Safe to say, things didn’t go as planned.

Maroon departed Minnesota on Friday in one of three trades that didn’t signal a fire sale as much as a soft surrender in a disappointing season. Guerin dealt Brandon Duhaime to the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday, getting a 2026 third-round pick for a bottom-six winger who will be an unrestricted free agent after the season.

Maroon, who remains sidelined following back surgery in early February and is expected back near the end of March, was shipped to Boston for a conditional 2026 draft pick (he has to play in a playoff game for the Wild to get it) and minor league forward Luke Toporowski.

Guerin’s final deal sent bottom-six center Connor Dewar, a pending restricted free agent, to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a 2026 fourth-round draft pick and minor leaguer Dmitry Ovchinnikov. Dewar, Duhaime and Maroon had combined for 18 goals and 38 points and Duhaime had only four goals and eight points in 62 games.

The departures, especially those of Dewy 1 (Duhaime) and Dewy 2 (Dewar), were because Guerin didn’t plan to bring back Duhaime and he also wanted to clear room on the roster for guys like Russian forward Marat Khusnutdinov, who left his KHL team and reportedly will join the Wild in the coming days.

“It’s not great,” Guerin told the Athletic, of being a seller. “To be honest with you, it’s not great. You say goodbye to some guys you really care about and did great things. They played hard for us, and they sacrificed a lot. So to just move guys, it’s not great. I’d rather add. But we’re just not there.”

He’s right about that.

Contract extensions handcuff trades
The Wild’s win over bottom-feeder Arizona on Thursday, which followed a victory over bottom-feeder San Jose on Sunday, put Minnesota seven points out of a wild card spot in the Western Conference with 19 games remaining in the regular season.

What was interesting about Guerin’s comments on being a seller was the fact he could have put himself in a position to make more trades, if not for some decisions made last spring and summer. That was when Guerin decided to give out contract extensions to five veterans.

That list included forwards Mats Zuccarello, Marcus Foligno, Ryan Hartman, Marcus Johansson and Freddy Gaudreau, who not only got extensions but also have trade protection in their deals. All five wouldn’t have been shopped, but a couple certainly would have been prime candidates to move to a Cup contender.

Guerin added to the list of veterans to get extensions this week by signing 33-year-old defenseman Zach Bogosian to a two-year, $2.5 million contract. This one reportedly did not come with any type of protection from being dealt.

It will be interesting to see if Guerin attempts to move off any of the above forwards this offseason as he prepares for one more season of salary cap issues caused by the 2021 buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter’s contracts. Johansson, who is injured, and Gaudreau have had very disappointing seasons and, in Gaudreau’s case, he has a 15-team no-trade list so he could be moved.

Those who wanted to see Guerin hit a reset of any sort had the Wild’s recent skid to thank. Minnesota lost five times in an eight-game stretch, including three in a row.

“We’re not in the best spot, but that doesn’t change anything,” Guerin told The Athletic. “I still expect the team to push for the playoffs and I still expect that type of effort every single night. But again, on the flip side, it’s my job to think about down the road as well.”

Right now, down the road is all that should matter to the Wild’s decisionmakers.

The post Wild Trades appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Charlie Goergen, a cancer survivor and hockey player from Robbinsdale Armstrong/Cooper’s varsity boys team, was selected for the traditional “Let’s Plan Hockey!” announcement prior to the Wild game. The Hockey Fights Cancer Awareness Night is a joint initiative of the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association powered by the V Foundation for Cancer Research.

Even though he only had a couple of lines to remember for the call, Goergen said it was nerve-wracking but also fun.

“I was super excited and super honored,” Goergen said. “Because saying ‘Let’s Play Hockey,’ I think it’s a big deal. I think it’s very fun.”

Goergen was one of three cancer survivors the Wild featured throughout the evening. Fourteen-year-old Aspen Heisler, a sled hockey player, brought the Wild flag to center ice before player introductions as the game’s honorary flag bearer. Another sled hockey player, and recipient of the 2023 USA Hockey Disabled Athlete of the Year award, Alex Gullingsrud, was featured on the videoboard during the first intermission.

Lavender is part of the theme for the annual Hockey Fights Cancer Awareness Night at Xcel Energy Center in a game between the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild. (MHM Photo / Heather Rule)

Back in January, Goergen found a lump on his neck and went to a couple of doctors to get it checked out. Eventually, he went to a cancer research facility and was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

This was about halfway through his junior hockey season with Armstrong /Cooper.

“So, I was going through chemo(therapy) as I was playing hockey still,” Goergen said. “And luckily, I only missed a few games and some practices. It didn’t take that much of a dent out of my season.”

Chemo every other Friday kept him out for four or five days afterward where he “couldn’t really do anything” and just stayed home with “really low” energy levels.

Looking at his stats, you wouldn’t know Goergen had anything altering his season, even if he wasn’t 100% on the ice. He finished third on his team in points (35) and second in assists (21). He said he was just glad to be able to finish out the season.

Goergen obviously had the support of his family during his cancer battle last winter. He also had his hockey community behind him. Not just his Armstrong /Cooper teammates but the whole organization starting at the youth levels.

“They got No. 10 stickers on their helmets because that’s my number,” Goergen said. “It was really cool to see the support that I was surrounded with throughout that time.”

Knowing that he had so many people supporting him helped; he wasn’t just playing for him but for all of his supporters who wanted to see him succeed, Goergen said.

“It was obviously a really hard time,” Goergen said. “But I battled through it with the support of my teammates, coaches, family and everything.”

By April, his body had beaten the cancer. He received the good news in May and has been in remission ever since. He recently had his six-month check-up scan and will meet with doctors soon to go over the results.

In the meantime, Goergen is preparing for his senior hockey season with Armstrong /Cooper. Captain’s practices started in October and finished up just before the Hockey Fights Cancer night, with team tryouts this week. Only a couple of days before Goergen said “Let’s Play Hockey!” at Xcel Energy Center, he was named one of Armstrong /Cooper’s captains this season.

Goergen has played hockey his whole life, starting after he’d watched his two older brothers play. Naturally, he’s a Wild fan, too. He knew about the NHL’s Hockey Fights Cancer initiative before, but he didn’t know many people affected by cancer.

“So, it was never a main focal point of my life… I never understood it fully,” said Goergen, who watched Sunday’s Wild game from a suite with his parents and six older siblings, and a couple of their significant others. “But once I got diagnosed, I realized this is a really important night for a lot of people.

“I think it’s just a great thing that they’re doing.”

He said he wants to have as much fun as possible during his senior season of hockey and see how far his team can go, hopefully improving along the way. They finished 10-14-2 last season, losing in the section quarterfinals to powerhouse Edina. After high school, Goergen would love to play junior hockey, hoping to reach the North American Hockey League.

Like every high school hockey player, he’d also love to be on the ice at the X in a few months. To play in the state tournament.

“If you get to the X, you know you’ve succeeded,” Goergen said.

He’s already succeeded in fighting cancer.

The post Hockey Fights Cancer appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Caufield shared that sentiment with many in the state of hockey at the time, wanting to see the 2019 NHL first-round pick Matt Boldy make his NHL debut. Caufield, who was called up and made a splash with the Canadiens in the postseason last year, was teammates with Boldy on the U-17 and U-18 U.S. National Teams.

Wild rookie winger Matt Boldy (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Boldy was a game-time decision for the Wild that night but ultimately didn’t get the nod for his first NHL game until about seven months later, and in memorable fashion. The 20-year-old got the call prior to the Wild’s game in Boston on Jan. 6, 2022, near his hometown of Milford, Mass.

It’s exciting enough playing in your first game, and in front of parents, family and friends, but Boldy added the cherry on top when he scored a goal in the second period on a pretty passing play from Marcus Foligno. Boldy raised both arms in the air in celebration before his teammates surrounded him.

“It was a surreal moment for sure, having it here with all my friends and family,” Boldy said after the game. “I think I blacked out after I scored.”

Wild defenseman and alternate captain Matt Dumba told Boldy that Jonas Brodin also had the secondary assist on Dumba’s first NHL goal, during a 5-1 victory over Dallas on Oct. 12, 2013 with the Wild.

“Just kind of crazy how that can happen so many years later,” Dumba said.

Boldy certainly left his mark on Wild and NHL history with his goal. He’s only the third Massachusetts-born player in NHL history to tally a goal in his NHL debut in Boston; he’s the first to do it while playing for the visiting team. Boldy is also the second Wild player in as many seasons to score in his debut. The other, of course, is Kirill Kaprizov who joined the league last year.

Boldy signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Wild on March 30, 2021, following his sophomore season with Boston College, where he led his team in all scoring categories last season. He scored a point in 11-of-14 games with the Iowa Wild last year, netting 6 goals and 18 points.

Scoring in his debut is nothing new. Boldy scored a power-play goal in his professional hockey debut with Iowa on April 9 last spring. He also added an assist on a goal by Calen Addison, another player who suited up for the Wild on Saturday night against the Washington Capitals at Xcel Energy Center.

Wild rookie winger Connor Dewar (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

With two of the team’s top prospects called up for NHL debuts in the same game in Boston, much of the focus was on Boldy and Marco Rossi. But it was rookie Connor Dewar that Wild coach Dean Evason praised highly for that game. Evason acknowledged that Boldy and Rossi were ready to play and make the step from Iowa to the NHL.  

“Having said that, Dewar probably had the best game of anyone,” Evason said at Friday morning’s practice.

Dewar made his NHL debut Oct. 28 in Seattle but had gone without a point in his first four NHL games, until Thursday when he registered an assist on a Nico Sturm goal.  

Boldy, Rossi and Dewar are all shining bright spots for the Wild during a time that’s been anything but a sunshine-filled stretch of the 2021-22 season for Minnesota.

A month ago, the Wild were the best team in the NHL after a 5-2 win in San Jose gave Minnesota an eight-game winning streak. It accumulated 39 points in 26 games through Dec. 9, going 19-6-1. They led the second-place St. Louis Blues by seven points in the Central Division.

Since then, the adversity train crashed into the Wild franchise with everything from a season-long losing streak to postponed games to injuries and COVID-19 protocols for key players.

The Wild followed up the winning streak with the five-game losing streak that actually went from Dec. 11 through the Winter Classic on Jan. 1 at Target Field (a rough 6-4 loss to the Blues).

Even when the Wild responded to break the losing string, winning 3-2 in Boston, it still left a sour taste because Kaprizov was injured with a hit into the boards from Trent Frederic that Evason repeatedly called “not a hockey play.”

Kaprizov missed at least Saturday’s game, and he wasn’t alone on the sidelines. Joel Eriksson Ek was still out after being injured in Dallas. Brodin missed the Winter Classic in COVID-19 protocols before returning to the lineup in Boston. But he was out again with an injury. Nick Bjugstad left practice earlier in the week and will be out with a long-term injury, according to Evason. No. 1 goaltender Cam Talbot was pulled in the Winter Classic because of injury. Brandon Duhaime, Jordan Greenway and Alex Goligoski all missed Saturday’s game in various stages of COVID-10 protocols. Captain Jared Spurgeon has missed the most time, sidelined with a lower-body injury.

“We all are trying to make the best of it,” Evason said. “Our group has done a tremendous job of not letting those distractions affect us as a group. We go out, we play hard, we play right. Hopefully, that’s enough to give us an opportunity to have success.” 

Wild rookie center Marco Rossi (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Some players might be back sooner rather than later, and with more postponed games ahead, the time could end up benefiting the Wild in the short-term as they try to get healthy players back in the lineup. Still, fresh faces are getting chances to step in and step up.

“I’ve always found that when you’ve got a depleted lineup, guys step up and that’s really when you find out a lot about your team,” Dewar said.

Saturday’s lineup against the Capitals included Boldy, Rossi, Dewar and Kyle Rau scattered on the forward lines. Addison and Dakota Mermis played on the blue line.  

None of the youngsters factored into the Wild’s goals on the scoresheet – with the first goal credited to Foligno for his 100th career tally but was really an own-goal by Washington on a delayed penalty with the goaltender pulled – but that didn’t mean they weren’t noticeable in good ways.

Boldy played more than 20 minutes, was a plus-2 with a takeaway and blocked shot. His only shot on goal came with less than five minutes left in regulation, but he wove his way through three Capitals players in the zone to drive the net and get a backhanded shot off. He also made a between-the-legs pass from behind the net to a teammate as the Wild pressured late with the extra attacker.  

Rossi had three shots on goal. So did Dewar, who showed he’s being more aggressive in taking shots and driving the net in his 11:47 on the ice.

“You praise Boldy and Marco (Rossi) for what they’ve done, and they’ve been playing great for us, smart players at a young age,” Foligno said. “Those guys want to stay here. And then you throw in, I thought Dewar played awesome tonight.

“Just all those guys are bringing it and buying in.”

The post Next Man Up appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.