ST. PAUL, Minn. — Bill Guerin admitted it was challenging to stay patient on Wednesday’s opening day of free agency, especially since the Minnesota Wild had a number of players they were after.And there’s no greater example of why than the image over the right shoulder of the president of hockey operations and general manager during his Zoom with reporters in the early evening. In Guerin’s conference room, behind an open door of Guerin’s office, was the Wild’s depth chart, featuring some visible, glaringly empty spots on the first and second line.No, the summer is far from over, with the Wild still hoping to make big swings on trades, like for Dylan Larkin. But with many of the top free agents off the board — including Edina’s Anders Lee (signed by the Utah Mammoth after a day-long pursuit from the Wild) — there’s plenty of work still left to do.“It’s tough,” Guerin said. “It’s hard to sit by, and I don’t want to say we’re not involved. But again, I’m really confident in our team. We’re a good team already. I just want to make sure we’re doing the right things and not just jumping and taking away all our flexibility and handcuffing ourselves. I still think we’re in a good spot. I still like the players we have on our team. We’re still very good.”Guerin admitted the Wild pulled out of some negotiations they weren’t comfortable with and missed out on some guys. One was clearly Lee, with Minnesota being one of eight teams that agent Neil Sheehy told The Athletic tried to sign his client with varying degrees of interest.The Wild were one of the more aggressive ones, making an impressive presentation on Wednesday, Sheehy said. Lee, who turns 36 on Friday, agonized over the decision. But when he chose the Mammoth, Lee personally called Guerin to deliver the news rather than letting his agent do it.“That’s how much respect Anders had for Billy,” Sheehy said.For years, Guerin has held onto his veteran core like a grandmother clutches her third-generation pearls.Guerin can no doubt be stubborn at times. But he’s also loyal. He’s borderline bullish in his belief of “his guys,” and there’s no greater example than his lengthy bet on a core that — up until April — hadn’t rewarded his faith with a playoff series win.Heck, Guerin got Marcus Foligno, Ryan Hartman and Zuccarello in a room together three years ago during training camp and nearly signed all three on the same day.On Wednesday, Guerin finally let one of his guys go. But what’s concerning is it was one of his top-six guys, who even at nearly age 39, was one of the team’s most productive players and Kirill Kaprizov’s favorite linemate.This breakup likely had more to do with forcing Kaprizov to forge his own path — as the highest-paid player in the league should — than anything against Zuccarello, one of the Wild’s most beloved teammates.And Kaprizov will have to carry a bigger load, considering the lineup the Wild — at least, so far — are bringing back.The summer is far from over, and the Wild believe they are still in the mix for Larkin and who knows who else (Jack Hughes?).But, boy oh boy, are the Wild in need of some wingers.This has, so far, been an underwhelming and concerning offseason for the Wild. It feels like the entire NHL is on a joyride while the Wild are stuck in snow in a St. Paul parking lot.There were the modest re-signings on Wednesday of veterans Nick Foligno and Zach Bogosian, the addition of career backup Calvin Pickard as a fill-in goalie for rehabbing Filip Gustavsson and four forwards destined for Iowa.But that’s it.A lot of the Wild’s potential targets are already off the board, from Oliver Bjorkstrand to Jaden Schwartz to Andrei Kuzmenko. Sure, David Perron, Patrick Kane and Reilly Smith are among those still out there. Vladimir Tarasenko remains unsigned.But do the Wild want them? Do they want the Wild?“We’ve been involved in a lot of different things,” Guerin said. “Some didn’t work out. Some we backed out of. Some we don’t know yet. I can’t get into specifics. It’s a crazy day. We’re doing our thing. It feels a lot like last year. But we have to stay patient. We have to try to get the players we want — not just push the panic button because we didn’t do something today.”This was supposed to be the summer where Guerin would take big swings and leave no stone unturned in giving the Wild a push into serious Cup contender status. He has said the franchise is in “win-now mode” more than ever before and that he wants to make sure “we don’t just open the window three-quarters of the way.”“If there’s a chance for us to get better, we will,” Guerin said in mid-May at his exit interview presser.They needed to. They have superstar Quinn Hughes, for now, as they haven’t yet dug into working on his contract extension (Guerin’s said that’s coming). But the five-game series’ loss to the Avalanche in the second round showed that their roster required a boost, even though they were without injured Joel Eriksson Ek and Jonas Brodin.The question: Is this Wild team actually any better?Another one: What did Hughes think of today?Our guess? Something along the lines of, “Not great, Billy.”While it’s natural to have some roster attrition, the Wild were already in need of a No. 1 center going into the offseason. So far, there’s no answer on that, as the Larkin sweepstakes have entered a standstill.But the Wild also had to replace three of their top nine wingers, with Zuccarello (Los Angeles Kings), Marcus Johansson (Sweden) and Tarasenko (nowhere yet) out the door as free agents.That’s 54 goals and 150 combined points they’re losing. And it’s not like the Wild were an offensive juggernaut a year ago (they were 11th in the league at 3.27 goals per game).“That was last year,” Guerin said. “I get your point. But that was last year. There’s no guarantee that was going to happen again next year. There are other players in the league. There are players still available. I don’t necessarily look at it like that, because you don’t know what’s going to happen this year.”Tarasenko was a great buy-low option in last June’s trade, netting 23 goals for Minnesota in a bounce-back season. He was expected to price himself out of Guerin’s comfort zone. Johansson followed his heart in returning to his hometown team.But Zuccarello? This one, at least near the end of the season, seemed like a no-brainer reunion. Zuccarello openly talked about how Minnesota has felt like home to him and his family the last seven years and how the past six years were some of the best of his career in terms of how he felt playing-wise. He said in May, “It’s going to be hard to see yourself leaving here.” He talked about “loyalty.”Guerin said on Wednesday the team simply decided to go a different direction, to find a different look.But you have to wonder, if Guerin had known he’d strike out to such a degree in free agency if he might have taken a different tact with Zuccarello, who would have likely played ball with his contract.Could the Wild, who only have $6 million of cap space left, have gotten Zuccarello to sign for one or two years in the $3 or $3.5 million range rather than the contract he signed in L.A., which could pay him up to $6.5 million if you include bonuses?Guerin kept saying they moved on from Zuccarello because of a “big picture” perspective on the team.“We’re looking at something a little bit different,” Guerin said. “When I mean in the big picture, it’s about the team. And sometimes, you go in a different direction. You don’t always keep rolling back the same team. We made a step last year, and we really felt we can get better.“It doesn’t mean you go out and get different players. We can get better players, I guess. But we have to continue to make strides as a team and continue to get better. We took a step last year, a big step as a group and we’ll continue to get better. And that doesn’t always just mean signing different guys or going after sexy free agents.”Still, while there’s a lot of offseason left, the Wild have done pretty much nothing this summer other than lose three productive players.There’s suddenly a lot of pressure on Guerin to find some pieces despite not many being clearly available.Offseason depth chartForwardsLWCRWKaprizov ($17 million)Eriksson Ek ($5.25 million)Boldy ($7 million)Yurov ($972,500)Hartman ($4 million)------Trenin ($3.5 million)McCarron ($3.33 million)Brink ($2.75 million)M. Foligno ($4 million)Sturm ($2 million)N. Foligno ($900,000)------Unrestricted free agents: Mats Zuccarello (signed with Los Angeles), Vladimir Tarasenko, Marcus Johansson, Robby Fabbri, Ben Jones, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Oskar Olausson, Cameron Butler, Bradley MarekRestricted free agents: Caedan BankierRoster hopefuls: Hunter Haight ($883,833), Charlie Stramel ($1.075 million), Tyler Pitlick ($850,000), Mason Shaw ($850,000), Dylan Grambell ($850,000), Justin Kirkland ($850,000), Jagger Joshua ($850,000), Riley Heidt ($940,833), Rieger Lorenz ($1.013 million), Bankier (RFA), Rasmus Kumpulainen ($924,583)DefensemenLDRDHughes ($7.85 millon)Faber ($8.5 million)Brodin ($6 million)Spurgeon ($7.575 million)Middleton ($4.35 million)Bogosian ($1.25 million)Hunt (RFA)Unrestricted free agents: Jeff Petry, Ben GleasonRestricted free agents: Carson Lambos, David Spacek, Roman SchmidtRoster hopefuls: Viking Gustafsson Nyberg ($975,000), Matt Kiersted ($850,000), Lambos (RFA), Spacek (RFA), Ben Dexheimer ($980,000), Schmidt (RFA), Jack Peart ($942,500), Stevie Leskovar ($960,000)* Bogosian gets a $100,000 bonus if he reaches 60 games.GoaliesWallstedt ($2.2 million)Gustavsson ($6.8 million)Pickard ($1 million)Unrestricted free agents: Cal Petersen, Samuel HlavajRoster hopefuls: Pickard, Riley Mercer ($920,000), Chase Wutzke ($958,333)Cap spaceCap charges: $96,230,833Parise/Suter buyout charges: $1,666,666Projected salary cap for 2026-27 season: $104 millionProjected salary-cap space: $6,102,501Sources: The Athletic and PuckPedia