Chip Scoggins: Timberwolves and Wild bosses share a similar need to improve their rosters

Chip Scoggins, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Jun 23, 2026

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MINNEAPOLIS — They work 10 miles apart. Their respective teams had close to the same number of wins this past season and made it to the same round in the playoffs.

Bill Guerin and Tim Connelly also have a similar problem.

Guerin, the Wild’s president of hockey operations, desperately needs a No. 1 center.

Connelly, the Timberwolves president of basketball operations, desperately needs a point guard.

They should meet for a beer to commiserate and share ideas.

Different sports, different positions, but both the Wolves and Wild are missing a key ingredient that is holding them back from advancing to a championship contender tier.

Each needs a distributor, a facilitator, a primary playmaker. Someone who raises the level of play of everyone around him.

Neither team is as far off as our emotions might lead us to believe after watching their playoff exit. The champions of the NHL and NBA playoffs — the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Knicks — proved that roster construction, grit, experience, health, timing and momentum matter as much, if not more, than trying to assemble a super team with odd-fitting pieces.

Both the Wolves and Wild are in a window of relevance. Their talent puts them in the upper echelon of teams. They don’t need a seismic shakeup to elevate themselves. But they do need an answer at positions that cannot be covered up by wallpaper.

Start with the Wild. Pick a year, any year, and the most pressing need is the same: A true, first-line center.

They need a high-end playmaker to play alongside Kirill Kaprizov, who is 29 and starting an NHL-record eight-year, $136 million contract next season.

Ryan Hartman and Joel Eriksson Ek hold important roles, but they are not No. 1 centers on a championship team. Moving budding superstar Matt Boldy from wing to center isn’t the answer either. That would serve as a Band-Aid, not a solution.

Dylan Larkin’s trade request from Detroit provided a jolt like spotting the finish line at the end of a marathon. A center with Larkin’s pedigree won’t come cheap, but Guerin shocked the NHL with his trade for Quinn Hughes in December and this would represent another cannon blast.

“We’re in a window now,” Guerin said after the season. “We’re in a window now where we have a very good team. We want to make sure that we don’t just open the window three-quarters of the way. If there’s a chance for us to get better, we will.”

In his own debriefing after the season, Connelly acknowledged the Wolves are “not good enough right now.” That doesn’t mean another Connelly-esque blockbuster move is the right answer.

A trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo is interesting conversation, but not if it requires gutting the roster of core pieces and leaving marginal depth around him and Anthony Edwards. That’s too risky.

The main takeaway from a roller-coaster season is the urgent need for a point guard to bring order to the offense. Their lack of options forced coach Chris Finch to use Edwards as the primary ballhandler and initiator, which is not the best use of his talent or the overall flow and rhythm of the offense.

Pass-first point guards in the traditional sense are practically extinct in the NBA. The Wolves need a guard who alleviates some of the pressure on Edwards with ballhandling responsibilities, creates shots, makes good decisions and keeps everyone involved.

Their Target Center co-tenant is providing a real-time example of the power of the position. The Lynx own the WNBA’s best record largely because rookie point guard Olivia Miles is playing like an MVP.

Miles makes everyone on the court better, whether it’s with her passing, or scoring, or instinctive feel for the game. Everything just functions more efficiently when she’s running the show.

The Wolves need a point guard who acts as a conductor for Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid and whatever pieces Connelly puts around that core.

Kyrie Irving and Ja Morant have been mentioned as possibilities. Both would come with risks. Media speculation also has included Derrick White of the Celtics.

Status quo shouldn’t be an option. For either team.

Guerin and Connelly have built reputations as executives willing to make bold, aggressive moves. The two architects face a similar quest entering draft week and then free agency. If they pull it off, maybe they can celebrate together.

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