The property edict called for adjustments. Paul Fenton came to the opinion, wisely, that Wild's list required more than subtle changes.

Fenton has not yet begun a complete dismantling, but his steps before and at the deadline of Monday's transactions left no ambiguity as to his feelings on the list he had inherited as general manager.

He is ready to start again. Significant changes were needed.

Supporters may question the fact that Fenton was plucked as a result of various transactions, but the composition of the team was the only way forward for a team stuck in a position enough good to qualify for the playoffs but not enough to win a championship.

"We had the oldest team in the National Hockey League," said Fenton. "And probably one of the teams that has not been as fast as everyone else."

Old and slow is a bad combination, something that minor adjustments would not solve, which everyone knew when owner Craig Leipold set out this vision.

The remake of Fenton is based on the separation of a core that has helped the Wild to run in series each season, but whose development has stagnated.

He dropped Nino Niederreiter and Charlie Coyle first. On Monday, Fenton traded Mikael Granlund in Nashville against 22-year-old Kevin Fiala. It's not surprising that Fenton is also trying to move Jason Zucker this season.

An undeniable youth movement is underway, a calculated page for a team composed of a younger core consisting of Matt Dumba, Jordan Greenway, Joel Eriksson Ek, Luke Kunin, Ryan Donato, and Fiala – possibly, possibly, the Russian hope Kirill Kaprizov.

Fenton is on the rise and his belief that these young players are already or will become players with more high-end talent than the veterans he landed.

"I love the team we train and modify," Fenton said. "I have not finished."

Fenton traded Granlund against Fiala, which seems like a slight comeback. Fenton gave the impression that he had not even struggled too much for Nashville to include a preliminary choice, describing it as a "fair market value" exchange. He will probably not meet many people outside the organization who agree with his assessment. At this moment, at least.

Granlund was Wild's best playmaker and more productive than Fiala, but he's also four years older and his contract expires next season. It was a business decision, as much as Fenton's fascination with Fiala, which he helped draft.

Granlund is likely to expect a new contract that will earn him $ 7-8 million per season. Would anyone honestly be willing to pay so much for a player who has never scored 70 points in a season? No thanks.

"The reason I've been hired is for me to put a twist on what I think we're going to improve," Fenton said.

Is nature better today than before the trading deadline? To be determined.

The organization's decision-makers will never admit this publicly, but they know that the list was not built for a long playoff series. Another early extinction with the same group would have caused more frustration with a restless fan base. Fenton had to make things happen.

The new general manager said he still believed his team could play in the playoffs, but his trade shows he is considering his task from a longer perspective. He was not paralyzed by the uncertainty as to whether the Wild should act as a buyer or seller, or stand aside.

Donato has surprised the team since his arrival in Boston. The Victor Rask-Niederreiter case is an imbalanced loss for Fenton to date. Fenton has been highly critical of Fiala and hopes his arrival will have an effect similar to Donato's.

Fenton has achieved some goals. He has rejuvenated his roster and freed up space for hoods, giving him the ability to make more changes this season. Time will tell if he has done the right thing.

But he had to do something radical. The settings were not enough. It was time to try something different.