Zach Parise and Ryan Suter's long, strange trip.

It's not so much that their signing with Minnesota is in itself offensive (except to say that this team is not that much closer to competing for a Stanley Cup now than it was prior to their signing), but rather the process by which they did so is the concept behind basically everything that Gary Bettman says is wrong with the current CBA.

Teams were allowed to woo them for days on end while the hockey world sat and waited in anticipation, with executives flying in and out of tiny airports for a quick afternoon lemonade and to deliver some contract numbers to look over. They eventually chose their destination and got exactly the kind of deal for which Bettman fined the Devils so heavily when they signed Ilya Kovalchuk.

Both got $12 million in the first two years of the deal, and another $11 million in the third, most of that paid in bonuses rather than salary. They each will receive $2 million in the third-to-last year of the deal, and $1 million per in each of the final two. Those final two, by the way, constitute the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, because why wouldn't they? By the end of these contracts, Parise will be 40, and Suter 39.

All this from an owner who, a) openly complained about other teams giving out these kinds of deals just months before doing so, and B) is now driving the lockout, which is essentially a war on these contracts. What a hypocrite. The Wild deserve to continue to fail for years to come.


(Someone doesn't like the Wild) :lol:

^this led my Pro Player anti Owner debate

You know what the best part about the Minnesota Wild is?



Nothing hah.