The Zach Parise and Ryan Suter era with the Wild is over.
After signing the two to identical 13-year, $98 million contracts nine years ago to revitalize the franchise, the Wild cut ties with both players Tuesday by announcing it will buy out the remainder of each’s contract.
Parise and Suter, both aged 36, had four seasons left on their deals. General Manager Bill Guerin said, “I know they’ve both got game left,” and called it “a very difficult decision” to jettison both players in this same offseason.
“We could have done one this year and one next year,” Guerin said. “It seemed like the right thing to do. It was the cleanest way to go.”
These moves create about $10 million in cap space for the Wild next season, but the savings decrease after that. The cap hit for each buyout increases to approximately $6 million the following season and $7 million for 2023-24 and 2024-25 – the last two seasons of their contracts. The Wild will then carry a charge of about $833,000 for each player for four more seasons.
Aside from opening up some cap space, especially for next season, the decision to move on from Parise and Suter also gives the Wild more flexibility with its protection list for the upcoming expansion draft. Since both players had no-movement clauses in their contracts, they had to be protected from Seattle. Now, the Wild can use those spots on other players – like defenseman Matt Dumba, who might have been vulnerable otherwise.
In a statement, Wild owner Craig Leipold said: “I want to thank Zach and Ryan for everything they did for our organization over the past nine seasons, both on and off the ice. They were tremendous ambassadors for our team and helped us win a lot of games. I wish them nothing but the best going forward.”
Leipold made the bold move to sign both Parise and Suter to the massive free agent deals in July 2012. Guerin said he had numerous conversations with Leipold about cutting these ties, a process that took “six to eight months.”
“When you go to your boss with something this big, you better have a plan,” Guerin said. “And he’s in support of this.”
The Wild went 354-237-74 and tied for the eighth-most points in the NHL with 782 during the nine seasons Parise and Suter played for the team, with the Wild advancing to the playoffs eight times.
Parise had 400 points in 558 regular-season games and is the franchise leader in power play goals, is second in game-winning goals and third in points and goals (199).
As for Suter, he recorded 369 points in 656 regular-season games and is the franchise leader in points, assists (314) and time on ice among defensemen.
“It’s a big decision that I feel like we needed to make in order to keep moving forward,” Guerin said.
Career statistics: Zach Parise | Ryan Suter