The Minnesota Wild: Success While Playing Shorthanded

The Minnesota Wild made a big splash in the summer of 2012 by signing probably the two biggest fish in the free agent pool, Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. This didn't come without a steep price tag as they inked identical 13-year, $98 million deals with an average annual value of roughly $7.54 million in a league with a salary cap of $60 million at the time. These deals lifted the Wild out of a 4-year stretch of mediocrity and made them pseudo contenders every year, making the playoffs for the first 6 years of their deals and 8 of their 9 total seasons with the team. These playoff berths never amounted to any real success, making it as far as the 2nd round just twice.

Fast forward to 2021, Wild general manager Bill Guerin chose to buyout the remaining 4 years on both Parise and Suter's deals, leaving the team with $14.7 million in dead cap each year until the end of the 2024-25 season. In a vacuum this would point towards a grueling rebuild, multiple seasons spent bottoming out to acquire premium draft talent as they wait out the financial handcuffing. The Wild said fuck that noise and decided to try to remain competitive, large in part to Kirill Kaprizov bursting on to the scene as a 23-year-old rookie after finally coming over from the KHL. The Wild found their first real superstar in franchise history at the most inopportune time, unable to support him with other elite players but knowing they needed to try to remain competitive because of his ability. Marian Gaborik, easily the best player before him toppled a point-per-game average just once in a Wild sweater (in seasons without injury) with 83 in 2007-08. Kirill hit 100 points in just his 2nd season, becoming the first member of the Wild to do so, and being over a point-a-game player since.

With this level of player Guerin had to build on the margins by signing guys like Frederick Gaudreau, Ryan Hartman, and Jon Merrill while also sticking with members of the old guard like Jared Spurgeon, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Jonas Brodin. This "keep building" strategy culminated in the best regular season in franchise history in 2021-22 with 53 wins and 113 points, all while paying Suter to play in Dallas and Parise for the Islanders. They followed that up with another 100+ point season last year, even after losing their other star winger Kevin Fiala in a trade to Los Angeles because of the inability to pay him.

These shock and awe seasons have concluded the way they seemingly always have; with early playoff exits that leave you feeling sour. But when you look at the entire picture it's nothing short of amazing that they're even a playoff team to begin with. Kirill's 5-year deal signed in 2021 came with a cap hit of $9 million and Spurgeon's 7-year deal inked in 2020 hits at $7.575 million. These are the highest AAVs for the Minnesota Wild this season but tied for 3rd are the $7.37 million black holes of Parise and Suter. They make more from the Wild, while playing elsewhere, than Matt Boldy ($7 million AAV), JEE ($5.25 million), Mats Zuccarello ($6 million), and Jonas Brodin ($6 million). Next season, 2024-25 is the final year these atrocities will be on the books and the Wild will at last have room to breathe, freedom to chase high caliber free agents or ink star talents already in the organization we previously had to walk, like Fiala.

The past few years easily could've been a hellacious waiting game, hoping prospects pan out to rise from the bottom and repair the damage done by the two worst deals in NHL history (rivaled only by Rick DiPietro's 15-year robbery of the Islanders). Instead, those years resulted in the franchise's best season and numerous special moments Wild fans wouldn't trade for the world. All on the back of a player we've truly never had before because of a GM that knew he was special and wasn't going to waste his talent. There is light at the end of the tunnel for the Wild but if you were just living in the moment, there was never any darkness.