Parise And Suter Sign With Minnesota Wild: Free Agency Should Now Heat Up

The Minnesota Wild landed the top two free agents on the market today, awarding them each identical 13 year, $98 million contracts. Suter will likely bring more value than Parise in the long run, but will the Wild push for a playoff spot next season? They have a lot of good young prospects, but some ground to make up.

• I wasn't too enthusiastic about LA signing Parise. Overall, I'm mostly relieved the Detroit Red Wings didn't land Suter.
  
• Next year, the pursuit of Weber will be intense (Detroit and Vancouver should be in the mix).
  
• Matt Carle is the best defenseman left. He's solid, but that's a recipe for overpayment.
  
• Some team will give Alex Semin less money and have him put up the same amount of points as Parise next season.
• Another team will give up far too much in a trade for Rick Nash, and then be stuck with his cap hit. I hope it's the Sharks.
• Nashville's going to have to spend a lot somewhere to reach the cap floor.
• Five days until we know if Shane Doan is leaving Phoenix.

Helpful links:

Top 50 Free Agents Board at CBS Sports

The Kings' Free Agency tracker documents all signings big and small, adding a bit of entertaining commentary for each. It hasn't been updated on the holiday yet, though.

Happy 4th of July to my fellow Americans. Sutter would remind you to celebrate responsibly.