Toronto, ON – Putting an end to days of speculation, the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday agreed to terms with unrestricted free agent forward Zach Parise and unrestricted free agent defenseman Ryan Suter on 13- year contracts.
No financial terms were disclosed, but TSN of Canada reported that Parise's new deal is worth $98 million, with an average annual value of $7.538 million.
"This is a great day in the history of the Minnesota Wild," said general manager Chuck Fletcher. "We are extremely excited to add the collective skill, experience and character of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter to an already promising roster. We view this as a rare opportunity for us to transform our franchise by adding two marquee players, who are both in the prime of their careers, at the same time. I am grateful to Zach and Ryan and I am also thankful for the substantial commitment and support of Craig Leipold throughout this process. This is a huge step forward in our quest to bring a Stanley Cup to the deserving fans of the State of Hockey."
Parise returned from an injury-shortened 2010-11 campaign to strike for 31 goals and 69 points in 82 regular-season games for the Devils.
The New Jersey captain added eight scores and 15 points in 24 postseason tilts as the franchise came up short in the Stanley Cup Finals against Los Angeles.
It's a homecoming for the 27-year-old, who was born in Minneapolis and is the son of former North Stars forward J.P. Parise.
The North Dakota product has totaled 194 goals and 410 points in 502 regular- season games, tallying 21 times with 22 assists in 61 playoff games for the Devils since 2005.
Suter picked up seven goals and 46 points in 79 games for the Nashville Predators a season ago. The 27-year-old Wisconsin native picked up a goal and three assists in 10 playoff appearances.
Since arriving in the NHL for the 2005-06 campaign, the former first-round pick of the Preds has compiled 38 goals, 238 points and 396 penalty minutes in 542 regular-season tilts -- all with Nashville. The right-handed shooter has also registered four goals and 13 points in 39 postseason games.
Both Parise and Suter were key members of Team USA's silver-medal winners at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games.
"This is a rare opportunity to bring two players of this caliber, both in the prime of their careers, to our franchise," said Wild owner Leipold in a letter to the Wild fan base following the announcement. "I want to thank Zach, Ryan and their respective agents/advisors for their decisions in our favor. I know they both had numerous, attractive offers (some higher than ours). I also want to thank Chuck and his staff for their creativity, vision and earnest pursuit of these players. We are obviously thrilled with this outcome."
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