stfrank
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ST. PAUL, Minn. — Bill Guerin, the Minnesota Wild’s president of hockey operations and general manager, has been the focus of an investigation following a human resources complaint by an employee who alleged verbal abuse in the workplace, five team and league sources have confirmed to The Athletic.
The alleged incident that led to the investigation occurred in late November and was reported to the team’s HR department, which commissioned an outside law firm to investigate. Two attorneys traveled to St. Paul and interviewed more than 15 members of the organization.
Two team sources indicated that the investigation into Guerin’s alleged behavior was complete and the findings were delivered to upper management and ownership early this week. Wild management determined that Guerin had not committed a fireable offense, team sources said Wednesday.
While the investigation was proceeding, Guerin did not attend the NHL’s Board of Governors meeting in Seattle nor the Wild’s four-game road trip to western Canada and Seattle. That was odd considering it was new coach John Hynes’ first long road trip with the Wild.
Guerin didn’t reply to a text message seeking comment late Thursday afternoon.
The Wild declined to discuss details of the investigations but said in a statement to The Athletic: “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.”
News of the investigation into Guerin comes a day after the Wild confirmed to The Athletic that they had “mutually agreed to part ways” with assistant general manager Chris O’Hearn following a separate probe. Team sources indicated that it was coincidental that the two investigations concluded almost simultaneously.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Athletic that he and commissioner Gary Bettman have been briefed on the investigations and are satisfied with the resolutions.
The employee who filed the complaint, according to team sources, is Andrew Heydt, the Wild’s director of team operations and player relations. Heydt has been in that position for 10 years and oversees team travel, logistics, and player and alumni relations.
Heydt has been absent from work the past couple of days after traveling with the team on its most recent road trip. In his role, Heydt interacts with Guerin on an almost daily basis.
He is also typically a fixture at morning skates but was not in the building for Thursday’s, and neither was Guerin. Captain Jared Spurgeon, who is day to day with a lower-body injury, wasn’t there, either. By the time the media was allowed into the near-empty dressing room, only defenseman Alex Goligoski and recent call-up Dakota Mermis were made available, with members of the team’s PR staff close to their side.
Mat Sells, the Wild’s vice president of hockey strategy and analytics expert, was the only front-office liaison on site at Thursday’s skate.
Guerin sat in his normal booth in the press box during Thursday’s game.
— The Athletic’s Joe Smith contributed to this report.
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