With the draft starting Friday and free agency opening on Monday, Bill Guerin enters the biggest week of the NHL offseason aiming to make his team better, next season and beyond. But don’t mistake the Wild general manager for a desperate man.

Minnesota has a nearly full roster of players on one-way deals for the 2024-25 season, prospects the brass believes are ready for the next step and, despite facing one last season with $14.7 million in dead cap space, even a little money to acquire a free agent or two.

Guerin has options this week, he said Monday, and that includes remaining at No. 13 in the first round of the draft Friday in Las Vegas, trading that pick up or down, and pulling Filip Gustavsson off the trading block and sending Jesper Wallstedt back to Iowa this fall.

“To give something, we need to get something we really like,” Guerin said Monday. “We could do it, but we don’t have to do anything. Some teams are in a spot where they need to do something. We don’t feel that way. We have a lot to offer. There’s no rush to do it.”

That might not excite fans disappointed — or worse — by Minnesota’s failure to make the playoffs last season, but the GM promises he won’t do anything rash.

“All the rumors that go round and round and round, that means nothing,” Guerin said. “The ability to not have to do anything is a good position, too. If we were in position to have to do something, it would be a lot tougher.”

The Wild missed the playoffs for just the second time in 12 years last season, and the reasons were obvious, from injuries to underperformance and smaller things in between.

A 5-10-2 start cost coach Dean Evason his job, and after the team found its footing under John Hynes, injuries to key skaters such as Jared Spurgeon, Jonas Brodin, Marcus Foligno and Kirill Kaprizov squelched, fatally, the momentum until Guerin decided to sell at the trade deadline.

Forwards Marcus Johansson and, especially, Freddy Gaudreau sputtered, adding 16 goals and 45 points in 145 combined games. Gustavsson followed a brilliant first full NHL season in goal (23-9-7, 2.10 goals-against average, .931 save percentage) with a below-average one (3.06 GAA, .899 save percentage).

Johansson is owed $2 million for one more season, Gaudreau four more at $2.1 million a pop. Gustavsson has two more years on a three-year, $11.25 million contract.

They’re all coming back, unless the Wild can find the right trade destination for Gustavsson, who otherwise will form a tandem with veteran Marc-Andre Fleury. The better of the two last season, Fleury will turn 40 in November and retire at season’s end. The Wild like his ability to mentor top goalie prospect Jesper Wallstedt, 20, next season, but they’re also not afraid to send Wallstedt back to Iowa.

“One thing I’ve always tried not to do is panic,” Guerin said. “We had a lot of injuries and subpar years, and that happens. People have off years, and people get injuries, that’s the way it went. It doesn’t change my feeling on some of the players and what they’re capable of. We need to have a bounce back.”

The Wild also need a few rookies to step up the way defenseman Brock Faber did last season. The former Big Ten defenseman of the year from Maple Grove is one of two finalists for the Calder Trophy that goes to the NHL’s top rookie along with Chicago center Connor Bedard.

With Spurgeon, and later Brodin, out, Faber became the team’s minutes leader (24:58 a game), a first-unit special-teams regular and fifth-best scorer (eight goals and 47 points).

“We knew he was a really experienced player coming in, but (he) took on roles we probably didn’t envision with success,” Wild director of amateur scouting Judd Brackett said. “You can’t take away the minutes he played against the players he did; it was incredible. We’re very fortunate. And obviously, he’ll continue to grow. It’s incredible.”

So, who’s next? Even with all hands healthy and on deck, to be better next season, the Wild need another prospect or two to step up in a similar way. Even before the injuries, they were down a reliable scoring forward. Guerin will try to pick one up as a free agent — there are some available — but to meet the team’s goal of a real playoff run, another rookie will need to surprise them.

Left wing Liam Ohgren seems to be the likeliest candidate after playing four solid games last spring. But Guerin said assuming the 19th overall pick in the 2022 draft will make the team would be a mistake.

“Don’t assume anything for anyone making the team,” he said.

The Wild swapped restricted free-agent forward Adam Beckman for another, New Jersey’s Graeme Clarke. last week, and plan to give Sammy Walker a qualifying offer. They’ll part ways with veteran Jacob Lucchini and are undecided on Mason Shaw, a pending UFA who has been through a lot and is well liked in the organization.

That said, Guerin believes prospects Ohgren, 20, and fellow forwards Riley Heidt, 19, and Hunter Haight — who turned 20 in April and just won a Memorial Cup with OHL Saginaw — have the ability to play in the NHL right now. Ohgren played four solid games for the Wild last spring, and Heidt and Haight had outstanding seasons in the CHL.

“Yeah, it’s hard. They are 19, 20, and it’s an unforgiving league and tough to make it, sure,” Guerin said. “They’ll make it at the right time. If one guy makes it, great. But we’re not going to force a square peg into a round hole.”

They’re baaaack

Wild players under contract for next season as of Jun 25, 2024:

Forwards: Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek, Matt Boldy, Mats Zuccarello, Marco Rossi, Ryan Hartman, Marcus Foligno, Marcus Johansson, Frederick Gaudreau, Vinni Lettieri

Defense: Jared Spurgeon, Brock Faber, Jonas Brodin, Jake Middleton, Zach Bogosian, Jon Merrill, Declan Chisholm

Goaltenders: Filip Gustavsson, Marc-Andre Fleury

Contenders: F Liam Ohgren, C Marat Khusnutdinov, C Hunter Haight, C Riley Heidt, F Sammy Walker, D Ryan O’Rourke, D David Spacek, D Carson Lambos, D Daemon Hunt, G Jesper Wallstedt

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