This trade screams rebuild, Leopold doesnt want that.
I think GM will decline.

You know, I would have said the same thing as recent as a few weeks ago, but now I'm not so convinced that Leipold would be opposed to Guerin moving Spurgeon for picks/prospects. First, Craig has been an NHL owner for 22 years and in that span he's hired four GM's. Considering the fact Fenton was only a 1 year blunder, Guerin was just recently hired, and Poile (his first GM hire) is still with the team he hired him with, Craig has given GM's an exceptionally long leash when it comes to their team building decisions. Fenton's firing apparently was all personality since Craig had to put out fires among the staff every day, so that doesn't qualify for team building decisions. Second, both Guerin and Craig have said they believe that there are "a lot of good pieces" on this team, but that there is a lot of work to do and they have to build on those pieces. Guerin also said in an interview that he wants his players "all-in" on this team, if they aren't then they are out of here. You can take that how you will, but I took that as if they miss the playoffs this year, it won't be the end of the world to them. They certainly wouldn't be happy about it, but I don't think Leipold will get trigger-happy and fire Guerin since the team we have entering the season is all Fenton's doing. I also took that as saying if Spurgeon isn't "all-in" on the team, time to kiss him goodbye because Guerin made it very clear he won't tolerate that. I'm not sure many teams will be willing to trade roster players for Spurgeon mid-season when the reason they would acquire him in the first place is to make the playoffs, which means we probably only would get picks/prospects for him.

I think Wild will resign Spurgeon.
Good insight on the Wild, thanks for sharing.

Had no idea Fenton was doing that.


I wish Guerin success, always liked the dude.

I listened to segment on TSN radio where they had a Minnesota beat reporter that said the very same things you just mentioned.
I said this in your ACGM of the Wild but again...trading Spurgeon now should get the Wild a bigger (more impactful?) return. Waiting til January/TDL imo is a mistake if ultimately trading Spurgeon is what happens.

I completely agree. The ideal scenario would be a sign and trade for an even larger return, but those rarely happen. Guerin needs to get ahead of the curve and meet with Spurgeon's agent asap and figure out Spurgeon's demands for a contract and if that's worth pursuing. If it is, get a deal done. If not, trade him in the fall.