The Minnesota Wild won the offseason last summer.
Or at least they appeared to come out with the unofficial championship. When the Wild signed Zach Parise and Ryan Suter to 13-year, $98 million contracts last summer, the Wild announced to the world that they were no longer just an also-ran. They were supposedly a Western Conference player, capable of a long postseason run.
Parise, the former New Jersey Devils star, is off to a decent start. He has scored seven goals and five assists in his first 17 games. Minnesota general manager Chuck Fletcher has every right to expect more, but Parise has not been awful.
Suter, the former Nashville stud defenseman, is apparently feeling the pressure of his new deal. Suter has not found the back of the net yet. While he has nine assists, Suter has a minus-10 rating.
He certainly has time to turn it around, but he has been a disappointment. In addition to his unimpressive stats, the Wild are tied for 10th in the Western Conference, and that puts them on the outside looking in.
They have plenty of time to turn things around, but the start has a not been what Minnesota fans expected.
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Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Steve Silverman
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