OverDrive - Guerin on the Wild's season strength, managing at the 4 Nations Face-Off and the tournament experience

Episode Date: January 28, 2025

Minnesota Wild General Manager Bill Guerin joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the Wild and the 4 Nations Face-Off, the team's strength in the lineup, utilizing players on the roster, Marc-Andre Fleury's role on the team, the management for the 4 Nations Face-Off and more.

Stock market returns can vary dramatically from year to year, but when analyzed over time, a clearer trend emerges. How are your stocks performing? What does the average return look like? Maybe you're not into stocks yet. You need a money guy. Kelvin the Money Guy can tell you which stocks performed best over the last 10 years, his predictions for 2025, and why the market always performs best during the first year of a presidential election. Call 416-457-PLAN or visit askkelvin.ca. Here's Bill Guerin back on Overdrive. How are you doing, Bill? Hey guys, I'm doing great. How are you? We're doing well. Thank you for joining us. And you guys obviously had some big news today. You announced that Kiro Kaprizov is going to have surgery and it's not season ending. It's week to week, he's likely out, I believe he said for at least four weeks, but you know, you never want to see a guy like that ever go out, but is there any, do you take any

solace in the fact that that two week break is coming and maybe this is the best time for him to kind of figure this out so he's ready to rock come the stretch run here? Yeah, I think that's it, I mean that's the silver lining of it is that, you know, we do have that two weeks that it's kind of foul on time, no games. You know, so I guess, you know, in a situation like we're in, that's a positive thing. And, you know, hey, look, we're just going to have to deal with it like we have in the past when, you know, when he's been out of the lineup or other, you know, hey, look, we're just gonna have to deal with it like we have in the past. When, you know, when he's been out of the lineup or other, you know, big players for

us have been out and, hey, look, nobody feels sorry for us. This happens all over the league all the time. So we've just got to, you know, we've just got to be business as usual. So Bill, I don't know if you're aware, but outside of your market, a lot of people have called you guys probably one of the biggest surprises in the national hockey league as far as you know where you guys are in the standings to the successful season you have i never said that

well i was a little dark and i think that i have a couple of i don't know that i'll throw myself and i don't know if you know i was going to all and i think that final that i'll throw myself out there i don't know how is the law yeah exactly uh... it's showing up in policy and he's looking clear into it all the time exactly exactly but what you know what would you attribute to you know the successful season you've had so far you know based on some of the even the challenges you've had even the cap

situation as well you know i i i just honestly i think it gets down to like the details you know the details in kind of which we play everybody knows where they're supposed to be everybody's there when they're supposed to be there you know they the guys have just really listed to John bought into what he's what he's teaching them and you and they play together. And honestly, it's just, I think early on they saw what the results were from playing like that

and they like it, they like to win. And I think they just wanna continue to do that. So I really think that kind of like the detail of our game is has really grown a lot. Billy we were talking about injuries last week and just how players I think they view them differently now I think it and you're playing I've played against you for a long time it like you did not like missing any game I don't think any players did there was almost a fear of missing games. How have you kind of adjusted to the kind of modern approach to like possibly missing

a game and it might not bother guys that much? Yeah, it's definitely different. I mean, listen, we played in a different time, right? And there was, I think there was a lot more pressure put on us to play. I think there was a lot less security in our job. You know, you see a lot of the younger players now and, you know, long-term contracts for big money and there's security in that. Crazy, you know, with, you know, Four Nations, Olympics, all these different things. The schedule's crazier than ever

and I think guys really feel it, maybe even more than we did. And they might need a break. And you know, you just, that's one thing. And I think it's changed in a good way that, you know what, play when you're ready. We can't pressure guys into playing. If you're still banged up, if you're not feeling,

I'm not even saying a hundred percent, but if you're, if you're not at the percentage that you want to be, then don't play because we don't want guys out there second guessing themselves. And I think that always leads to more injury. So I don't want you out there thinking about your injury and you might not be ready. I want you out there when you're ready to play mentally and you can give everything that you have, not kind of cut corners and play on the outside. When you're ready, you're ready and if you get out there, you better be ready and you better be playing hard. We're chatting with Bill Guerin, GM of the Wild, Minnesota in town tomorrow night. Another

thing that has changed drastically since you guys played in the league was how goaltenders are utilized and there's no more, you know, 70 start guys and everything's about tandems. And obviously Gustafson's been great for you this year, but there's Marc-Andre Fleury still plugging along and, you know, he's gotten in 17 games this year and he's still a big personality. What does he still bring to your club? What does he bring to the dressing room that you value most in terms of his approach to life approach to the game and everything that that flower brings to your team? Yeah I think you had you know a bunch of them right on the head there like he brings energy

brings life but he brings life, but he also brings that professionalism, that competitiveness that's made him a great player. You know, when guys see him at 40 years old, you know, preparing for practice, preparing for games, they look over and they see, you know, a Hall of Fame career and they're, hey, look, this is how a Hall of Famer approaches the game.

Um, yeah, you know what? He has fun and he's smiling and he loves to play practical jokes, but when it's business, it's business and he's ready to go. And I just think that he's got such great balance in his life. That that's a, that's a good lesson. It can't just all be hockey and it can't all be screwing around, but a balance is really good. When you played with him, did he ever get you?

No, he knows better. He knew better. There are certain guys that will punch you in the face with some force if you do that type of stuff. Some guys get you back with another practical joke and another guy just punches you in the worse if you do that type of stuff. You're one of those guys, Bill. Some guys get you back with another practical joke, another guy just punches you in the face. Different routes for retribution, I guess, is what you're saying. That's got to be a wild experience for you, Bill.

That was obviously at the end of your career, but you won a cup with Flower. That was in 08, 09, and then 09, 10-10 you were with him in Pittsburgh and he was young but now you're his GM. What's the relationship like? We're always curious about that, players with GMs and that's maybe another thing that's changed in the game where Owen Noodles used to say they never talked to the GMs. There was no relationship back in the day. Has that changed at all in terms of the GM player relationship on a, I guess, day-to-day basis? Oh, definitely.

Definitely. Yeah. Well, first of all, it was prerequisite that before I traded for him, he would agree to call me boss every day. Right. So, no, we have fun. Listen, I don't know what it's like on other teams, but it definitely has changed. I think throughout the league, um,

you have to have more of a relationship with your players now, cause you have them on these longer contracts. They have more, they have more input. Um, and it's good. Um, you know, for me also, like you guys know me, I, I, I like to, you know, crack jokes and, you know, have some laughs and stuff. I haven't changed. I don't want to change. I like to get to know the players because I think I can help them more if I know them better and I feel like I can understand them better as people.

If they're playing well, how things are, or if they're not playing well, how can I help them? So I think it's really important for coaches and GMs have better relationships than we used to So how are you going to be able to separate yourself with the four nations face-off when you're? You know working with guys that you're you know You're going to be trying to win a Stanley Cup and you'd be a dealing with You know guys from Dallas and guys from Vegas, you name it, right through the league. Is there a separation?

You've got to just separate yourself from the wild and just say, hey, I'm in management from this scenario and treat it for two weeks and then go back to the regular season? Yeah, 100%. Like hey, you've got to take it where I am today. And when we start the Four Nations and we've got guys on Sweden, and well, great, good luck to them, but we're with the US. Now these are my players. And then when we get back with the Wilds, yeah, you go right back to it. Listen, they're always our players,

but we want to win. And you have to have a certain mindset and do certain things in order to do that. And I think being all in with the group that you're the general manager of or coaching or playing for, you have to be 100% in. We've been kind of curious what to expect for this tournament. You've played a lot of international hockey. You played the World Juniors. I know you were on that 96 World Cup team and there were some legit brawls when the

US played Canada, like fights and massive hits and animosity. It was crazy, man. It was an awesome tournament. Awesome. It was a great tournament. I think there are much different rules. awesome uh... what you know it will have a great tournament i think i don't think there are much different rules well there's actually rule now right there's a real s

uh... yeah and it's mid season as opposed to the beginning you know before the season uh... but i expect this to be very competitive i mean they look you can say what you want guys of you know know people have asked me that question before is it gonna Be kind of like an all-star game is no no The players in this in this league and in this tournament are so competitive They want to win so they'll do whatever it takes to win. I think you're gonna see some really high-level stuff

Okay, that's that's what we're hoping for. I mean, it's been a long time, right? It's been basically a decade. It just sucks for younger players. Again, we keep saying back in the day, back in the day, but the all-time great players always had an opportunity to play in these big, big events. Guys like McDavid and Matthews and Hughes and McCarr they haven't had that opportunity and it's it's long overdue. Yeah it's crazy when you think about it um I think that's why everybody's so excited this generation of players like the people you just named are I mean they're they're

they're incredible hockey players and I don't think the talent has been at this level ever in the game and this many high-end players so you know in all the countries so yeah I think this is a long time coming it's gonna be awesome absolutely we'd be remiss not to ask you about the big news late in the week last week that obviously happened within your division Miko Rantham and traded from Colorado to Carolina as a competing GM in the division. It's a war zone out there with Winnipeg, yourselves, Colorado, Dallas. How did you react when you heard the news Friday night?

Oh, I was shocked. But then when you take a step back, you just say, look, they're just trying to make their team better. You never know what's going on behind closed doors for another team. So it's really tough to give an accurate assessment of what went on. But yeah, I mean, it was a big trade. I guess, surprising, but the two GMs behind the scenes, they know what's best for their team at the right time. And you know what? I give both of them credit for pulling it off because it's a big deal. It takes big you-know-whats to do something like that. So I applaud them. Absolutely. Here's Bill Guerin, the GM of the Minnesota Wild End Team USA for the Four Nations faceoff.

Good luck tomorrow night and the rest of the way and at the Four Nations as well. Thank you for doing this Bill. Thanks guys, always good to catch up. Thanks. You got it. There's Bill Guerin.