Visiting the Office of...Harald Geissler

Welcome once again to "Visiting the Office Of...", an interview series that goes in-depth with the general managers of the Elite Hockey Experience.

Before diving into the latest edition, a quick housekeeping note: With the EHE playoffs right around the corner, VTOO will be going on hiatus until the offseason. 

Mostly this is because the quickly-shifting nature of the postseason doesn't lend itself to the VTOO format, but also because the chase for the Stanley Cup (and Calder Cup) should take center stage at this time of year.

And so with that out of the way, let's get down to our interview with Harald Geissler of the Minnesota Wild.

Enjoy, and we'll see you again in a couple of months!

So Harald, when did you join the EHE?

i am one of the gms from the beginning and i dont regret 1 second!!!!  its great fun here lot nice people and kevin always is there for all gms thank u for that !!!!!

Did you get to pick the Minnesota Wild as your team? If so, why did you choose them?

yes i was able to pick the wild   i took them cause i like their logo a lot and there are a lot of scandinavians living there besides the ehe players for the wild hahaha

and thomas vanek played there at the time ehe started if i remember right

You had the 30th selection in the EHE Inagural Draft, which seems a bit unlucky. But at the same time, it was a snake-style draft so you also got the 31st pick. Do you think that was a positive or a negative when building your team?

ah i would still take the same players again. i chose for my first pick thomas vanek and with my second pekka rinne both were cornerstones the last years and played for the wild until last summer so i did well i guess

How did your first season go as the Wild GM?

i never was in any league before ehe, but was interested in hockey since the kariya and selanne times in anaheim

i played lot ehm then and fhm, but like said never was in a sim league before so the first season really was a greenhorn learning season. but since that time it looks that it gets better from year to year and right now this season was the best so far regular season wise and everyone knows in playoffs anything can happen like in real life

maybe the wild wins the cup this year maybe we get kicked out first round who knows

You're well-known for favouring European players, especially those from Switzerland, Austria, and the Nordic countries; is there a particular reason for that?

yes since i was a child i always rooted for the scandinavian countires sportswise mostly wintersports like skiing skijumping biathlon and so on it always was austria sweden findland and norway

i like the countires too they are beatiful i lived 2 summers in norway and visted stockholm and helsinki once so far and i lke the mentality of those countries. its special cause of their climate never really dark in summer but not lot bright light in winter

and of course i always try  and look to have the austrian nhl players on my team. its only 3 of them even i did not resign vanek and grabner but raffl is still here and watch out 2020 draft  i want to go all in to get marco rossi

Eric Staal is one of only two players on your team to come from North America, and he has been with the Wild right from the very beginning. Why have you made an exception for this particular non-European? (laughs)

i also had jason spezza for  along time.  i like staal he is a very underrated player imo  he always made his points in real and in ehe.  he is a good leader for the wild in ehe, he even speaks some german swedish and finnish already. it must be like that otherwise u get braindamaged in the locker room hahahaha we will see chances are good he will stay longer in minnesota. he is the face of the franchise so far and still performs great

There was some criticism around the league when you gave Jacob Markstrom a big-money deal in free agency last summer, but he had a strong season. Is it your plan to keep the big Swede long-term?

well it was so close that pekka rinne would have been here again but eric ---nashville had more luck

yes a lot were laughing i guess when we signed jacob but it was right  choice  its unreal  most of the year the wild did not have a goalie rated higher than 80, and look where we are. amazing thanks to jacob juuse and also cam!!!!!

we dont know how it will look next year only saros will be here thats for sure the othere goalies are a mystery yet

Despite Markstrom's solid numbers, you did go out and get Cam Talbot at the trade deadline. Is Markstrom still the number one goalie in Minnesota?

id say its 50-50, and we even have a strong 3rd goalie with saros so i am not worried

The Wild have made the playoffs in four straight seasons, but it's fair to say this is the first time they can be considered a true Stanley Cup favourite. Did you make any big changes to get your team to this point? Or was it simply a matter of waiting for some good young players to develop around established guys like Staal and Oliver Ekman-Larsson?

i still have lot players here playing already some years for the wild now like staal, OEL, raffl, larsson, rakell, karlsson,  and so on. i think that could be the key

i am not known to make lot trades i want to keep the core group together and let them grow together i think i do quite good and of course i made some good signings this year. markstrom, hornquist, silvferberg, polak. i think it just works this year, and like i said in playoffs everything is possible

but yeah the cup would be nice cause no austrian earned it in real life so far so it has to be in ehe  

Down in the AHL, the Milwaukee Admirals are the only team that has never made the playoffs, and this season they even set the record for lowest winning percentage in league history. Will it be a priority to improve your farm team next year?

i am honest and hope kevin wont kill em hahaa i only set the lines in ahl thats it 

Over your time in the league, which of your trades are you most proud of?

i am proud of many imo.

i got OEL from wsh for kulikov, wild 1st rounder and 4th rounder 2015, and OEL is our heart on defence since the beginning

[A] pretty insane deal the time i made it [was getting] william karlsson and ville pokka from det for 1st and 6th rounder 2016,  and no one i guess thought karlsson would explode like that. but also disappointed pokka was the opposite but thats luck and no luck

then i acquired rakell for johnasson with the sens. And a lot [of people] still will shake their heads i dealt boeser for saros and i still love the deal ok

so all in all i gave away a lot of first rounders but i think it worked well so far 

Are there any trades you wish you could take back?

i think roope hintz for gustav oloffson. hintz is doing well so does oloffson but in his case more in hospitals but who knows maybe he still has a future in nhl

What advice would you give to a new GM in the EHE?

i really dont know in my case i have my own style in getting [a lot of] scandinavian players

i try not to make so many trades believe in what i do cause i know no one who is here from the start including myself tought  the wild would get 4 times into the playoffs with that strategy.  but we managed so i think thats one way to succeed

here others try to make [a lot of] trades and have sucess, so many ways to keep up here

the only advice i would give is to be a part in here with chattting to the others, writng articles, and so on. its so mcuh fun here and i can improve my english too HAHAHAHA

Looking into the future, how do you think the Wild will be doing three years from now?

i think i will still be around here. marco rossi will be the new face of the wild, saros a great starting goalie. i still wont trade half of my roster during season lol 

and i wish the wild to get the cup within next 3 years

Well you never know, this could be the year. Thanks for your time Harald, and good luck in the playoffs!

thank u kyle and a big WOW FOR UR TIME INVOLVED MAKING THIS INTERVIEWS  CHAPEAU DANKE SCHOEN AND THANK U KEVIN THAT U TOOK ME WHEN U STARTED THIS PROJECT AND I WISH THE CURRENT GMS AND THE COMING GMS ALL THE BEST

THANK U ALL HARALD!!!!!!!!!!!!

Previous entries in the series;

Jameson Fletcher, Ottawa Senators (May 2019)

Doug Waite, Vegas Golden Knights (April 2019)

Gilbert Dubois, Edmonton Oilers (March 2019)

Justin Hill, Tampa Bay Lightning (March 2019)

Travis Fleming, Vancouver Canucks (February 2019)

Duran Size, Montreal Canadiens (January 2019)

Cisco Valle, Detroit Red Wings (January 2019)

Shaun Stephens, St. Louis Blues (December 2018)