Stanley Cup Playoffs notebook: Minnesota Wild reaping rewards of bold rebuild

The Minnesota Wild went through something of a rebuild in recent years, but you wouldn't quite know it looking at their playoff roster.

They are loaded with veterans, as many guys north of 35-years-old as there are players under the age of 26. But several of their best players are in that early-to-mid-20s cohort, and that means, to a certain extent, they're set up for a bright future. If they want it.

Because GM Bill Guerin, fresh off a can't-tell-me-nothin' Olympic gold medal and trade for the best defenseman in hockey (more on him in a second), also took the last few years to regroup following the controversial buyouts of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise. We're coming up on five years since those transactions, and in that time, Guerin has cycled Kirill Kaprizov — now 29 and extended through 2034