Carson Babbini | August 22nd, 2019
In the aftermath of the most shocking story of the offseason in which the Minnesota Wild fired their general manager, Paul Fenton, after only one season, the team announced yesterday that they have hired former Pittsburgh Penguin assistant general manager and former player Bill Guerin as the fourth general manager in team history.
Wild owner Craig Leipold had said that this was going to be a fairly quick process, and he fulfilled that promise filling the position less than a month after the news broke of Fenton’s firing on July 30th. According to The Athletic’s Michael Russo, the search may have been short, but it was thorough as Russo has reported that there were as many as a dozen candidates interviewed for the position. In the end, Guerin impressed enough to land the gig over other top candidates such as former Philadelphia Flyers general manager Ron Hextall and Montreal Canadiens assistant general manager Scott Mellanby.
Guerin, of course, is no stranger to the NHL being a two time Stanley Cup champion with the New Jersey Devils and the Pittsburgh Penguins in his illustrious eighteen year NHL career. Guerin was the fifth overall pick in the 1989 NHL Draft and would spend his first seven years in the league with the Devils, winning his first cup in 1995. It would take him thirteen years before winning his second with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009. In his career, Guerin had 429 goals and 427 assists for a total of 856 points.
Although Guerin doesn’t have any experience as the guy, he has been the assistant general manager for the Penguins for five years, overseeing a couple of Penguins Stanley Cup runs. He was also in charge of the Penguins AHL affiliate the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins during his time in the role.
Leipold had said previously that he wanted someone with the experience, and even though he may not have found that in Guerin as far as an executive, Guerin has plenty of experience in the league, and said in his opening press conference this morning that he sees the potential in the Wild to win, which is what Leipold wants to do. Time will tell if Guerin is a great general manager, but for now, the Wild have some work to do.
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