggets beyond those headlines.

Guerin has a spot waiting for Fleury

When Fleury returns from the World Championship, Guerin will meet with the retired goaltender about transitioning to work in the organization. Fleury has hinted that he’d like to get into management, and Guerin will likely allow him to experience different facets of the organization, as he has with Alex Goligoski and Derek Stepan.

“I’ll have to try different things, see what (Guerin) has in mind — maybe if he has something for me,” Fleury said. “I know goalies better, but I don’t want to be a coach. I don’t want to do media. No TV — nothing like that. I don’t know if I can help the younger guys, maybe, in some ways that could be fun, too.

“But I think my first thing, though, is I wanna be home more. I want to be there for my kids’ birthdays and school plays and just go walk Halloween with them and stuff like that. That’s my main concern.”

And Guerin appreciates that and wants freshly retired players to get that time with their families.

“I will have a spot for him, and what that is, I’m not sure yet,” Guerin said. “See what direction he wants to go in, but just like we did with Derek Stepan and are doing with Alex Goligoski, these guys are finishing long careers. They need some time. They need some time to decompress and do some dad stuff and husband stuff and just kind of get acclimated a little bit to retirement.

“But kind of being able to dip their toe in because when I went to work for Ray Shero (with the Pittsburgh Penguins), there’s no substitute for hard work, and you have to put the time in. You can’t be on the outside and expect success. You gotta jump right in. So, when these guys are ready, they’ll do it, but, yeah, there’ll be something for Flower.”

Medical, training staff given vote of confidence

Guerin talked about a season of “incredible ups and downs” after being a top-five team for much of the first half and the best team in the league in mid-December, then being impacted severely by injuries that nearly cost them a playoff spot.

Many of these injuries were hard to prevent, like Mats Zuccarello rupturing a testicle after being struck by teammate Brock Faber’s shot, Jared Spurgeon being slew-footed by Zachary L’Heureux, Jonas Brodin blocking Colton Parayko’s shot, Joel Eriksson Ek breaking his nose after getting elbowed by Adam Larsson and routinely breaking bones blocking shots, and Jake Middleton breaking his wrist when struck by Evan Bouchard’s shot.

Nevertheless, because it’s been two straight seasons of the Wild being devastated by injuries, Guerin was asked if he’ll delve into the medical side of the Wild to see if changes should be made.

“I know people say, ‘They’re injured all (the time).’ Alright, well then maybe we’ll have the guys stop blocking shots or training as hard as they do,” Guerin said sarcastically. “I don’t know. I just think it’s been bad luck. This is a hard, fast game. You get injured. I think it’s more impactful, though, because we haven’t had the depth that hopefully we’re going to create here coming up.

“When Ekky gets hurt or Kirill gets hurt, it’s more impactful because there’s not another wave of those guys coming. We couldn’t deflect it. It’s just more important because we didn’t have a ton of those guys. Look, we’ve got great doctors, we’ve got a great training staff. They take care of the players incredibly well. You just can’t uninjure guys. And when you talk about core injuries or freaky ones like Zuccy had, like, what are you going to do? We’ll get Zuccy a bigger cup.”

McLean safe in Iowa

Guerin said there will be no changes on Minnesota’s coaching staff and Iowa coach Brett McLean will return despite the Wild’s AHL affiliate having the third-worst and fourth-worst record in the AHL during his two seasons there.

“Brett is a young coach who still has a ton to learn,” Guerin said. “He is going through the process right now. We’d like to see them have a better year next year. But it is always better to develop through winning. And it’s tough. It’s a good league.

“With all the injuries we had, we take their players. So it is a bit of a trickle-down effect, and that makes it hard on those guys. Not just taking the players we take. But it is hard to have the consistency when you have all these moving parts coming in and out.”

Iowa Wild at a glance in 2024-25

Points: 62 (30th out of 32 teams)
Wins: 27 (30th out of 32 teams)
Goals for: 201 (28th out of 32 teams)
Goals Against: 251 (31st out of 32 teams)
Power Play: 13.8% (32nd out of 32 teams)
Penalty Kill: 73% (32nd out of 32 teams)

— Seth Toupal (@sethtoups) May 6, 2025

Foligno excited for big offseason

Marcus Foligno, who is coming off a strong season offensively and defensively, called this a “big offseason.”

Two years ago, Foligno had offseason core muscle surgery. Last season, he underwent season-ending core muscle surgery on the other side.

“I don’t think I’ve had a full offseason the last two years,” he said. “I’m looking forward to having good training sessions this summer and coming back in better shape and physically and mentally ready to go.

“I’m just happy I got back to where I was a couple of years ago. That power forward style is a big part of my game. Honestly, it was the best hockey, I feel, in my life the past six games. It was a blast to play — just the excitement and to get back into the playoffs brought that excitement back. It fits my style.”

Hartman needs to still be on his best behavior

The way Ryan Hartman played in the playoffs (two goals and six points, plus a potential game-winner overturned due to Gustav Nyquist being offside) might have saved his Wild career. After Hartman’s eight-game suspension, Guerin admitted he was at his wits’ end with the agitator. It sure sounded like he was tired of the antics and was going to look to trade him this offseason.

That may be no longer the case after Hartman proved his worth during the playoffs.

“That is the Ryan Hartman that we need,” Guerin said. “He played incredibly well. Stayed composed and did not give in to the other team trying to push his buttons. He has that ability. We need him to be more like that than the guy who flies off the hammer.

“He has that ability, and I think sometimes he is frustrated with himself and he just blows a gasket. Which I get. But we need the playoff Ryan Hartman more than the other guy.”

Wild plan to sign Wallstedt insurance

The Wild’s planned and probably poorly conceived three-goalie system in 2024-25 didn’t last three games when the Wild got inundated with injuries to Spurgeon, Marcus Johansson and Eriksson Ek.

Jesper Wallstedt didn’t handle being sent to Iowa well, then went through a horrible season (9-14-4, 3.59 goals-against average and .879 save percentage) that included three separate injuries and a needed mental reset.

Wallstedt signed a two-year, $4.4 million, one-way extension before last season that kicks in next year. But he’s no longer a lock to make the team if he doesn’t come to camp and prove he’s ready to be a full-time backup to Filip Gustavsson. This summer, the Wild plan to sign a third goalie whom they can trust to be an NHL backup, Guerin told The Athletic after his news conference.

“It wasn’t the season that we all expected,” Guerin said of Wallstedt. “He is gonna be expected to be in Minnesota and spend some time here to make sure he is in the best possible shape he can be. For me, I believe in Wally, and I know he’s got the talent. He’s just got to fight a little harder when things don’t go his way.

“But I believe in him as a player and as a person. He is going to have to come in and earn a spot on the team just like everybody else.”

Creating a spot for Jiricek

Guerin gave up a haul — a first-, second-, third- and fourth-round pick, plus prospect Daemon Hunt — in the David Jiricek trade with Columbus in November. He scored one goal and one assist in six games in Minnesota and seven assists in 27 games in Iowa before lacerating his spleen.

But when you invest this much in a player, you’d sure better figure out a way to play him.

Faber and Spurgeon are the right-shot defensemen ahead of Jiricek. Does that mean Zach Bogosian, who has a year left on his contract, could be traded or enter next season as the seventh defenseman? Or could Spurgeon, who has two years left on his contract and a 10-team no-trade clause, be traded?

“We wanna see (Jiricek) on this team,” Guerin said. “We’ll have a spot, but how much he plays or where he plays or how high up the lineup he plays, situations, that’s up to him. He’s got to earn it. But we believe in him. He had a crazy year. But his attitude has been amazing.

“We’re just looking forward to him getting healthy and getting back on track. I think he’s gonna spend some time here this summer, which is fantastic because we’ve gotten good results when players do that.”

World Championship participants

The Wild’s World Championship participants will be Fleury and Spurgeon (Canada), Zeev Buium (United States), Brodin and Johansson (Sweden) and David Spacek (Czechia).

(Top photos of David Jiricek and Jesper Wallstedt: Matthew Stockman and Ellen Schmidt / Getty Images)