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July 4, 2012: The Day That Killed The Minnesota Wild



It was supposed to be the start of a golden age for Minnesota hockey. An end to their years of futility after a surprise playoff run almost ten years earlier. Signing the two best free agents on the market had the area dreaming of the Stanley Cup again.

Sadly, reality rarely works out as planned. The two players that were thought to have taken them over the top haven’t had the significant impact they desired. The two have helped to bring the Wild back to the playoffs, but nothing further.

Competing, but not a true contender. This is the woe of the Minnesota Wild, a team locked into two terrible contracts for many more years to come. A team that can’t supplement their core with talents to take them over the top. A team that is flirting with the irrelevance that they sought to overcome.

This video’s a little different than the usual fare. Just figured I’d change things up a bit. Keep it “fresh”.

“Fun” fact: This video slot was originally going to be a video about the Philadelphia Flyers. Winning nine of ten games kinda puts those plans on hold. Only fair.

20 Comments

  1. I'll say the signings doomed them. Just after they signed those 13 year deals the NHL locked out and with it came a new CBA which put a cap on how long teams could sign players for. Which was eight years. If Parise and Suter signed 8 year deals then they would be have seen their contracts expired by now instead of being bought out and putting the Wild into potential financial ruin following this current season. How long until players like Zuccarello, Brodin and Greenway have to be moved because of the amount of dead cap they will be paying for the next few years?

  2. Dan Cloutier definitely cost the Canucks deep playoff runs if not a potential cup.

    Stupid Cloutier.

  3. Happy 10 Year Anniversary Wild! You killed your ability to compete for a Stanley Cup long term for the glories of two second round appearances.

  4. So Fletcher signs Parise and Suter, and 10 years later, is too cowardly to sign Johnny Hockey, a local superstar? Fire Fletcher into the Delaware right now. In fact, he can fall off the Walt Whitman right into it

  5. Can't believe it's been over a decade since those signings! While Parise & Suter are definitely great (speaking on when the contracts were signed at least), I (& likely many others) knew those contracts were gonna be a special kind of brutal eventually

  6. coming back to this video after seeing chuck fletcher do the same shit with the flyers

  7. Fun fact if the Wild signed them 3 months later. They would of been 8 year contracts instead of 13

  8. Chuck Fletcher should be banned from having another GM job in the NHL when the Flyers inevitably fire him. How many more franchises can he plunge into cap hell?

  9. Lol yeah it's not a matter of what an UFA is actually worth, it's about outbidding the entire league. Still, I can't imagine any other teams offered even close to those numbers

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