It's fitting the $196 Million Dollar Men leave Minnesota together.
Buying out both Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, as Wild GM Bill Guerin did Tuesday, marks a major franchise move, one that clearly ends an era for the team that arrived with the two being a package deal nine Julys ago.
Eras do not often come with such clean beginnings and/or ends. Normally, the start of any decade looks a lot like the one it follows before evolving into something different. In this case, the Wild franchise gets both.
July 4, 2012 kickstarted the next chapter for Minnesota when, after two-plus years of looking at a potential Parise/Suter signing being one of the only positives Wild fans could muster, dreams became reality. Not one, but both of the two best free agents to hit the market in years chose Minnesota. Their decision put the "State of Hockey" on the national map in a way the Wild spent a decade struggling to reach.
Suddenly, there were reasons to watch besides being the B-Side of a matchup. There were reasons to host a Winter Classic besides being home to the capital of outdoor hockey with a fanbase that consistently sold out Xcel Energy Center during tough times.
Signing both to matching 13-year, $98 Million deals remains the biggest move in franchise history. With apologies to Jacques Lemaire, Marian Gaborik, and Mikko Koivu, time can be split to pre and post-Parise/Suter.
On this new side of post-Parise/Suter, however, it's tough to not see the past nine years on the ice as a failure in spite of success for the franchise off of it. Minnesota never reached a conference final - its best team was upset in the first round of the playoffs. What was supposed to be the beginning of a contending run ended like almost every other WCHA player from the late 90s-early 2000s the Wild brought in: bought out.
Handing the keys to the franchise over to a pair of Midwestern Olympians in their prime staved off Minnesota's plan to fully commit to a rebuild after multiple first-round busts. Parise and Suter were sold on a vision of being with Koivu and leading the Wild's top-end prospect pool, which at the time included Mikael Granlund, Jason Zucker, and Charlie Coyle, among others.
The best-laid plans did not come to fruition. Chemistry always seemed to be a problem, no matter the coach or GM. The team did not come together.
Minnesota went from mediocre down to a bottom-10 team when Parise/Suter signed back up to mediocre no man's land. The Wild, at best, resides at the bottom of a contending tier.
To be honest, the writing was on the wall. Buying out both with four years remaining is a bold move in the spirit of the original, but it does not take a sleuth hiding in the bushes to see it coming. Three GMs tried to get Minnesota over the hump during the Parise-Suter Era. The past two, neither of whom signed the duo, each wanted to put their own stamp on the team.
Neither GM had the duo in their plans. Parise spent much of the regular season and playoffs being out of favor in the lineup. Suter was a top D yet not a franchise D. Neither player - both longtime alternates - getting the "C" after Koivu's farewell last season was another sign of the franchise's direction.
It's fitting the words said by Guerin involved moving forward. Like Koivu, like Granlund, like Zucker, like Coyle before them, the team in 2012 is now gone. Getting rid of both allows Matt Dumba to be protected in next week's expansion draft (the second time moves were made to save him). It's Kaprizov/Fiala/Eriksson Ek time now, with the only question being who, if anyone, will join them soon. The franchise is moving forward into the next era yet carries remnants of the previous one.
Although we'll see, this new chapter likely faces the issue where it's not quite a rebuild, not quite all-in to reach contending status. Guerin has the ability to see his vision through. However, buying out Parise and Suter puts the Wild in a cap crunch long-term moving forward that likely forces the team to rely on its young prospects in the same way Minnesota banked on them in 2012. Guess it's fitting.
It's also fitting the Wild did get that Winter Classic thanks in part to Parise and Suter while neither will be around to play in it. Both loomed large over the franchise for nearly a decade and yet can't say it makes sense to retire 11 or 20 in the same way it makes sense to send 9 into the rafters. Both leave the "State of Hockey" much as they found it, leaving Minnesota's quest for a Stanley Cup over to the next great big name hope.
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