Minnesota Wild: Bill Guerin leaves mark with Jared Spurgeon signing

By doing what Paul Fenton couldn’t do, Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin has made his mark on his team by signing defenseman Jared Spurgeon.

Former Minnesota Wild general manager Paul Fenton had a disastrous tenure with the team. One of the straws that eventually broke the camel’s back was his reported lack of extension talks with defenseman Jared Spurgeon.

New general manager Bill Guerin did what the man he replaced couldn’t – he signed Spurgeon to a long-term extension.

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It’s a seven-year deal and it’s worth a total of $53.025 million. This gives him a cap hit of $7.575 million annually. Spurgeon’s deal will go into effect at the start of the 2020-21 NHL season, as he is in the last year of his current deal.

By signing the defenseman, Guerin has officially made his mark on the team. The contract is a bit of a statement. It’s one that says the Wild are still expecting to contend for the next few years. It does nothing to help their aging roster, as Spurgeon will be 31 years old when the 2020-21 season starts (if it happens at all).

To be fair, Spurgeon is one of the most underrated defensemen in the NHL. His underlying stats have been consistently excellent, as he posts strong results on both ends of the ice. Spurgeon’s 56.52% expected goals for percentage at five-on-five since the start of the 2016-17 season ranks second in the NHL among defensemen.

His biggest impact comes in the defensive zone, where he leads the Wild’s infamously stingy defense. Spurgeon ranks third in expected goals against per hour, and he’s played over 1,000 more minutes at five-on-five than the two defensemen with a lower rate.

He was a huge bright spot on the struggling Wild last season, as he proved he can post strong underlying stats even when he’s away from Ryan Suter. Spurgeon is expected to be on the Wild’s second pairing to start the 2019-20 season, especially since Matthew Dumba did so well with Suter to start last season before Dumba got injured.

The Wild finally have a sense of direction, even if it might not be the completely correct one. They still need to retool and rebuild. However, signing Spurgeon ensures the Wild will remain competitive. Replacing him would have been extremely tough.

Spurgeon has certainly earned his new deal. He originally signed with the Wild as an undrafted free agent. Spurgeon has emerged as one of the best all-around defensemen in the league. He’s proof that you don’t need to be big to be an extremely effective defenseman in your own zone.