It’s all finally over.
#PariseWatch has ended. Zach
Parise and Ryan Suter have each signed a 13 year deal worth $98 million ($7.538
mil cap hit) with the Minnesota Wild. As
news came out today, we learned that Parise and Suter had been talking about
playing on the same team for the past year, and spent much of the past 2 days
considering their options together.
Suter never wanted to play in the East, so that was certainly a factor. For Suter it was between Nashville, Detroit,
and Minnesota. Also, Parise said it came
down to Minnesota and New Jersey. He
told NJ it was tough to leave there, but he couldn’t turn down the option of playing
where he grew up. Clearly the one team
with the overlap between the 2 won big.
So there it is Pens fans, Pittsburgh was 3rd at
best. In hindsight and with all of the
reports, here is my analogy. Pittsburgh
was the sports car, it had sex appeal, it allowed Parise to play with Crosby
and have a chance at winning Cups in
the immediate future. Minnesota was a
new 4 door sedan, it was safe and logical, it offered a place to both grow and
retire and it was reasonable. Finally,
New Jersey was the old beat up first car, it gave Parise a start and memories
he could never replace, it was his second home.
Guess what, long term relationships (say, 13 years) don’t last just on
pure sexiness. Pittsburgh may have been
appealing for a short moment, but according to Shero, the Pens were never close
to getting Parise or Suter.
Now on to my various thoughts:
On the Contracts:
The Parise deal is solid.
A $7.538 million cap hit for him makes sense and he is a dynamic
player. The same price for Suter is
asinine in my opinion. I don’t believe
he will be worth it even in Year 1 after benefitting from playing with Weber
for so long. He’s talented, but he’s not
worth more than $6 mil / yr at best in my opinion right now. The Parise deal will probably be worth it,
but they may regret the Suter deal.
On Going to Minnesota:
I see nothing wrong with Parise’s decision to go to
Minnesota. They have as much of a chance
at building a winner over the next decade as any other team in the league. Look at the last 10 winners: Tampa, Carolina,
Anaheim, and LA are very much unpredicted teams in that group. The last 4 winners were amongst the bottom 5
teams coming out of the lockout less than a decade ago. Any team can turn into a winner quickly in
this NHL landscape. Also, don’t forget
that the Wild were in 1st place for over a month last year. It was not sustainable, but they aren’t that
far off, especially with these additions.
Minnesota made the most sense to me to be honest (not just
saying that, I called
it before free agency began too).
This is a retirement contract for Parise and Suter. Parise is from there and Suter’s wife is from
there. Family ties clearly pulled at the
players hard. On top of it, there is
something special about going home and bringing your home town team a
championship. Parise gets the chance to be
a hometown hero over the next decade. If
you can blame him for that decision, you gave up rational thoughts long ago.
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| "Destiny Has a New Home." Maybe it went to Minnesota? |
On Pittsburgh Not Getting Them:
I have no problem with not getting Parise. It would have been nice but it was a
luxury. The Pens are one of the top goal
scoring teams in the league and still have Crosby, Malkin and Neal to lead the
way. They are not hurt by not getting
Parise; it just would have been a nice present.
Missing out on Suter hurts more, but the Pens were never on his radar so
it doesn’t appear to be a surprise. When
it comes down to it, shelling out $98 million to either of these players wasn’t
a necessity for the Penguins to compete, and it’s an acceptable “loss”. Also, Shero said in his press conference that
the Pens did not miss out on any other players by waiting for these 2; it was
Parise and/or Suter or bust. So take it
for what it is, nothing changed.
On Where the Pens Stand Now:
This is the part where I’ll be a little up in arms. The Pens are a worse team than they were 2 weeks
ago. This bothers me right now and will
bother me until it changes. Vokoun was a
great addition to back up Fleury. The
Staal deal was fine, no issues there – I like Brandon Sutter a lot and I think
he will do a great job as a 3rd line center and will have more
offensive potential than people realize. I have no problem letting go of Asham either,
I believe Tanner Glass is an improvement on him. Losing Sullivan to Phoenix today hurt the
powerplay a lot, but he is replaceable as a regular winger and I think Shero
will find someone to do the job.
So my issue: Michalek for a bag of pucks. Shero has a lot of cap room to work with and
doesn’t seem to need it yet (even if the Pens spend to the cap, you’re allowed
to go $7 million over the cap in the summer).
Michalek could have been traded for a bag of pucks the day before the
season started if necessary, but there was no reason to get him out right away. I realize he requested a trade and it was
professional courtesy, but I wonder if it should have been more of a hockey
trade than a salary dump given how everything has evolved. And no, I did not take this stance as soon as
we lost out on Parise; I didn’t like the trade initially and wrote
the same thing right after it happened.
The Pens lack a true defensive defenseman right now and they got nothing
back for the one they had under contract.
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| Scoring doesn't bother me. This bothers me. |
The free agent market is awful. If I was forced to pick 2 free agents I would
want at this point, they would be Peter Mueller and Chris Campoli. I do like Mueller a lot, but he is a major
injury risk. Campoli has been moved
around a lot at only the age of 27 and probably can’t be relied on more than a
3rd pair defenseman (which I would still take at the right
price). The story is the same; the Pens could
use a winger and NEED a defenseman in my opinion. I would expect Shero to make a depth signing in the free agent market like he usually does, but nothing flashy or important.
Shero will surely scour the trade market where he has robbed
so many teams, but I think the prices will be too high at first. It may be a quiet few weeks before the Pens
make a move, if any. There are an awful
lot of teams with too much cap room right now (Pens – 11 mil, Rangers – 16 mil,
Wings – 17 mil, Caps – 19 mil). Prepare
to see some insanity throughout the upcoming season.
Final Thoughts:
For what it’s worth, the Penguins are on Rick Nash’s short
list of approved teams that he would be willing to go to.
Shero has had some tough attempts with free agents, but has
done wonders on the trade market. He is
not a bad GM. Parise wanted to go
home. Hamhuis wanted to go home. Hossa wanted to go to a better team (Detroit
had just beaten his team, it was logical).
Jagr wanted more money. His gains
from Guerin, Kunitz, Dupuis, Neal, Niskanen, etc. far outweigh his free agency
troubles. One may argue he struck out on
UFA’s Martin and Michalek. Michalek has
a reasonable deal if you look around the NHL.
Martin is overpaid, but I personally think he will have a much better
season this year than last. It’s hard to
judge a 5 year contract without 5 years passing. Look at Gonchar’s tenure here if you can’t
understand that.
Here is my rough predicted Pens lineup as of right now:
Kunitz – Crosby – Dupuis
Cooke – Malkin - Neal
Jeffrey – Sutter – Kennedy
Glass – Vitale – Adams
Tangradi (RFA) – Peters
Letang – Orpik
Niskanen – Martin
Lovejoy – Engelland
Reese
Fleury
Vokoun
This roster still needs work, regardless of what Shero says
about being comfortable with it. It's not a bad team, but it's not a Cup winner either. Who is
next on your wishlist? The next podcast will be recorded tonight and posted tomorrow.
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