Wild issue statement after report alleges Bill Guerin abuse

Wild general manager and president of hockey operations Bill Guerin was investigated following a complaint to the human resources department from an employee who alleged verbal abuse in the workplace, according to a report by The Athletic.

The Wild’s HR department commissioned an outside law firm to conduct an investigation into the alleged incident, which occurred in late November, according to The Athletic.

Sources told The Athletic that the investigation was complete and Wild management did not find Guerin to have committed a fireable offense.

"The Minnesota Wild takes its code of conduct seriously. We recently concluded two separate investigations into alleged violations of that code of conduct, and have taken appropriate steps to address the matters raised to our attention. The club will not comment further," the Wild said in a statement sent to Bring Me The Sports. 

The revelation comes a day after the Wild and assistant general manager Chris O’Hearn mutually agreed to part ways. Sources told The Athletic that was due to a separate investigation and that the timing of the two investigations was coincidental.

It’s been a tumultuous season for the Wild. Aside from the investigations, the team got off to a terrible start and Guerin fired then-coach Dean Evason on Nov. 27, replacing him with John Hynes.

Guerin has been the general manager of the Wild since 2019 and has guided Minnesota into a new era. He fired then-coach Bruce Boudreau in February of 2020 and promoted Evason as interim, and eventually full-time head coach.

Guerin bought out the contracts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter in 2021 and paved the way to build around star winger Kirill Kaprizov. 

That eventually culminated in the Wild’s best season in franchise history in 2021-22 with a 53-22-7 record in which they tallied 113 points.