32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Bill Guerin

Episode Date: March 1, 2023

He’s a Stanley Cup Champion and the General Manager of the Minnesota Wild. Bill Guerin joined Jeff and Elliotte while his team was swinging through Toronto last week to talk about the trade deadline, how he manages his cap as well as his relationship with his owner, Craig Leipold, playing the role of banker over the last couple of weeks, the types of costs that catch him off guard, what he intends to table at the next GM meetings, building a team around his playing style, dealing with other managers, his transition from player to manager, playing with Sidney Crosby, being courted by several teams ahead of the 2002-03 season and he goes into detail about his management style.Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call The Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailMusic Outro: Smooth Hound Smith - 30 DaysListen to the full track HEREGET YOUR 32 THOUGHTS MERCH HEREThis podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: ESPN, Fox Sports and SportsnetThe views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

Ready? Let me know when you're ready for the clap. Tried to beat you. It was good. You did beat me. That's Bill. Welcome once again to 32 Thoughts, the podcast interview edition presented as always by GMC and the new Sierra AT4X. If you're a newer hockey fan and maybe you never had a chance to watch Bill Guerin play, you really missed something. Guerin could score. He could check. He could fight. Here's the first goal of this game in a four-on-four situation. He could check. He could fight. We've got to go. It's Dion Phaneuf and Bill Guerin.

The 20-year-old Dion Phaneuf drops him with Big Bill Guerin. He was a great leader. Watch out. What's with that? Makes the shot. Guerin right there. Shoots and scores! Billy Guerin wins it for the 3-1 over tag! Skill and toughness on display in every game he played. And if that style kind of reminds you of the team he's constructed in Minnesota,

well, I don't really think that's much of a coincidence. They have one of the most exciting skilled players in the league in Kirill Kaprizov. They have young dynamite in Matthew Boldy, a perennial Selkie Trophy candidate and Joel Eriksson act to go along with toughness in the form of Ryan Reeves and Jacob Middleton to say nothing of the grit and effectiveness of players like Marcus Foligno and Matt Dumba to go along with their captain, Jared Spurgeon. And don't even get me started on Jonas Brodine.

Although as you'll hear in the interview, I kind of pull out my Brodine fan club card. And as general manager, Garen presides over all of it. You know, Garen's an interesting guy. He's personable and friendly, but he won't be taken advantage of. He's deliberate and decisive, but he'll also listen to just about everybody around him. We sat down with Garen last week at a downtown Toronto hotel for a pretty wide-ranging interview, then a little bit of pool afterwards. But before we get going, we'd like to thank two people, Aaron Sickman and Jackson Rebell from the Minnesota Wild Communications staff, for making this interview possible. Thank you very much, gentlemen.

So here he is, former Stanley Cup champion, now calling the shots in mini. We think you'll really enjoy this. Bill Guerin on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Enjoy. I kind of feel like, Bill, I want to either hand you my wallet or ask you, have you ever had a nickname similar to the one you have now, which is the banker around the NHL? How many people are calling you saying, listen, can you hold this? Can you hold that? Can you hold a couple bucks for me now? Because I think a lot of people are surprised that, and we looked around teams around trade deadline, who could hold some money. I don't know that you're Minnesota wild were the top of any list.

No, I don't think so. First of all, don't give me your wallet. You don't want me to handle your wallet. Um, we did get a few more calls after that and yeah, it's just funny how it worked out. You know, we got these two calls, you know, late in the day and, um, it just seemed like really good value. And we have, you know even the the spot that we're in with with our dead cap space we have a considerable amount of of cap space to utilize and both these moves that that we did um they don't take us out of doing anything that we want to do right as well so it was kind of a kind of win-win. I give a lot of credit to my assistant GM, Chris O'Hearn. He did all the legwork on it and he's a much smarter guy than I am.

So piecing it together and dealing with the other AGMs or GMs. That was actually my question. Do you just say to him, Chris, come back to me when you have the answers and tell me yes or no, like don't bother me with the numbers. Yeah, pretty much and you know he he got he got the call from the other agms and just says you know would you consider this do you want to do you want to do this and we kind of go over it and you know call craig leopold our owner because it's it's his money yeah and um you know we just talk about it quickly and but we try to

make our decisions quick and i think that's why we're able to kind of capitalize on it. One of the things that I certainly I'm curious about, I think a lot of people might be as well. Is there an agreed upon amount that a fourth round draft pick is worth that a fifth round draft pick is worth, or is it all different sort of team to team? Like when someone says, Hey, can you hold this amount of money? It's like agreed upon like, okay, for this compensation, we get a fourth or we get a fifth or we get a whatever. Is that sort of agreed upon generally amongst managers? I mean, in the past, it's been a lot more. I really felt like we got good value for the money that we spent. You always look to the past and see like, okay, in this year, a fourth rounder went for X.

Right. So that's what it should be or a fifth rounder, sixth rounder, et cetera. But we just feel like we got really good deals. So we couldn't really say no. Well, it's interesting you say that because I was listening to your answer there. And I remember talking to a GM once about his relationship with his owner. And he said to me that my owner at the beginning of the year gives me a budget and I'm allowed to do whatever I need to do in that budget.

But I also know that if I'm going to make a big move, I have to warn him first. Like I feel my job is no surprises. He says, I'm allowed to do small things that won't bother him at all. But I think if there's anything that's big, I warn him. Other than that, I'm allowed to do small things that won't bother him at all. But I think if there's anything that's big, I warn him. Other than that, I don't bother him with trivial things. So I'm always interested in that. How a GM feels about the owner, that kind of thing. Since day one, I told Craig, you'll never be surprised. You're never going to get an alert on your phone or whatever. And I almost said, pick up the paper. You're never going to get an alert on your phone or whatever. I almost said pick up the paper. You're never going to get an alert on your phone saying,

the Minnesota Wild have made this move. You're going to know well before that. You know what? Small things that don't make a difference. No, we'll just do it. But things like this, yeah, he's got to know, and we've got to get his okay. It's so important to have support from the top and we do. Another GM said to me, the number one thing he thinks about when he takes a job is can I win with that owner?

And this guy has been in multiple places, some good, some bad. He says it doesn't matter what your roster is. It doesn't matter what your organizational philosophy is. If you don't have an owner you think you can win with, you're doomed. How did you establish that with Craig Leopold? I think Craig and I just hit it off, you know, personality wise. And I think I've gained his trust. And over the short time that I've been in Minnesota we we as a group have been extremely responsible and thoughtful with his money and I think because of that he trusts us and you know what I can make the call I feel comfortable enough making the calls to him and

we can discuss the tougher things and you know we we get along very well. And I think that, that definitely helps, but yeah, whoever the, the other GM was, I, I totally agree, agree because you need that support from the top in order to build a winning franchise. It takes money. It takes a lot of money. Maybe what's the most expensive thing that people don't know about stick budgets. Yeah. God, stick budgets. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know you know what you know it creeps up honestly or just payrolls you know what if you have a big scouting staff a small scouting staff it it creeps up in there yeah equipment costs are crazy i mean skates and sticks are just they're so expensive now travel i mean we all charter and we all never hungry we all stay in you know hotels like this the travel is is incredible but uh i mean it all adds up i mean you're a great guy

and i'm sure when you're a player you weren't shy about handing a kid a stick hey here you go young man hey young lady no problem now as a manager when you see your players just handing out sticks whenever they see fit and getting the applause as being the generous one here, what goes through your mind? I love it. You know why? Because that kid is a future fan. He's a future season ticket holder. He's a future Jersey buyer or whatever. So it's an investment. Yeah, I think so. And I think, hey, look, I don't want guys throwing sticks all left and right. Of course we have a budget, but you know what? I think that also says something about the players in our game too, that they're willing to, you know, take the time and connect with a young fan. And I think it's important. Yeah. I mean,

yeah, they're dollars, right? But there's also something more to that. You just made a kid's life like, or day or week or whatever. You just had a connection to them. What's the, and I'm sure there's a few, but are there a couple of things that come to mind right away that you think of when you were a player, you believed X, but now that you're a manager, you believe Y? Oh, man. Look at that smile that he had on his face on those faces there's so there's so much you

know when you're a player you worry about this little area right here just you and you get yourself ready for the game of course you worry about your team and your teammates and stuff but you have to prepare yourself you show up to the game everything's there for you step on the ice everything just happens and fans are in the building and but the amount of work and the amount of people it takes to put on an nhl game is crazy i mean ushers you know vendors trainers the equipment guys everything that goes on to just put on one game is actually incredible and there's just so much you know what like you see the people riding around on the zamboni you don't just pick some guy out of the you know oh yeah and stick him on the zam no there's like a program for that and

there's you know the little kids sitting on the bench and you know people organize that and there's just so much that goes into it and you you know what too, honestly, where do the players come from? Players just don't show up like in the, you know what, there's scouts, there's development guys, there's this, there's that. It's just a whole huge process to get everything going just for that game. Jeff, that was a great question. And, you know, one of the things is that people say is that you can tell the GMs who are former players who are really serious about it and really aren't like you played for a long time. You clearly loved playing when you transitioned. rink in Czech Republic and Steve Eisen would be there and he'd be like, holy smokes, like this guy is for real. Like, what was that like for you, the transition and trying to stay in the competition

when you were never going to have it on the ice again? Well, that's just it. You stay in the competition, you know, as professional athletes or, or, you know, even other businesses or walks of life when you're competitive. For me, it was impossible to not have something like that in my life. Like I couldn't just stop and just kind of smell the roses. No, I need to compete and can't play forever, unfortunately. So this is the way you do that. And yeah, you know what? You go to the Czech Republic.

You go to Sweden, Finland, all these places and all over Canada, the US to get one player. Or you're battling for a college free agent or a free agent junior kid or a European free agent or the draft or whatever. You're competing against everybody to get those players and that drives you too. But just the whole thing gave me, you know, it fills that void. You know, there was a little gap between playing and management where I was a mess. Like, you know, you don't have any place for your energy. You know, just a little workout doesn't do it.

You need it mentally more than anything else. How did you get past that? I started working right away. You know, I took a couple months off. You know, Ray, I went, when I got let go in Philadelphia, when I tried out there, I always say my first phone call was to my wife. We both knew I was going to retire. And then my second call was to Ray Shiro. And I said, Ray, I need to come in and talk to you soon about the second stage of my life. And I went in to talk to him and he said, look, we'll do something, but you need to take time off. So I only took like three months off, maybe four. I mean, it was good in some ways, you know, but it was horrible in other ways. And when I started working part-time for no pay, just expenses, it was awesome.

And I just, I got bit by the bug and this is what I wanted to do. Do you still catch yourself going game by game or do you allow yourself to take the bird's eye view of, because you can get so wrapped up in the emotional roller coaster as a player. You know, this a lot better than me and Elliot. Yeah. Was it a tough transition going from the,

I'm in this fight, you know, every single swing, every single kick, every single, everything to, you know what, we're going to take a more 360 view,

maybe a bird's eye view and look at, you know, the season and the segments, as opposed to just period by period by period as a player. Well, when I first started out, I was never around. I mean, I think until Jim Rutherford came in, I was never around the big team. I was on the road all the time. I was dealing with all of our prospects in Pittsburgh. So, you know, traveling to colleges and junior and Europe and things like that and doing some scouting. And so I was never around the big team to be involved.

Like, you know, period by period, that didn't come until a little later in my, my career. And then I was the assistant GM. So I was still traveling more than I was with the big team. Right.

You know, but now as a general manager, yeah, you can get caught up in it. Like if we're in a big game, some nights I get emotional, and some nights I'm like, pretty cool. I wish I could be cool all the time. But yeah, there have been nights where I get upset.

But you have to take a step back and really realize where you are and where your team actually is. But I just always think we can win. What's the angriest you've ever been after a game? And have you ever confronted a player or stopped yourself from confronting a player after a game? I've talked to players after games, but I always try to think back in my career.

And I played for some great general managers, some really good people. And even Lou, his reputation is he's tough as they come and this and that. But was I ever confronted by him or Glenn Sather after a game and been like, no. So I try to think back about the way I was treated by some of these great general managers. I try to utilize that by my own experiences. Was I ever treated like that? Did my general managers ever do that? And if the answer is yes, maybe I'll do it.

If the answer is no, then there's a good chance I won't. I have a good relationship with our players, I feel. I like to talk to them. I like to know what's going on, how they're feeling. If I can help them in any way, I will. You know, I've had multiple talks with guys like Marcus Foligno and Ryan Hartman and Jordan Greenway and guys like that. Guys who, you know, it's tough for me to, like Matt Zuccarello, like I could never play like that, right? But I could play like those other three guys. So I feel like I can connect with them and kind of give them my advice on what a power forward or a gritty forward should play like or what they can do better to have more success. So I talk to the guys a lot, yeah.

And I like to joke around with them too. I haven't changed that way. As far as managers go, whose style do you like? Like as a player, we always think of, I want to play like Bill Guerin. I want to play like so-and-so. But as a manager, like who do you look at and go, I like the way this guy does things.

I like the way this guy conducts himself. You know, obviously Lou, you know, because Lou is, there's no BS, you know. I love his theory of, we don't have a lot of rules, but the rules we have, we fall and it is cut and dry. And I,

I really respect that. And I've, you know, and I've had, I had my own personal battle with Lou, but, but I learned so much from that. And I,

I lean on that now, you know, I learned a lot from Jim Rutherford and Ray Shiro, Rob Blake. And I did the Kevin Fiala deal. I really liked the way Blakey, he's just such a like good, even keeled guy. It was kind of more like right to the point, you know, but I could say that about, about most of the guys. I mean, I really like dealing with everybody. And you know what? We all have our own style too. Sure. I think it's really important to understand that we are all in different situations. We all have different owners, different markets, different teams.

We're all in different stages. So you have to respect where everybody else is coming from. What was the first time? Because there was a time where you were trying to work on a deal with Parise and the Islanders. So as you mentioned, you were traded from New Jersey to Edmonton while you were in a contract dispute with Lou Lamorello. What was it like to call him up and try to make a trade with him? Oh, it was great.

Yeah. Yeah, it was great. I mean, he doesn't leave any stone unturned, right? And he puts a lot of thought into it. And I love talking to him because I've known him for so long and we've you know been through a lot together and we won a Stanley Cup together and all those things I have the greatest respect for him so I always feel like I'm learning something you know even when we were trying to make a trade and you know I remember we were going through certain things he's like

you got a pen and paper I'm like oh no shit i better get one um but that that's always fun one of the things that i'm always curious about is how much do general managers know about what's going on with other general managers and i'll coach it this way how often are you surprised at a trade or do you generally have a sense of what's going to happen out there? No, I mean, no. There's trades that we're surprised by all the time. Like you don't know everything that's going on. And I think that's good because I think when you go down the road with another team, and I know you think that you can just kind of take a turn

and start shopping that player to everybody else. You can't do that. Like, you're not informed on every deal that's going to happen in the league. You're surprised by most of them. I've heard GM say, like, if a trade goes down, I don't know about it. I consider that a failure on myself. Do you ever think like that or anything like that? No.

No? Because I might not be in the market for anything or that type of player. I don't know. I just don't call around. I don't want to waste anybody's time either. You know, so if I don't have interest in anybody on that team, I don't necessarily just call just to kind of kick tires and this and that it's just it's not really my style okay I want to talk about some fun stuff about Bill Guerin so I

asked some people like give me a good younger Bill Guerin story because one of the tough things I re-listened to this spinning chiclets interview you did with those guys and it was so good you told so many stories I was like I've got to find something a little bit different so one of the stories i heard about you we can't name the type of car because our sponsor is different but i heard that when you were like a young teammate with the fitzgeralds that used to borrow tom's car a lot without him knowing oh yeah and later when you were traded to a team Tom was on, you presented him with a miniature model of that car. Is this story true?

Yes. Explain it. Yes. So I played junior hockey in Massachusetts with Scott Fitzgerald, Tommy's younger brother. So Tommy was playing for the Springfield indians and his brother scott moved out to western mass and so when fitzy would go on the road with the indians me and scotty would go and grab his sports car and tool around for a couple days in it i remember there there i think

he had one cd it was it was like ed greatest hits. Great CD. It was a great CD. He was big in the 80s. That's awesome. So you're like, we're cruising around. If I could walk on water. It was like go time. So I got traded to Pittsburgh, and we were just laughing about kind of how everything's come full circle. Yeah.

Whatever. I forget where I was, but I see this model. It was like one of those snap-type models or whatever of the exact car, like exact model, exact color, and everything.

And I bought it for him and I brought it into practice the next day. I said, remember this? So when he found out that you guys were borrowing his car, Morton, he realized,

what did he say to you guys? I don't know. He dealt with his brother, not me. Listen to 32 Thoughts, the podcast, ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. Of all the teammates you've ever had, who's the one guy that could crack you up like no one else? Oh, Dougie Waite. Yeah. Yeah, I guess it's between him and Walt Kachuk, Keith.

Those guys have been very tight for a long time. But Dougie and I have played on so many teams together. We're very close. Our families are close and we have the exact same sense of humor. Over the break, we just spent three days together and it was nonstop. Yeah. He's just a funny guy. He's a great friend. All we do is laugh when we're together. All we do is make fun of each other and that's just it. He's the the best the story i remember just some of your stuff about your career i love the story about the recruitment by dallas like did you did you know that tom hicks was going to knock on your door at midnight no that was terry o'reilly that was from the rangers oh i thought it was because someone said to me like tom hicks sent

the plane at midnight or something no he came he came in that day. Okay. But at midnight, my wife and I were staying at a hotel in downtown Boston and, uh, the Rangers sent Terry because he was the assistant coach there at the time. He was like my hero. Like I love Terry O'Reilly. So they sent him over with a Jersey for me, jerseys for the kids, a Tiffany Apple with the Rangers saying on it for my wife, and this DVD with all these stars on it and stuff. And then the next morning, Tom Hicks flew in on his plane with Doug Armstrong and Dave Tippett, Guy Carboneau, and we met with them for a while, and it was nuts.

What were the offers like? Because you signed for five times nine. Yeah. But like, were they all close? Like, did you ever turn to your wife in the middle of that and say, holy smokes, like I can't believe what's going on here. Yeah. They, they were all really good.

I had four really good offers, you know, one from New York, one from Dallas, one from Toronto and one from Detroit. Kenny Holland and I laugh about it all the time. And, uh, but there was always like something just off in the other ones. from Toronto and one from Detroit. Kenny Holland and I laugh about it all the time. And, uh, but there was always like something just off in the other ones. And Dallas just seemed like such a good fit. You know, I really liked the team. The city seemed great and it ended up being great.

And Mr. Hicks was a fantastic owner. And, you know, like I said, like it takes a lot to, he put a ton of money into that and, you know, he signed a bunch of guys. So, yeah, there was a very cool experience. What was the Toronto pitch like? That's the thing that stood out to me. I didn't realize they were that big. It's pretty much the same deal.

And it was. Daryl Sittler didn't knock on your door or anything like that? No, no, no. It wasn't anything like that. It was straight about the money. But you know what? I think knowing Mike Madonna and a few other guys on the team, Darian Hatcher, and just seeing what type of team that they had down there,

that kind of swayed me down there. Do you still keep in touch with Crosby? Yes, I do. How often do you text him or call him or anything like that? Every so often. I know he's playing now. with crosby yes i do how often like do you text him or call him or anything like that every so often i know he's playing now and yeah you know it's it's but anytime something funny comes up and or something from the past or or whatever and uh yeah we'll always text and we still have a good relationship i texted him uh i was up in uh up in halifax for the world junior and i just texted

him something like man the beer is really terrible up here. Nobody likes to have a good time. Which is the complete opposite. It was absolutely amazing up there. But I know Sid's real proud of being from up there. Of course. What was it like being a teammate with him and then being in the front office while he was there? Was that dynamic any different at all or anything no uh because again i wasn't

the general manager so i could keep uh you know i kept my distance you know first of all and then second of all if if i ever changed those guys would call me out on it so fast and i never wanted to do that that's why like you know even now like look i am who i am you know what i i like to i like to poke fun at guys and i like to have fun i like to goof around a little bit but like so if i ever changed and if i tried to be like you know joe serious and you know don't look at me after a loss or this or that guys would call me on it. My, my family would call me on it. Does, has anyone ever? No, because I learned that pretty early. Like somebody one time gave me some advice or like, you got to get a little more serious and this and that. And you know what I tried and you know, it just doesn't work for me.

That's my, it's my personality, you know, and I'm not going it just doesn't work for me. It's my personality. I'm not going to change who I am just because I have a serious job. Trust me, just like when I played, I can flip the switch. We'll get it done, but I'm also going to be who I am. We talk a lot about Crosby. We talk about the Pittsburgh Penguins. Who was that? 87, Cole Harbor, Pretty good little player.

Doesn't ring a bell. Terrible tasting beer. Mount Rushmore. Yeah, doesn't have good beer in Nova Scotia. Oh, the kid with the sweaty hat. That's right. Yeah. And the jock from Pee Wee that he's been wearing for his entire life.

I don't know that we know a lot about Malkin. I've never had the feeling that I really know. He likes it that way. And that's what I'm thinking. I don't know that we know him. he's like the hall of fame awaits, like right down the street from where we're doing. This is the hockey hall of fame and he's going there. He's going there. What do you think people should know about him?

How funny he is. He is absolutely hysterical. He's got a great sense of humor. He's really sharp too, but he's just a really funny guy. Like I sat next to him in the dressing room. He'd just throw a little shot here every once in a while. He'd look at my skates and he'd be like, oh, now I know why you're so slow.

Something like that. And he always called me, get in, get in, and do this and do that and get out of the way. But he's a really funny guy and he cares he cares one last thing on crosby just hit in my mind i remember um it's a great story about colby armstrong and the first time he saw sid working out and he went over to sid and said something along the lines of is there like another league higher than the nhl that we don't know about that you're trying to get to? Was it like the first time you saw Sid working out?

Like what was he like in the gym? In the gym? I mean, in the gym he was, I was never in there, so I don't know. But no, the big thing for me was practice. Yep. And how serious he took practice. You know, by that time in my career, I was 38. My body wasn't what it used to be.

I could manage my way through practices, and he would come over. He's like, come on, we got to go. And I'm looking at him like, okay. So I had to start picking it up and stay up to speed with him in practice and push harder just to keep up with him and chris kunitz too we he was great for me at that point in time in my career but his drive was unbelievable

in practice to me that's why he should always be considered in the heart trophy race for how he sets like this work rate for his team that you have to at least try to approach. There is a standard in Pittsburgh that is so high that I would think most teams can't match, and it's because of him. If you don't come into camp tip-top shape, focused and ready to go, you're not going to succeed there because of him. I wanted to ask you, joining New Jersey, you walk in, Stevens, Danico, Niedermeyer.

These were all hard, determined guys. And you take yourself seriously. Nobody plays as long as you did, but you like to have fun. Were you ever worried it wasn't going to mix there, your personality with theirs? Oh, no, no, no. Trust me, we had a bunch of guys. But it's funny, my first call up, the first day I got called up to play in the NHL,

the first guy I met was Tommy Abilene. And he helped me with my stuff and walked into South Mountain Arena, our old practice rink, and I met Scotty right away. And he was, like, getting ready for practice, and he didn't have a shirt on. I was like, oh, my God. He's on my team, right? And, yeah, Scotty was very serious. You know, Nieder was a young guy. Like, he was just 19 years old or whatever.

Serious, you know. Kenny Danico was a riot. Chris Terreri was great. Randy McKay was great. Johnny McClain. Randy McKay. We had some really fun guys. Like, it was, I mean, we had a great time there. So Jacques Lemaire.

Jacques was serious. Yes. Very serious. Yes. Very serious. But we had a great team. It was, you know, we used to go to this little bar in Verona, New Jersey called the Verona Inn. And we would go there as a team.

My wife was actually a bartender there Wednesday nights. But we would go there as a team. And it was players, wives, girlfriends, fathers, brothers, whoever was in town. And we'd just go. It was like a family. It really was. And you just took care of each other and simple guys but man we we yeah we had a great time we could just trap it up like crazy i assume that's where you met your wife there right at that bar i did the owner of the

bar was a really good friend of mine actually and he has since moved to minnesota he was friends with both of us and and he introduced us. And, yeah, it's actually a crazy story because let's hear it. So we left New Jersey, and his name is Marty Robinson, and Marty's a great guy, and Marty's 10 years older than me. So we left. We got traded to Edmonton, and our carousel of teams starts, and Marty sells his bar and starts in a different business with kind of Homeland security, airport security. And he's been to, you know, Fort Myers. He just did

four years in Tokyo and he calls us a couple of years ago and he says, Hey, uh, uh, what are the schools like in Minnesota? And we're like, what are you talking about? He's like, well, I'm getting transferred, and I have my choice between Salt Lake City and Minneapolis. He goes, we're coming to Minneapolis. So this guy that we've been friends with all these years, and now who is married and has four kids. I don't know how he does it at 62, but him and his family live 10 minutes down the road from us in Minnesota.

And we're, we're still thick as thieves. It's, it's awesome. That's fantastic. Yeah. It's, it's a really cool story. It's kind of great having him and his family in our life again. And it's, it's, uh, it's awesome. Yeah. Let me ask you about your team. And I've mentioned this in a couple of places. think that your bill like the style of team that you're building with minnesota is the envy of a lot of other teams in the nhl like when i hear what the philadelphia flyers want to do with their team i think every time it might be in john tortorella's voice but that's bill garen's team that he's talking about like when you think about what you want this team to be like I look at skill I see toughness like there's a whole like you can play

a lot of different ways like when you look at what team you want I know you're not going to say you're you're there yet because you haven't won the Stanley cup, but is this your team? This is what, is this what you've wanted? This style of team? First of all, thank you. Yeah,

it is. I just feel like to be successful, you, you have to be able to play different types of games, different environments. You need a certain level of grit and toughness. And that comes in different ways ryan reeves is a very tough guy in one way or a lot of different ways but he's a tough guy kareel kaprizov is also

a very tough guy he doesn't back away from anything he wins all his battles he goes to the traffic both tough guys both very different And you have to have everybody in between that doing the same thing. Same thing with Zuki. Zuki's a smaller player, but he's got jam. He's got, he's brave. You need that. And I want our team to be able to play their best game in the most hostile environment. So if you're playing another tough team and the crowd's crazy and all this stuff, I want our team to be so mentally tough too, that we can play our best game in that environment. That's great.

The stakes always get higher, right? And as you move up the ladder and in the playoffs and things like that, the intensity gets better. And so you have to play your best game then. Who was a guy you played with we might not think of who was always phenomenal in those situations? You know who was great in those games? Jason Smith.

Jason Smith. He played hard, man. Unbelievable. Like you talk about like a warrior you shake his hand now his fingers are all over the place like it's like i don't i don't even know if he could put a glove on like he's blocking shots uh doing all the dirty stuff to play just at such a high level in tough games he was a great teammate he's a really good friend, but man, was he tough. Like just stepped up all the time.

I'm going to ask you what might seem, and I can already hear Elliot's eyeballs roll because I go on about this guy and this one skill countless times and Elliot knows where I'm going here. I don't know that there's a better or faster backwards skater in the league than Jonas Brodine.

Have you seen, or do you know a better backward skater than Jonas Brodine? No. I mean, it's no secret. He doesn't have the offensive side of the game at an elite level. His defensive game is as good as any Norris trophy candidate or better. He can defend as well or better than the so-called

top guys he just doesn't produce and you know for us that's okay just watch his feet like how many times he's crossing over how many like his escape moves he's a one-man breakout he is an elite defender you know when you go against the the mcdavids and mckinnons and you have him out there against them because of that so yeah i'm i'm a huge fan i don't want to say it's a lost art because players do it but when you look at the nature of defensemen that are coming up from youth hockey they're coming up from minor hockey everybody wants to jump in and chip in and offense and look at my edges and check out my fancy C-cuts and all of it, right?

Oh, yeah. The ability to defend. I don't want to ask, is it becoming a lost art? But are kids putting enough emphasis on being able to defend? Because it seems every year at the draft, we look at defensemen and it's the same things over and over. It's great. Everyone wants to beat Kel McCarr now.

I get it. But do enough young players still want to defend? No. No. Because they don't put high enough value on it. You know, they see it. You know, and hey, I think McCarr is probably the number two player in the league. Like, I think that much of him.

After Kaprizov. Yeah. the number two player in the league. Like I think that much of him. After Kaprizov. Yeah. He's so special that, you know, a guy like that, you just, he's going to do what he's going to do.

But most of the young players now, like, you know, probably at the youth level it starts, but like they see the fancy stuff, you know, the trick shots and this and that. And if you're a defenseman, the one thing you have to do in this league is defend. If you can't defend, you better be Kale McCarr or Carlson or Dowdy or somebody that drives offense like at an incredible rate because there's no room in this game for a specialty player. Like, you just can't do it. A coach won't trust you.

He won't want to put you on the ice. And you just, yeah, you have to be able to defend. And that goes for forwards, too. If you're not good defensively, you better be racking up some serious points. If you don't have good wall play, you better be doing something really special on the other end of it. And it took me a long time to figure that out too. But look, coaches, they don't like giving up goals. They don't like being in the defensive zone. So you have to be able to defend. You have to be able to get out of your own end. You have to do some of those things

that aren't sexy. Trade deadline on the horizon after that, GM meetings. What's a front burner issue for Bell Garen at the GM meetings? I was just talking to somebody about this, and I think the game's in a pretty good spot, but I think I'd like to look at the playoff format, maybe going back to the one through eight. But again, that's so on the surface because I can say that because you look at some of the matchups that have happened in the first round

and you're losing at least one really good team way too early. But I know it's just not that simple. Kind of like I was talking about how it takes so much to put a game together. Like it takes so much to just make a change like that. It's not just, hey, you know, we're going to do it. I mean, the league has to do so many different things in order for that to happen. And it's really tough to argue with the success our league has had in the last while.

So I do think our game's in a pretty good spot, but that would be one for me. There's always little things here and there with different rules. Right now I'm seeing more interference than we've seen in years past. Can there be a crackdown on that? If a guy dumps a puck in, the defenseman isn't supposed to be able to really hold them up, but I see it all the time now.

Is that one little thing that we can get better on? Kind of like we got better on the slashing and the cross checks and things like that. Are picks a big issue? Yes. Do you have a Toronto Tampa? Yes. They are. Excellent point. that are picks a big issue yes seven of toronto yes they are excellent point we got called for it two nights ago and then i i've seen it five times since and it's a tough call like it's

but it is it is happening you know especially when it's uh especially like four on four and things like that when there's more movement yeah but yeah i do think that you expect that to come up at the jams yeah maybe well now expanded playoffs yes or no i could be sold on maybe like a plan i have to maybe think a little bit deeper about it i'm usually more inclined to stay with tradition, but when I first came into the league, there were 21 teams and 16 made the playoffs. Now there's 32 and 16 make the playoffs.

Again, it's not that easy. It's not easy just saying, hey, we're going to add a bunch of teams and let's go. There's a whole bunch of things that I don't even know about, but I do know that there's a bunch of things that has to go into it in order for it to change. Yeah. But that's one of the things that would probably come up. I have two last ones. Number one, I want to ask you about Greenway, you know, you know, he's, he had a situation where he overslept and he was late for a game. I really like watching the guy play.

How do you handle that kind of a situation with a young player? You have to have accountability. And we held Jordan accountable. He's not a bad kid. He's actually a great kid. I love being around him. He's got a good heart. We've all made mistakes. And it wasn't a

malicious thing. He didn't break the law or anything like that, but he was late and he didn't play that night. And that was it. But you know what? It's not like we're beating the guy up either. It's not like we won't talk to him the next day or this and that or anything like that. Just move on. You have to hold people accountable. We all have to be held accountable at some point in time, right? And it's just if you don't, it really gets to be a runaway train. And the other thing I want, you're in uncharted territory next year. You're going into a situation where you're going to have a cap issue like nobody's ever had before.

How do you prepare for that? And I guess the only other question I have for you, Bill, is would you change your decision at all like so you wouldn't be in this kind of situation yeah no i wouldn't i would not change my decision at all i think it's it was best for everyone and i think a lot of people most people focus on the two players that we bought out. And it wasn't just that. It was like we didn't bring back Mikko Koivu. And Mikko is a great guy. Like he's a friend and he's, you know, he's an all-time franchise player for Minnesota.

We didn't bring him back. You know, we got rid of guys like Dubnik and Eric Stahl and Jason Zucker, guys who did some really great things in Minnesota. But we had to change. And you know what? In order to change, sometimes you have to make really tough decisions, and we're going to deal with the consequences of that. And I'd do it again.

I think we're fine, and I know these cats. We're in one right now. We're minus 12 million in the cap. You have a lot of space. You've managed it beautifully. And we have a lot of space. Yeah. managed. And we have a lot of space. Yeah. Like,

so we don't use it as a, as an excuse whatsoever. I'm not going to say it's not going to be difficult, but we just have to plan for it. And you know what? Target certain players and certain, uh, you know,

pay levels that, that we feel that can help us. Cause we won't use it as an excuse. The expectations will stay the same. Let me pick up on that because I was talking to someone yesterday from another team and I said, hey, Elliot and I are sitting down with Bill Guerin. What do you think of him as a general manager? And this person said to me, I like Bill Guerin because he behaves like a businessman, that if something's not working, he'll just eat it, move on, don't worry about

the criticism, do what's right. He said the game would be a lot better off if people behaved more like businessmen and said, you know what? This doesn't work. So you know what? Take the loss, move on and keep going. How do you react to that? Boy, if my father could have heard that, How do you react to that? Boy, if my father could have heard that, he would have been shocked. I take that as a huge compliment and, you know, it makes me proud to hear that. I try to be very honest with myself and everybody around. And if something doesn't work out, it's okay. Like it hasn't worked out for a lot of people.

And, but, you know, and something I learned from Jim, too, Jim Rutherford, like, just move. Don't waste any time. And I feel like sometimes, like, we can get caught up in winning a trade or winning this or winning that when if I waste time and I don't deal with the problem right away, it's only going to hurt our team. And, you know, it goes back to the,

even like the Cam Talbot trade. I wasn't going to trade Cam at all, but we had this situation that came up over draft weekend. And I thought about it for, you know, a good part of the day. And I'm like, you know what, this isn't going to work. So I traded him. And Cam's a really good guy. And there was nothing really wrong. But I just had a feeling that it wasn't going to work. And I just moved on it. And it's worked out really well for us.

That was awesome. Great. Thanks very much, Bill. That was great. Yeah, I hope you liked it. Yeah, this was fun. This is awesome. You guys obviously do a great job. And I appreciate you

having me on and there he is wasn't that great bill garen general manager of the minnesota wild spent a lot of time with us last week and we thank him for it a couple of notes here the entire video of this interview will be available on thursday at our sportsnet youtube channel shot in a room called, appropriately enough, The Green Room. Really cool spot. We think you'll like it. Also, the next podcast won't come out on Friday morning as you're used to. We've got trade deadline after all. So the next podcast, it'll probably be a big one as well. It'll come out Saturday morning in a full recap of the trade deadline, which by then will have come and gone.

Taking us out is a husband and wife duo from Southern California who are able to blend their unique vocals with minimal instrumentation. Smooth Hound Smith's folk rock style brings so many layers of sound that it feels like they're backed by a full band. From their sweet Tennessee honey record, here's Smooth Hound Smith with 30 Days on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. In my party dame Well, I used to be your good man Why you gotta change? See, thank the mean girl My party dame

She drinks the sweat in my mind Oh, the haze, well, now It's the bad coon in my party dink. Well, I used to be a good man. Why you go change?