Bill Guerin has been trying to right the wrongs of his predecessor Chuck Fletcher since he took the job as general manager of the Minnesota Wild. During free agency, it's a wonder he was able to sign all of the players he did, including re-signing Marc-Andre Fleury.
However, even good players like Dmitry Kulikov become cap casualties in the era of the flat cap and the Fletcher wrecked cap.
«This was a tough one because he had a great year last year and played very well for us,» Guerin said. «But we need some more cap space. We felt we had maybe one too many defensemen, and we don't want to put guys in positions where they're not playing or not playing enough.»
The Wild are really strong on the blueline, and with Calen Addison being promoted soon, Alex Goligoski returning and Jon Merrill also coming back, the competition for a job will be fierce.