Guerin enters the regular season with $3.5 million under the salary cap, according to the website Spotrac. He has draft picks and young talent as capital. He now has flexibility to take on salary once he finds a deal that moves this program forward. Notice I used the word “once” and not “if.”

The State of Hockey has waited through the dead cap era for years and has continued to show up to Xcel Energy Center/Grand Casino Arena. On the short term, fans deserve a team that can get out of the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2015. The longer term involves a Cup run. The window to become a serious contender has opened.

While signing the richest contract extension in NHL history, Kaprizov wanted assurances that the Wild would push for a championship. So Guerin, with help from owner Craig Leipold, must keep that promise. Connor McDavid has never won a Stanley Cup, and there’s pressure in Edmonton to make that happen, so much that he took a bargain contract. There’s pressure here as well, with Kaprizov reaching his peak years.

You can’t have enough scoring. Guerin can start there. If he wants to add an established center, he can revisit that before the trade deadline. With Nico Sturm, who was signed to boost the penalty kill, out indefinitely because of a back injury, Guerin might have to address that need sooner than later. With the salary cap increasing by at least $8.5 million in each of the next three offseasons, Guerin will be able to cast into the deeper end of the free agent pool.

Guerin has all the tools to build a winner now. He must do right by his high-scoring forward as well as serving a long-suffering fanbase.

Congratulations, Billy, for getting Kaprizov signed. Now don’t waste the best years of his career.