Guerin was in the middle of preparing meatballs for Christmas Eve dinner. Christmas was indeed coming early for the Wild, with Rutherford accepting Guerin's offer of Marco Rossi, Zeev Buium, Liam Ohgren and a first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft in exchange for the 2023-24 Norris Trophy winner.

Joel Eriksson Ek scored with 23.1 seconds remaining to lift the Minnesota Wild to a 3-2 win over the Ottawa Senators.

Quinn Hughes will make his Minnesota Wild debut against the Bruins on Sunday in a battle between two hot teams.

Marat Khusnutdinov is back in Minnesota for the first time since getting traded to Boston in March. The 23-year-old forward was a second-round pick for the Wild in the 2020 NHL Draft, and he played a cumulative 73 games for the team over two seasons.

Bill Guerin was wrist deep in a bowl of meatballs when he completed one of the biggest trades in Minnesota Wild history.

Marcus Johansson scored twice, Matt Boldy had a goal and two assists, and the Minnesota Wild beat the Dallas Stars 5-2.