Like the good adopted Minnesotan that he has become since taking over the Wild coaching reins in November 2023, John Hynes now makes his home on a lake and knows how to sprinkle in a fishing analogy when talking about the ups and downs his team has faced this season.

A few months into the current season, the Wild looked like shoo-ins for the playoffs. But with injuries to key players, the Wild had to scratch and claw to the very end to get that “x” next to their name in the standings, clinched with Joel Eriksson Ek’s goal 21 seconds left in their final regular season game.

Hynes feels those tooth-and-nail battles between October and March can be helpful in April and May.

“Our experience down the stretch probably wasn’t fun going through it; you’d like to be in with seven or eight games left in the season,” he said prior to Game 4 of the current playoff series versus Vegas. “It was right there. It’s like we couldn’t get the fish in the boat fast enough, but we had to stay with it. We couldn’t look ahead. We couldn’t want to get that ‘x’ next to our name without going through the process.”

Roughly 18,000 fans left Xcel Energy Center disappointed early Saturday evening following an entertaining but ultimately losing effort by the Wild, who missed a chance to take a 3-1 series lead in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Vegas Knights. Leading 2-1 after two periods, the Wild gave up a pair of third-period goals and lost for the first time this season when heading into the final period with a lead.

They were the only NHL team with a perfect record (29-0-0) when leading at the start of the third, and had led after two in their two playoff victories over Vegas. Two of the Knights’ goals, including the tying goal early in the third, came on power plays.

Minnesota’s penalty kill, among the NHL’s worst for much of the regular season, has come through at vital moments in this series but still ranks 13th among the 16 playoff teams in negating opponent power plays, allowing four so far. But Hynes still found reason for optimism as his team heads back to Las Vegas with the series tied 2-2.

The tying goal on Saturday came with 8 seconds left in a 4-minute high-sticking minor on defenseman Zeev Buium.

“I think the kill’s in a really good spot,” Hynes said. “… A couple went in, even the (second) one that went in, we had two opportunities to clear it. We just didn’t get some bounces tonight, to be honest, even on the kill in some of those. We got good saves, we had good attention to detail, we killed well.”

To the cynical, that might sound like denial, but it’s also instructive to flash back to September, when there were few who picked Minnesota to make the playoffs. In a preseason scrum with reporters, Wild owner Craig Leipold talked primarily about July 2025, and the team’s freedom from eight figures of dead salary cap space that will allow general manager Bill Guerin to at least have a conversation with some of the top pending free agents.

As recently as a week ago, the numbers-crunching website MoneyPuck.com gave the Wild the smallest percentage chance of a second-round game among the 16 playoff teams. Minnesota hasn’t played in the second round since 2015.

But even after missing out on a chance to take a 3-1 series lead, there was no disappointment in Hynes’ tone Saturday night, and he expressed unshakable confidence in his team and their current circumstances with a road game Tuesday followed by a guaranteed home game.

“You look at the way we played, you could arguably say there were a couple bounces that didn’t go our way,” he said. “But I think when you look at it, the way we play and where we’re at in the series and where we’re going — just stay with it, keep going. We knew it was going to be (tough). The longer the series goes for us, coming into the series we’re like, ‘Keep it going, keep it going, keep it going.’ Here we are. Love it.”

Or, in an analogy most Minnesotans — native or adopted — will understand, even when the walleye aren’t biting right away, there’s no such thing as a bad day fishing.

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Tyler Williams’ stay with the Gophers football team didn’t last a full year.

Williams arrived in Minnesota in June 2024, caught one pass last fall, didn’t crack the top end of the U rotation in spring practices and has decided to enter the NCAA transfer portal, a source confirmed to the Pioneer Press on Sunday.

The 6-foot-3, 210-pound receiver was at Georgia in 2023, where he played in two games and redshirted. He was a four-star prospect coming out of Waverly, Fla.

The Gophers also had Hutchinson linebacker Alex Elliott enter the portal on Friday after two seasons at Minnesota. He redshirted in 2023 and didn’t play in a game in 2024.

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MEDIA

Euan Kerr

Minnesota Public Radio, St. Paul, announced the retirement of reporter and editor Euan Kerr after nearly 40 years at MPR News. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Kerr joined MPR 1985 as a research assistant and later as a reporter, most recently covering arts and culture. His career includes work with the BBC in Scotland.

ADVERTISING/PUBLIC RELATIONS

Level MPLS, a Minneapolis-based branding and marketing agency, announced that President and Chief Client Officer Kim Thelen and Chief Operating Officer Erin Gwiazdon have joined CEO Lois Dirksen as co-owners of the agency.

AIRPORTS

The Metropolitan Airports Commission announced the promotion of Anne Saxton to director of concessions and business development. Saxton has held that role on an interim basis since August 2024, and previously was MAC’s senior manager for strategic partnership development. MAC owns and operates Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and six general aviation airports in the Twin Cities.

CONSTRUCTION

Holcim North America, a Chicago-based construction company, announced that it and the Minnesota Department of Transportation were recognized in the 2024 Slag Cement in Sustainable Concrete Awards by the Slag Cement Association for work on the state’s slag cement study on Interstate 94.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

TopLine Financial Credit Union, Maple Grove, announced the promotion of Alan Sonnenburg to executive vice president and chief revenue officer. Sonnenburg joined TopLine in 2018 as the credit union’s senior vice president of lending and chief lending officer. … The Affinity Plus Foundation, St. Paul, announced the addition of Tim Tacheny, vice president general counsel at Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union, and Jamie Baumann, Winona branch manager at Affinity Plus, to its board of directors. The Affinity Plus Foundation is the charitable arm of Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union.

FOOD

Hormel Foods Corp., an Austin, Minn.-based provider of grocery store prepared food brands, announced that Steve Lykken, group vice president of supply chain, will be leaving the company to pursue another opportunity. Kevin Myers, senior vice president of research & development and quality control, will succeed Lykken on an interim basis.

HEALTH CARE

Hennepin Healthcare announced the appointment of Dr. Thomas Klemond as interim CEO. Klemond joined Hennepin Healthcare in 2017 and most recently served as vice president of Medical Affairs and president of Medical Staff; he succeeds outgoing Chief Executive Officer Jennifer DeCubellis. Hennepin Healthcare operates HCMC in Minneapolis, a Level I Adult Trauma Center, Level I Pediatric Trauma Center and acute care hospital, as well as a Hennepin County-wide clinic system.

HONORS

The U.S. Small Business Administration announced it has named Reichman Cattle Co., Glenwood, as SBA’s 2025 Minnesota Family-Owned Small Business of the Year.

LAW

Faegre Drinker announced that attorney Aaron Van Oort of the firm’s Minneapolis office has been elected to the firm’s board. … Geraghty, O’Loughlin & Kenney, St. Paul, announced that Michelle M. Draewell has joined the firm as a partner, practicing in the area of civil litigation, medical and professional liability.

NONPROFITS

Second Harvest Heartland, a community food bank based in Brooklyn Park, announced that Chief Executive Officer Allison O’Toole will step down in June. Chief Operating Officer Sarah Moberg has been named interim CEO.

OPENINGS

Ziggi’s Coffee, a national chain, announced the opening of its first Minnesota location at 1270 Highway 212 W, Granite Falls. … Sweet Paris Crêperie & Café announced plans for a third location for fall of 2025 in the Galleria at 69th Street and France Avenue, Edina. The chain has locations in Woodbury and at Mall of America. It is part of Tenacity Restaurant Group, led by Dustin Wetzel, Pete Thelen and Dan Vansteenburg.

SERVICES

C.H. Robinson, an Eden Prairie-based global provider of third-party shipping logistics for business, announced the appointment of Dorothy Capers as chief legal officer and secretary, effective May 5. Capers most recently served as senior vice president and general counsel for Xylem Inc., a Fortune 500 water technology company.

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EMAIL ITEMS to businessnews@pioneerpress.com.

Edward Lotterman

President Donald Trump has backed off from his threats against Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

He has softened his tone on trade with China, alternately suggesting he would be “flexible” and “very nice” and yet also repeating threats. China has not yet budged from its harsh first responses.

All this appears to be a reaction to changes in financial markets. Prices of stocks and bonds, along with long-term interest rates, have oscillated up and down in response to the daily verbal sallies from the White House.

Prices of major foreign currencies have also varied — almost entirely up in terms of their value of the dollar. Let’s consider the impact of this.

It takes 9.1% more dollars to buy a euro than it did on Trump’s Inauguration Day; 7.8% more to buy a British pound, 9.2% more for a Japanese yen. However, the Canadian dollar is only 3.5% more expensive in our currency and the Chinese renminbi exchange rate has barely budged at all.

Aside from the impact on Americans traveling abroad, what do such variations in currency values mean for our economy in general? Potentially a lot.

Changes in the value of one currency versus another are more important than most Americans understand. What causes these changes and how such fluctuations affect farm or manufacturing employment or output are as opaque as whether higher import tariffs are good or bad.

Consider the confusion that arises from the phrase “the value of the dollar.”

People can generally see this reflected in how many dollars it takes to buy goods and services. When people say the value of the dollar fell sharply under President Joe Biden, they refer to consumer prices that were 18% higher when Biden left office than when he came in. More dollars needed to buy the same stuff means the dollar is worth less that is was before.

But in financial markets, “the value of the dollar” also refers to the number of dollars that are needed to buy one unit of another currency. It took $4.93 to buy a British pound as World War I broke out in 1914 and only $1.33 this week. The “value of the dollar” rose compared to the pound.

These two different “values of a currency” — in terms of the quantities of goods and services one can buy in one’s own country versus the quantities of the same items in another currency — are related, but are not the same.

Yes, a country with prolonged high inflation often sees the exchange value of its currency fall. And one with low inflation, say Switzerland, may see the exchange value of its currency rise against the money of countries with higher inflation.

This is not always true, however. Ronald Reagan’s first term saw continued high inflation from the Ford and Carter years. Consumer buying power fell in the U.S. but the exchange value of the U.S. dollar rose. Four years after Reagan’s first inauguration, a dollar only bought 82% of domestic consumer goods and services in the U.S. that it had when he took the oath of office in 1981. But a buck also bought 2.15 times as many British pounds, 58% more pre-euro German marks and 26% more Japanese yen. Pretty good, huh?

This means that a Volkswagen Jetta priced at 16,000 deutschmarks in January 1981 cost a U.S. buyer $7,958. One at the same deutschmark price four years later would have cost only $5,046. Going the other way, a $1.75 U.S. bushel of corn would have been 3.52 deutschmarks in January 1981, but 5.55 deutschmarks in 1985.

A ton of Japanese-made steel priced at 80,000 yen cost $395 in 1981 but only $315 in 1985. Going the other direction across the Pacific, a $280 ton of U.S. soybeans cost a Japanese buyer 56,660 yen at the beginning of the period and 77,170 at the end.

These examples show hard realities that few people realize, but with broad implications for our economy. A “strong,” or high-priced, currency makes its nation’s exports expensive to world buyers while rendering imports cheap. It effectively subsidizes imports and taxes exports. This is good for consumers who want to buy cheap goods. But it punishes domestic producers — farmers, miners, mill and factory owners — along with people who work for them, because in a global supply chain, U.S. export customers can shop for a better price from countries with “weaker” currencies.

Why was the dollar so “strong” in the first half of Reagan’s presidency, despite high inflation at home? Because U.S. interest rates were high and foreigners needed dollars to earn those high rates on long-term U.S. Treasurys.

How did this come about? First, federal budget deficits had exploded. They averaged 2.2% of GDP over 20 years, 1960-1980. For the economically troubled Carter years they had been 2.4%. But with sharply increased defense spending coupled with tax cuts under Reagan, deficits exploded, hitting 5.8% for the fiscal year starting in September 1982. This was twice what it was in 1968 at the height of the Vietnam War and NASA’s Apollo moon program.

Bad enough, but President Jimmy Carter had appointed Paul Volcker as chair of the Federal Reserve Board. To end inflation, Volcker had made clear he would stamp the brakes on the money supply come hell, high water or anything Congress or the White House did. He kept his promise and interest rates soared. Some 30-year Treasury bonds went over 15% while prime rates for sound business loans hit 21.5%.

These were the highest real interest rates in the world. Investors everywhere wanted to earn them. So foreign money poured into the United States. With hordes of German and Japanese investors figuratively waving wads of marks and yen at anyone offering dollars, the value of the U.S. dollar set new records. This clobbered the U.S. steel industry, the U.S. auto industry and U.S. farming.

Granted, all three sectors had created some of their own problems.

Farmers had reacted to the 1972 devaluation of the dollar — when President Richard Nixon ended the Bretton Woods international payments system — by bidding up land prices year after year. Sales were financed by contracts-for-deed insulated from commercial mortgage requirements.

Complacently monopolistic steel and auto companies had entered into mutual suicide pacts with their unions, shunning new and cheaper steel processes and quality-control methods being introduced elsewhere with the short-term goal of saving jobs.

These problems had been evident for years, but with Reagan-era deficits and Volcker interest rates, “the wolf finally came” as noted in the title of an excellent history of steel’s demise.

What does that have to do with 2025, and today’s currency markets’ influence on White House policy changes?

Well, since a “strong” currency promotes imports and stifles exports, one can reduce this imbalance with tariffs, as Trump is attempting to do, but also by reducing, or “weakening” the exchange value of one’s currency. That is the “currency manipulation” for which we long have condemned other countries.

Trump Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, erstwhile adviser Steve Bannon — disreputable but still influential — and other Trump whisperers argue that beyond raising tariffs, we need to make it more difficult for trade-surplus nations like China to invest dollars in U.S. bonds. That would drive down the value of the dollar, reduce U.S. imports and increase employment and output here. But, like tariffs, it also would raise inflation. More on this in future columns.

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St. Paul economist and writer Edward Lotterman can be reached at stpaul@edlotterman.com.