Parise, Suter to Minn.; Flyers go to Plan B
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flyers Report: Broad Street Bull
Parise, Suter to Minn.; Flyers go to Plan B
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
The Flyers made huge offers, but in the end, they fell on deaf ears.
Defenseman Ryan Suter and left winger Zach Parise, the prizes in this year's free-agent pool, signed with the Minnesota Wild, a team that hasn't made the playoffs during the last four seasons.
Parise, a Minnesota native,and Suter each received 13-year deals for $98 million. That's an annual cap hit of $7.54 million, which is seventh in the NHL.
The Flyers are believed to have offered each player a 12-year contract in the $100 million neighborhood.
At 11 a.m., the Flyers had not heard from the Suter or Parise camps on Wednesday _ and that seemed like a negative sign.
On Twitter, some Flyers fans said it would be fitting for the duo to make the announcement that they were coming to America's birthplace _ Philadelphia _ on the Fourth of July.
Ah, dream on.
Suter and Parise are close friends and they conferred with each other during the free-agency period, fueling speculation they would be a package deal.
The speculation turned into reality.
They will try to help the Wild win their first playoff series since 2003.
The Flyers will turn their attention to trying to sign UFA defenseman Matt Carle. If he is commanding $5.5 million per year, the Flyers should pass.
Carle is talented and would help the Flyers, but in the long run, a multi-year deal with that kind of financial commitment might hamstring the club in the future.
Free-agent winger Shane Doan interests the Flyers, but he will stay in Phoenix if the franchise doesn't move. He said he will decide by July 9; by that time it should be known if the Coyotes are remaining in Phoenix.
The Flyers will try to deal for either Anaheim's Bobby Ryan ($5.1 million cap hit for next three years) or Columbus' Rick Nash ($7.8 million cap hit for next six years), a pair of high-scoring forwards who would give them some much-needed size on the wings.
(more coming)
Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.
- Semin scores a lot during the regular season, but "disappears" during the playoffs....Most think he is a kitty cat....
Carles asking price just SOARED. He is the same age as Suter, I cant see him getting less than 8 years at this point.
Anaheim's asking price for Ryan also jumped, since he is a bargain at this point.
Not looking good for Paul Holmgrem. He should have made either of the above deals before the market was set.— astroqueen0- Well Ryan probably won't come to Philly because Homer won't trade Couts, Schenn or Jake which the Ducks would want at least two of them. I would trade any of them either, they all have too much potential to match or be better than Ryan at some point. — LAFlyer
- these signings would've crippled the flyers for years, this is posiive news. must make a play for shea weber, all in! he's twice the player that suter is.— CosmoK
- So, the two musketeers pick a loser to sign with so they will look good without risk. This is a gut check for Parise and Suder that tells you what kind of people they are. We did well to not win that dog race! The only negative is that their ridiculous contract sets the tone for all the other entrants in the free agent derby. Best wishes to Jaromir Jagr. He was a great addition to the Flyers but money does talk and we were not about to offer him that kind of money. I am sure that Holmgren will find a satisfactory replacement for the first line. JVR was not a major contributor last year so he won't really be missed. This is already a solid team and a couple of pieces will make them contenders again.— gotedge
- Charlie Garner, go beat your dogs...what a loser poster, maybe the worst on this board, you are delusional.— BirdinParadise
- Best case scenario for the Flyers. Well played by Holmgren to drive up the price a little. Worst case was Parise or both going to Pitt. Second worst case was both accepting the Flyers offer and we have to shed salary (most likely meaning a downgrade in depth). Wild are still pieces away from being a real contender and none of our direct threats became drastically improved. Still need to pick up another forward and a defenseman from somewhere. Despite the turnovers, Carle had the second highest point total of our defensemen and was one of only three players to play all 82 games for the team. Unless his price drastically goes up I would resign him and go from there. If not, its sort of slim pickings unless you take a shot on an unproven guy or a guy past his prime. Right now we are still pretty solid without making any major trades/pickups I think:
Hartnell - Giroux - Voracek
Talbot - Briere - Simmonds
Schenn - Read - Wellwood
Rinaldo - Couturier - Zolnierczyk
Timonen - Colburn
Grossman - Meszaros
Schenn - Lilja
Bryzgalov (Leighton as backup)
Other 3 on active roster:
Gustafsson or Bourdon
Sestito
Shelly— MadChemist13 
Comment removed.- Clarkie just put his drink down— attila
- Go after Weber. Try for Yandle or wait for the trade deadline for D. Don't get rid of Couturier.— Kev H
- Never thought they were coming to Philly and the Flyers should have read the tea leaves better. That said, they shouldn't throw too much at Carle. He's not worth it. Have to wonder if they would've have pushed for more in the JVR trade if they knew things would work out this way.
After the JVR trade, Jagr defection and if Carle walks, the team is weaker defensively and offensively. With the Russian cosmonaut and Leaky between the pipes they still have massive issues in net. The only good news is the Devils and Pens (with the Staal trade) are weaker going into next season as well.— Repubrebirth - Minnesota was the perfect fit for these guys. They are local and will not get ripped apart by the media here like they would in Philly if things don't go well right away. I grew up in Philly and moved to Minnesota in the late 80's, still a Flyers fan— ghost78
- This is the best possible outcome in every way! Neither go to the Penguins, we don't have the burden of these outrageous long term deals, and we can focus on our youth. Win, Win, Win. Just glad they finally made a decision so the anxiety can settle and we can focus on making better decisions!— Neebo
- I fear that Homer is now going to pull the trigger on Ryan or Nash and give up quite a bit in return. I'd rather see a good dman come here. But looks like slim pickin's left for FA Dmen. I see Ryan Parent is FA. They were high on him a couple of years ago, bring him back? Just askin'— BillyPhilly
