As much as some fans have wanted to accuse Bill Guerin of walking an iffy line with tampering on Auston Matthews, none of that probably matters. According to Michael Russo of The Athletic, even if Guerin wanted in on the Matthews trade sweepstakes, the Wild don’t have the assets to pull off the deal.
According to Russo, he’s not hearing Minnesota and Toronto are cooking anything up. But he does believe if Matthews went to market, the Wild would want in on the conversation.
“Well, I mean, I wouldn’t say that I’m hearing noise, but I know Bill Guerin really well, and there’s no doubt that he would be in on that if Auston ever went to market again,” said Russo. But, it’s not that simple.
To make a trade for someone the ilk of the Toronto captain, a lot of pieces would have to be heading out Toronto’s way. Russo explained:
“I just don’t know if the Wild would have the assets to get that done, because I think any GM is going to look at the Quinn Hughes trade as sort of the template in a deal like that. And the Wild could not do another, you know, Liam Öhgren, Marco Rossi, and a first—they just don’t have those assets anymore.”
Why Is Anyone Talking About the Wild and Matthews?
Most of this speculation stems from Guerin’s comments about how much he likes Auston Matthews. Others took that and ran with it. Russo noted, “I think if Auston Matthews suddenly became available on the trade market, there’d be a lot of teams in it. But look, the Wild have been trying for 25 or 26 years to get a number-one center, and they haven’t been able to. We know what Bill Guerin thinks of Auston, so I think he’d be all over that.”
At the very least, Guerin wouldn’t want to be the one GM who needs a player like Matthews not a part of the conversation.
“Let’s put it this way: if he suddenly was on the trade block, the Wild would be on that. If Robert Thomas was suddenly on the trade block, the Wild would be on that. If Brady Tkachuk—who’s not a center—was suddenly on the trade block, you know Billy would be on that.”
Russo said that Guerin is itching to make one more big move. “They clearly tried it at the deadline; it didn’t work. You know, Trocheck’s obviously not at the level of that, but they tried to make something work.”
Russo said, “Obviously, they have the cap space. Everything is motivating them this summer to do something significant. He’s set the table.”
Next: Did Treliving and Berube Paint Themselves Out of Work?
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