Bill Guerin on Wild's lackluster play: 'There's no excuse whatsoever for any of this'

CHICAGO Bill Guerin, standing on the top level of the United Center before Sunday nights 4-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks , was still apoplectic over the Minnesota Wild s recent play, especially the night before against the Calgary Flames when there was no response to Rasmus Andersson s punching Marc-Andre Fleury in the face.

Advertisement Now, Fleury might have admittedly gone after Andersson first, but no team should watch its goalie, especially someone of Fleurys pedigree, take a punch.

But the hard-nosed Flames defenseman instead later scored a big power-play goal and responded by staring down a Wild fan in the corner during his celly, then the entire Wild bench during his fist-bump fly-by.

He had his way with us, said Guerin, the Wilds president of hockey operations and general manager.

Like, it was not fun to watch, Ill tell you that.

The funny thing is thats not who this group of players is.

Its really hard to figure out ...

but were gonna figure it out.

Rasmus Andersson punches Marc-Andre Fleury in the head in the middle of this scrum.

: Sportsnet | NHL #Flames #mnwild pic.twitter.com/ZmvWiYlq5L Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) January 26, 2025 Besides being a goal scorer, Guerin was the prototypical mean, physical power forward back in the day who never took crap from anyone.

Imagine what Guerin would have done in 2009 when he was Fleurys Pittsburgh Penguins teammate had he watched an opposing player punch Flower in the face.

Even if he wasnt on the ice, you can bet Guerin would have dealt with it at some point, and it wouldnt have been pretty.

But the lack of response the lack of pushback as of late from the Wild is not the character of this team, Guerin said.

I was disappointed in last night and have been too many times lately.

During his chat with The Athletic before Sundays win, Guerin didnt buy that the Wilds recent lackluster play, especially at home where theyve lost nine of their past 13 and are 11-12-1, is due to the dog days of the season and a team fatigued because injuries finally caught up to it.

No, f that.

F that, Guerin said.

You can be low on energy and still play well.

Youve got to use your head.

You know what? Everybodys tired.

Everybody has a condensed schedule.

Everybody has injuries.

Everybody in the league has what we have.

Theres no excuse whatsoever for any of this.

Advertisement Though Guerins not mincing words, he has not yet walked into the dressing room and ripped into his team despite the fact the Wilds league-best 19-5-4 record Dec.

10 has suddenly become 29-17-4 nearly seven weeks later.

After a blowout loss to the Dallas Stars in November 2023, the next morning hours before the Wild flew to Stockholm for two Global Series games and a little more than a week before Dean Evason was fired, Guerin did storm into the room, met with the team and basically went after every individual one by one.

But Guerin trusts that John Hynes has this handled, is saying the right things, conveying the right things and will get things turned around during a tough stretch that has seen Minnesota lose six of its past nine games.

Earlier in the season, when Filip Gustavsson was putting up Vezina-like numbers and Kirill Kaprizov looked like a Hart Trophy shoo-in, the Wild were winning because of structure, suffocating defense at five-on-five and a hardness to their game.

They were physical, went to the hard-to-go areas, threw their bodies in front of pucks and stuck up for each other.

But during the recent homestand that ended with a pair of losses, the Wild lost board battles, races to the puck and let a Hall of Famer take a punch to the melon.

Look, every team goes through their ups and downs of the season, Guerin said.

But I just dont love the way were playing right now because theres no energy.

Were on the perimeter, were not doing the little detail things that are hard to do, but they allow you to win.

I know our guys care.

I know they work hard.

But working hard and competing hard are two different things.

We need more compete.

Marcus Foligno is the king of sticking up for teammates.

In the middle of a terrific season defensively, theres no doubt the criticism the Wild took from Hynes and Guerin for not challenging Andersson after his jab at Fleury hit Foligno hard in the gut.

Advertisement He tried to explain his thinking after Sundays game.

You just got to be instinctive.

We havent been that, said Foligno, who iced Sundays win with an empty-netter and assisted on Freddy Gaudreaus first-period goal.

Weve been thinking too much about, What if? And what about this? And sometimes just got to play to play and just rely on our instincts a little more.

I mean, the pushback, you know, were trying to focus on winning a hockey game, and we just gave up two penalty-kill goals.

And then that happens.

( Marco Rossi and Mats Zuccarello ) jumped on Rasmus Anderssons back and stuff.

If you go out and punch him in the face, and if they score three power-play goals, it doesnt look so great.

So, I mean, it sucks you punch a Hall of Famer in the face.

Somethings gotta be done.

But we got them one more time.

Against the 31st-place Blackhawks, the Wild made life difficult in the first 40 minutes by allowing one shot in the first period, five through two periods and making it virtually impossible for Chicago to get through the neutral zone.

Things pivoted quickly in the third period when the Blackhawks turned a 3-0 deficit into a 3-2 deficit, but Gustavsson and the Wild hung on to grab 2 much-needed points.

It wasnt a great sign to see how they let what should have been a simple win turn into a tense final 20 minutes, but perhaps its the type of hard thatll lead to this teams looking more like the one we saw the first 2 1/2 months of the season.

(Hynes and Guerin) arent the only ones (ticked), defenseman Jake Middleton said.

No one in this room or in the organization really has been happy with how its went the last two, three weeks, and this is the start of something.

Weve got to nip it in the bud, and this is the start of it.

They made that push in the third, we weathered it better than we have in the last month and came out on top.

Advertisement Gustavsson had a quiet first two periods but enjoyed what he was watching mostly two zones away.

It was awesome seeing the team play like that, he said.

We talked about it before the game after (the Calgary) game, and we responded.

We showed our cards a little bit to the coaches how good we can play and what we should expect from each other moving forward.

Especially at home, he added.

Having no emotions, no speed, nothing on a home game like (Saturday), its pretty much unacceptable, and we had a good discussion about it.

Hopefully it wont happen again.

Hynes sure hopes not.

That was the message of Sundays pregame meeting.

The Wild were starting a five-game trip the first of seven games before a Feb.

9-21 league shutdown for the 4 Nations Face-Off.

It was time to put up or shut up and get back to that early-season identity.

We just gotta make sure that, that commitment level is there and talking with the players about what does it mean, the importance of these games going up until the break, where were at in the season, Hynes said.

This is one of the harder parts of the season, and it requires energy and it requires pushing through certain things.

It was nice we found the energy tonight on a back-to-back to be able to do that.

What were really looking for with it is consistency.

Matt Boldy , who assisted on three of the Wilds four goals in Chicago, said the home record isnt acceptable, especially Saturdays loss to Calgary.

But, he said, Its how you respond to get out of it, how you play when youre not playing your best and find ways to win.

Lets hope this is the start of it.

Foligno believes the Wild will get back to it.

I think we work hard as a team, he said.

But I think the mentality of choosing our hard, I mean, I think its slipped a little bit the last two weeks of just the training camp vibe.

Its got to be like that.

You come to the rink every day, you come to work, you come prepared, and you give yourself the best chance for having the best result in the game.

I think lately its been a little bit slippery.

Advertisement Guys are putting in a good effort, but not great effort.

And the hockey gods will get ya.

Games that maybe you should have scored, its not going in, youve got to still defend and play the right way.

And I think the last two weeks weve been bit a little bit because of it.

And its something that we go on the road here, a huge road swing before the break where maybe (the 4 Nations respite) is a mental break for us, its time now we got to hunker down and play as a team.

(Top photo: David Banks / Imagn Images).

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