Bill Guerin set to shock fans with first trade as Wild GM!

The Wild has just won four of their last 13 outings since the start of the season, and we bet new general manager Bill Guerin is wondering what will be his first blockbuster move in Minnesota. 

In mid-October the Wild was handed another loss, NHL insider Pierre LeBrun revealed on TSN that Guerin was not looking to press the panic button just yet. 

“The patience level’s pretty high with new GM Bill Guerin. It’s already led to some speculation, obviously, [about] Bruce Boudreau’s future and it makes sense. I mean, he’s a coach that’s been inherited by a new GM. He’s been there awhile. His contract as a coach is done at the end of the year. He has a couple of years tacked onto that as a consultant, but the guy wants to coach. So, all of the elements are there where you understand the speculation. But, in speaking with Bill Guerin on Tuesday, he said, listen, I respect Bruce Boudreau. I’m going to be patient here. When he says patient, he means not just with him but with the entire roster before he starts making big changes. To me, I don’t see anything happening there imminently in terms of the head coach.”

Now two weeks after this information, it feels like a button might be pushed soon and Joey Alfieri of NBC Sports believes it might get done on the trade front. 

Alfieri names a surprise trade target that Guerin might be looking to send elsewhere for an important return in young talents. It is believed that veteran forward Eric Staal could be on the move. 

“This one might be out of left field, but the Wild are old and they aren’t very good. Staal is now 35 years old, he’s picked up a respectable nine points in 13 games and he has this year and next year remaining on his affordable contract that comes with a $3.25 million cap hit. Staal doesn’t have any trade protection, so there’s a chance he could be on the move. Finding a big center that can score roughly 50 points in a season isn’t easy no matter how old they are. If the Wild make him available, teams would come calling.”

No teams have been linked to Staal yet, but we could see a club getting interested in acquiring his services. 

After a tough start to the season, Staal has come on strong over the past week. He has tallied four goals and two assists in his past four games after adding a goal and an assist during the Wild’s 6-3 heartbreaking loss to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday.

He is on show and teams will come calling!