Wild heads into offseason with plenty of questions to answer

The Wild won't have much time to lick its wounds from what was a very sudden ending to a very strange and memorable season.

It's been nearly a year since Bill Guerin was named General Manager of the Wild, and his first season just ended. In his first 12 months on the job, Guerin has made a blockbuster trade, made a coaching change, helped guide his team through a global pandemic and watched over his first postseason games as an NHL GM.

Despite all of those experiences, this fall will mark yet another first: it will be Guerin's first offseason to evaluate, reshape and rethink what he feels is best for the franchise moving forward.

All of which will be done during a COVID era where we don't exactly know when the Wild will be on the ice next.

A normal offseason would include a draft, a free agency, a development camp and a typical preseason, along with plenty of golf and some much needed downtime.

But just a few weeks removed from a four-month pause, the Wild will now embark on yet another lengthy layoff. The hope is that games will resume for 2020-21 in early December, which makes for a rather quick turnaround, qualifying exit or not.

There's plenty of business to attend to, starting already on Monday, when the Wild will be one of eight teams vying for the top overall pick at this fall's 2020 NHL Draft.

Minnesota, along with Edmonton, Nashville, Winnipeg, Pittsburgh, the New York Rangers, Florida and either Toronto or Columbus (they play at 7 p.m. CT on Sunday in Game 5 of their qualifying round series, the only such series to go the distance) each have a 12.5 percent chance of landing the top overall selection and a chance to select Alexis Lafreniere or Quinton Byfield or any of the other consensus top players in the draft.

Hit the jackpot on Monday and the whole tone and tenor of the offseason changes. Add the top overall pick to a team that will also add Kirill Kaprizov and all of the sudden, the Wild's 20th anniversary club has a chance to be perhaps its most exciting yet.

If the Wild doesn't land the top selection on Monday, it will pick ninth -- still a place where Guerin should be able to pick someone who will be a large part of the team's future.

UPDATED (8/10): The Wild did not win the draft lottery and will indeed select ninth.

One thing that was decided in the first week of postseason play was the number of picks Minnesota will have going into the 2020 Draft. Barring a pre-draft trade, the Wild seems unlikely to get Pittsburgh's first-round pick as part of the Jason Zucker trade, especially after the Penguins were upset by the 12th-seeded Montreal Canadiens.

Had Pittsburgh won that series, Minnesota would own the Pens' first rounder. Even if the Penguins don't win the lottery on Monday, it would seem unlikely they would surrender a top-15 pick instead of deferring to next year, when they believe they can be a Stanley Cup contender.

Here are 10 key questions that Guerin will have to answer over the next several months:

• Was Friday's Game 4 against the Canucks the final chapter in Mikko Koivu's outstanding career with the Wild? He'll be an unrestricted free agent this offseason after he indicated before the trade deadline that he wanted to finish his career wearing one uniform. Koivu was non-committal as the return-to-play began, but sounded like a guy who had at least entertained the thought of retirement at season's end. Koivu doesn't seem likely to sign with a different team, so the Wild will have to decide if there is still a fit, while the captain will have to figure out if he wants to continue playing in the NHL. If he chooses to wrap up his North American career, a final pro season in his home country of Finland can't be ruled out.
• If Koivu indeed does hang up his skates, who takes over as captain? The only full-time captain the Wild has ever had, Koivu was given the 'C' by former Wild coach Todd Richards in 2009, and it's been on his left shoulder ever since.
• Alex Galchenyuk and Carson Soucy are set to be unrestricted free agents. Both had their moments this season, but where do they each fit in the puzzle? Or do they at all?
• Kevin Fiala and Jonas Brodin will each head into the final years of their contracts. Does the Wild extend either player on a long-term contract?
• Luke Kunin and Jordan Greenway are each restricted free agents this summer. Barring a trade, they'll be back in Wild uniforms next season, but what will their new contracts look like?
• Marcus Foligno and Eric Staal are also entering the final years of their contracts. Do either of them make sense moving forward once the 2020-21 season is over?
• What will the bench look like? Dean Evason earned his promotion to head coach, but when he was elevated, his assistant coaching job was taken over by Darby Hendrickson. Will the Richfield native remain in that post or will Evason go outside the organization to fill the job?
• Will there be any buyouts? The immediate financial future of the NHL and what salary caps will look like is murky at best because nobody knows if fans will be allowed in buildings by the start of next season ... or what that season might look like. Cap space will be at a premium, and while the Wild is projected to have a decent amount of space as is, it could always explore ways to free up more.
• Who is here when next season begins? Guerin has now had 12 months to evaluate, so it wouldn't be surprising to see him make a bold move or two to try and really put his stamp on the club. Is that a blockbuster trade? Is it a free agent signing? We'll know in a couple of months, but it wouldn't be surprising if Guerin spends plenty of time this fall on his iPhone.
• Will there be a Winter Classic? As of right now, it's full steam ahead towards Jan. 1, 2021 and a matchup between the Blues and Wild at Target Field in Minneapolis. Let's hope conditions around the country and around the world improve to the point where that event remains on track.