Suter & Parise sign with Wild

[Mr. Colby]

Forgot about Granlund, he's gonna be pretty good.

I don't know if I'd call Parise a franchise player, he's a star for sure, but I'm not ready to consider him a franchise player. He definitely would not be that here, that's why a 13 year deal could never have happened in Pittsburgh (and if it did it would not have been a smart decision)

[cheesesteakwithegg]

I would have liked Suter and / or Parise, however, signing one or both of them would have made retaining Letang, MAF, and possibly Geno long term more difficult.

Plus, back in 08 when we lost Hossa and Malone, everyone thought it was the end of the world. We replaced them with Satan and Fedotenko and that ended up working out pretty well.

[Pucks_and_Pols]

Pens Options going forward as I see it:

A) Don’t make any more major moves, go to camp with what we got, play our game (good enough to stay in contention for sure) and see what comes available at the trade deadline (hello Jerome, would you like to take a run at the cup sir?). This may be the most prudent course of action, but man, seeing TK take regular shifts in the top 6 is going to give me some major heartburn from October through February.


B) Give up whatever it takes to grab Shea Weber. Its going to take a ton. But it just might be worth it. Would Nashville consider this “Godfather” offer: Paul Martin, Tyler Kennedy, Eric Tangradi, our next two year’s 1st round picks, Despres and Dulomin (nearly NHL ready prospect we picked up in the Staal trade)? Yes. That is a ridiculous boatload of an offer, and will never ever actually happen. But I actually would be willing to serve that up right now, in the wake of Nashville losing one of their franchise cornerstones for absolutely nothing, to bring in one of the top defensemen on the planet to play with Letang.

C) Work with the Goldwater Institute in Arizona to make sure that the Coyotes ownership situation is a total disaster. Make a big 3 year offer to Shane Doan. Look up his numbers and transpose them with Billy G right before he came to Pittsburgh. Getting Doan for a few more seasons when he is 36 instead of 39 would be a big coup in my book. And he brings that veteran combination of skill, savvy and grit that would mesh perfectly with Crosby’s game. I’ve always been a big admirer of Doan since a random game I saw him absolutely take over when Versus was showing a late night Coyotes-Sharks game instead of their usual Gopher Hunting marathon. The Yotes were down few goals in the 3rd, and Doan just morphed into the incredible Hulk and single- handily willed his squad back to an OT victory. It was like there were 9 other guys skating around randomly, and Shane Doan on the ice commanding everything around him for every shift he took that period. IF the Pens can get even 75% of that player, I will take that signed in blood for a few more years.


D) The “Satan” route. This is similar to option A, but with a slight twist that they at least find someone who can come in and give them something for the financial and roster space that is “unfortunately” available. Possible guys I can see fitting into this role: via free agency: Fedetenko, Semin, or a Kostitsyn. Via a possible trade: Malone, Hemsky, or Stafford (3 guys who have fell out of favor with their teams and whose contracts don’t look quite as bad in light of the way the Cap has gone up recently).


E) Swing a deal with the Wings (who are really looking to fill in a top 4 D spot and have a slight overabundance of forwards) Paul Martin for, say Justin Abdelkader or Darren Helm.

F) Find some way to get Rick Nash out of Purgatory. I don't think he is worth the King's Ransom Columbus is asking for, but maybe someone can convince Craig Patrick over there to pull a "Eddie Johnson with Hartford" move to help his old squad out.


It sucks that Parise didn’t want to come here to play with Sid, but we are still in better shape then a lot of teams going into this season. Would have loved to have seen him here, but moving on we still got the two biggest offensive forces in hockey on our team. Locking up Geno long term should now become Shero’s #1 priority, and anything after that is a bonus.

[Mongoose87]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=399987

Sounds like Weber would've preferred to see the big guys in Nashville.

[newarenanow]

Honestly, if the Pens didn't get either one, I'm glad the Wild did.

I like Minny.

[Rylan]

Honestly, if the Pens didn't get either one, I'm glad the Wild did.

I like Minny.

One of the most creative logos in the league.

[Pitt87]

Honestly, if the Pens didn't get either one, I'm glad the Wild did.

I like Minny.

If nothing else, Chuck Fletcher looks like a top GM this year. Good for him, and Yeo gets a legit shot at making the playoffs and even going deep.

[ville5]

I'm willing to bet Parise and Suter NEVER lead Minny to a Stanley Cup championship.

[penny lane]

http://www.startribune.com/sports/16168 ... y#continue

michael russo details the wild's journey of getting the 2 boys to sign !

[KG]

Very good article....Interesting that Parise took less then what the Wild originally offered to have the same contract as Suter...

At least they didn't end up in Philly who offered Parise more the article says...

[IanMoran]

Wow... I rarely read a sports piece anymore and actually feel like I've legitimately learned something. One thing I've learned from all of this is what a great reporter Russo is

For each team, there was a list of 12-15 criteria that Parise prioritized -- everything from hockey operations, ownership stability, travel, taxation and lifestyle to the on-ice product and the organization's prospects.

"When you're looking at committing the next 13 years of your life, you have to think bigger picture than just the current NHL talent," Arnott said. "How will things look five, six, seven, eight years from now?"

I can't help but think Pittsburgh had to be rated well on all of the things mentioned

[Pitt87]

Wow... I rarely read a sports piece anymore and actually feel like I've legitimately learned something. One thing I've learned from all of this is what a great reporter Russo is

For each team, there was a list of 12-15 criteria that Parise prioritized -- everything from hockey operations, ownership stability, travel, taxation and lifestyle to the on-ice product and the organization's prospects.

"When you're looking at committing the next 13 years of your life, you have to think bigger picture than just the current NHL talent," Arnott said. "How will things look five, six, seven, eight years from now?"

I can't help but think Pittsburgh had to be rated well on all of the things mentioned

Our state income and property taxes suck... only thing that I think would impact out of the above. The hockey operations are fairly young in MN, and Craig Leipold complained about salary expenses saying they were losing money on that basis, then gives both guys huge, front loaded contracts. That doesn't make much sense.

That said, I can't help but think that Zach didn't want to play with Sid, he wanted to compete with Sid. Its got to be the deciding factor.

[shafnutz05]

I would have loved for Parise to have accepted Philly's offer. An $8.5 million cap hit until Parise turns 40? Drool.

[RainbowsAndCottonCandy]

Did anyone else see the images on TSN?

It shows Parise and Suter with A's on their sweaters...

Does this mean they stripped Heatley and Cullen of their A's in favor of these two guys?

I mean I know that Parise was an NHL captain and Suter was an assistant with the Preds...but really?

I mean this will be Cullen's 15 year in the NHL and Heatley's 11th. Suter and Parise have both completed only 7 years. I know that these guys are locked in for 13 years and are the face of the franchise now...but can't you let them earn their place a little? I dunno, just a little disrespectful as far as I am concerned.

[IanMoran]

Did anyone else see the images on TSN?

It shows Parise and Suter with A's on their sweaters...

Does this mean they stripped Heatley and Cullen of their A's in favor of these two guys?

I mean I know that Parise was an NHL captain and Suter was an assistant with the Preds...but really?

I mean this will be Cullen's 15 year in the NHL and Heatley's 11th. Suter and Parise have both completed only 7 years. I know that these guys are locked in for 13 years and are the face of the franchise now...but can't you let them earn their place a little? I dunno, just a little disrespectful as far as I am concerned.

Could have home A's and away A's like the Pens did with Staal / Orpik

[marek]

Awe... those two boys look so cute together... are they going to bunk together and spoon too?

Middle earth freaks. All there is to it.

[SolidSnake]

I'm glad they signed with Minnesota

[RainbowsAndCottonCandy]

I'm glad they signed with Minnesota

Me too, it was good for them. I would never pay that for a defensmen other than bobby orr...glad we still have the cash for Malkin...

[sniper]

22 games into their first season with Minnesota Parise and Suter both have 15 points. The exact same amount as Paul Martin.

I have a feeling the fans in Minnesota expected a bit more production than that out of Parise. Tied for second on the team in scoring and 97th in the league. Tied for 5th in even strength points on his team with 8. For some perspective Matt Cooke has 12 even strength points this year. Although Malkin only has 9.

Their team is 25th in goal scoring at 2.27 goals per game. Last year they were dead last at 2.02 goals per game. So they've added a goal every 4th game. They also cut their goals against per game from 2.65 to 2.50. Which is roughly one less goal against every 6 or 7 games. Still giving up more goals than they score. It's only year one and they have a lot of young guys coming up, but I think they expected more than that out of them this season and Parise in particular.

[Pens4Life]

Parise is a big dissapointment production wise in Minny.

[KG]

I can't believe Ryan Suter makes over $7mill a year...

[Idoit40fans]

He's on pace for 60+ points in an 82 game season. Might be underpaid.

[columbia]

They're leading their division, so mission accomplished so far.

[Pitts]

They're leading their division, so mission accomplished so far.

Are you saying they have arrived?

[columbia]

They're leading their division, so mission accomplished so far.

Are you saying they have arrived?

Nope.
Just that they have improved the club, as expected.