Defining Moment In Wild History
I'm still giddy. I'm still in shock. I'm still grinning from ear to ear. I'm still getting teary-eyed just thinking about what signing Zach Parise and Ryan Suter means to our franchise. I wanted to write a post almost immediately but all it would have read was WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO! And isn't that pretty much what everyone else was saying anyway?
I remember how I felt when MN learned it had been awarded a new NHL franchise. I remember how I felt when I confirmed my season tickets three years before the team ever took to the ice. I remember how I felt when Jacque Lemaire was announced as the head coach. I remember how I felt when I stepped through the gates of the Xcel Energy Center for the very first Minnesota Wild game. I remember how I felt when our new team stood on the blue line for the very first time. I remember all these and many more defining moments in the WIld's brief history. What Chuck Fletcher and Craig Leipold did for this team on July 4, 2012 is yet another defining moment. It may very well go down in history as the second most defining moment for the franchise since being awarded to MN. It is certainly what this team needed with only one true playoff run to boast about, waaay back in 2003.
With existing season ticket holders exiting by the hundreds and new ticket sales having dried up two seasons ago, owner Craig Leipold was a desperate man. Don't let anyone fool you into thinking he wasn't. Craig knew he'd have to spend big and he knew he couldn't tell the remaining season ticket holders, once again, nobody wanted to come here. Chuck Fletcher had to know his job was on the line regardless of a contract extension signed earlier this year. He needed to present the sales pitch of his life to even put MN on the short list. Mike Yeo had to know he wasn't too much longer in his job regardless of what young talent may be waiting to impress in this year's development camp. You can't coach a Cup run with a bunch of kids in their late teens and early twenties supplemented by the occasional once-was-a-scoring-threat-not-so-much-any-more veterans. You can't fire players, you can fire the head coach.
The Wild were, and still are until the season begins, a sinking ship trying to get to port before it takes on any more water. After three straight free agency summers of failing to entice any NHL player even remotely considered to be 'elite' or 'top 6' Leipold, Fletcher and Yeo finally caught a break. Hell, they caught the break of the century, let's be honest. And to give credit where it's due, you have to thank the current CBA for the cap limit and the player contract language, specifically: front-vs-back loading of money.
Wild fans, players and management must give the biggest credit to both Ryan Suter and Zach Parise for deciding to make MN their long term home. They could have gone anywhere, together or singly. They could have had more money than Leipold offered. Their decisions to play for the Wild came down to where they wanted to call HOME. You know, the place you want to be when the ice is out and the season is over. Home, where you want to raise a family and be a part of the community. Parise and Suter wanted a chance to play together and to make an impact on the future of a franchise. BOOM!! Impact made, just by having put pen to paper and signing those matching contracts.
I have a ton of thoughts on the Wild now that the Parise/Suter Era has begun. I'll post them in the days to come. Right now let's continue to bask in the sunlight and warmth of knowing we're legitimate contenders going forward. Get ye to the Church of Yeo and pray for one thing...
IS IT OCTOBER YET?
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