The Minnesota Wild buyout of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise is their understanding that sometimes you have to yank off the Band-Aid.n
And it’s going to hurt.
The Wild will use more than $50 million in cap space for these two players not to play for them over the next four seasons.
“There were numerous factors that entered into the difficult decision,… Minnesota GM Bill Guerin said. “...but primarily these moves are a continuation of the transformation of our roster aimed at the eventual goal of winning a Stanley Cup."
For the next eight years, the salary cap hit of each player will be $2.37 million, $6.37 million, $7.37 million and $7.37 million. That will be followed by four years of $833,000 for each player.
That means that in 2022-23, the Wild can spend $12.7 million less than other teams in the league, and that total goes to $14.74 million in 2023-24 and 2024-25.
Some critics will call this folly, but I would call it a gutsy, bold move by Guerin who clearly wants to change this team’s culture. He can’t empower the younger players to take charge if these two veterans are still the strongest voices in the dressing room. If they hand't acted boldly, the Wild might have been marching in place for another three seasons.
At the very least, the Wild will be different now. And maybe a younger team will exceed expectation. The Wild have a strong collection of younger players, which gives them a greater opportunity of pulling this off.
This move also allows the Willd to protect defenseman Matt Dumba in the expansion draft. If Suter had not be bought out, he had to be protected because he had a no movement clause.
Parise’s buyout had been anticipated. But Suter’s was unexpected. He averaged 22:11 per game last season, and was +9
Contenders will be interested in adding Suter to their defensive mix. If he plays close to the minimum, he could probably land in Tampa Bay. Boston is looking for a defenseman. The Islanders may need one if they lose Nick Leddy in the expansion draft. Vegas. Colorado. Plenty of possibilities.
Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello had Parise in New Jersey and he will probably be interested in him.
Meanwhile, Guerin will be in Minnesota with an opportunity to build the team he wants to build. He will just have to do with less cap space than other teams for a few years.