centcougar07

They don't have the money to sign him. They don't even know who's going to own the team in the next year or two. It's so financially unstable that there really isn't any chance he re-ups there in my mind. Plus, they aren't going to be as good in the future (already been stated but just reiterating).

I wouldn't say Minnesota isn't a classy organization. Sure they haven't accomplished much but they also have only been in the league for 12 year, Detroit has a few on them I believe. And they've really only had a competent GM for 3 of those years (the past 3). I think they've done an outstanding job of drafting and making trades the past few years and have built the team the right way, from the ground up. As I said Minnesota will have plenty of cap space to work with this year and in the coming years. Bouchard and Backstrom will be off the books next year as well as a couple of old buyouts. And Heatley will be off by the time most of their prospects entry deals come to an end. And I think Cullen comes off sometime soon as well. So the only big contract they will have left is Koivu's at 6.5 a year and while I think that's overpayment, they shouldn't have a problem with money anytime soon. And everything I heard from Minnesota this past year (coaches, teammates, FO, etc.) says that Dany Heatley has been a model teammate and role model. So much so that they gave him the 'A' after only the first month of him being there. Apparently his work ethic has been killer. So I don't know, maybe he's cleaned up his act for good. Because they said the same things in San Jose. Except Radulov isn't outside the NHL anymore. Plus he's Russian so it doesn't count. We know how lazy those damn commies are. And yes the hometown draw will probably have a lot more to do with it than people think. His whole family is there, that has to be a draw. If I was him I'd love to play in a place like Minnesota will borderline insane passion for the game of hockey as a whole, on and up and coming team, all while being hailed as 'God' by many fans and getting to spend all of the holidays and what-not with family. Not to mention testing the durability and functionality of all the furniture in my brand new house with my smoking hot wife....

No he's from Minneapolis. He went to school for a year or two in Faribault at Shattuck St. Mary's. But he was born and raised in the Twin Cities.

I've said it before but I'll say it again, Minnesota has some of the best prospects in the league and a lineup that, when healthy, was the top team in the league points wise. They have a very deep, very talented prospect pool. So even only a third of them live up to expectations, they are going to be a very, very good team in about 2 years. And I think it's reasonable to say that very rarely do prospects end up being complete and total busts when they are as highly touted as Minnesota's are. Mikael Granlund just signed with them and he's been called by many the best hockey player outside of the NHL. So without going too deep into that (because I could go deeper), I'll just say that Minnesota has a great future ahead of them. Their stock is rising and Detroit's is falling IMHO. Plus they have the cap space to sign big time players and they will continue to have a lot of cap space in the future when they get rid of certain contracts on their roster (i.e. Backstrom, Cullen, etc.). They will probably make the biggest offer in a monetary sense. I think they will be big players and certainly have a great chance to sign Parise. Plus I suppose it doesn't hurt that they have the hometown draw. Parise's got a hot new wife and they just bought a new house out there last summer. I'm sure he'd love to come home to her after a 3 point night.

Minnesota gets brought up among potential suitors. They will make a substantial offer. There's a good chance they land him IMO.

I'd rather go to a team that has a more solid future. Something tangible that I can see in front of me. Not just a promise that we "know what we're doing" because we were able to reload once before. Not good enough for me to sign away 6-7 years of my life.

Fair enough and I see you point. But I don't think Parise and Suter make us favorites for the cup or anything. Do they give us a better chance? Sure. But who knows what would happen with the rest of our players. A lot of them have been showing signs of age and declining numbers wise. I think it will be very hard to convince two star players to potentially sign over the remainder of their careers to us when the future is so uncertain. I say uncertain because I think we all saw how old we looked in that series against Nashville this year. They beat us by winning races to pucks and being faster and quicker in general. I think age is definitely showing, and the prospect pool is less than exciting if you ask me. Smith is the closest thing we have to a sure thing and even he could slip to be only a middle/bottom pairing NHL defenseman. You can only preach the history of the organization for so long before top FA's are going to start asking questions about the future. Excuse me for being unpopular but if I was a top FA making possibly the most important decision of my life I'm going to want a little more than "don't worry, we've figured it out in the past, it'll all work out again somehow..." I mean the history is great but the only appeal it would have to me is that I'd be part of a storied organization. But if I'm looking for a place to call home for the next 7-8 years, I don't really give a rats ass about what happened 10 years ago when I was still in high school. I want to know that we're going to be strong competitors for all those years. Ideally, I'd sign with a team that can win a little bit now and only get better as time goes on by inserting prospects into the lineup and sprinkling in other FA's if need be. Ken Holland is going to have a tougher sell job than you think IMO.

No, he has only been captain for one year (this year).

Second that

Discounted based on the fact that they will get higher offers from other teams.

What do you mean winning? We haven't got out of the second round of the playoffs in 3 years. I mean sure we've won in the regular season but recently, we haven't done much in the playoffs. How does it give us an advantage?

I'm sorry but having a "tradition of winning" isn't worth a velvet painting of a whale and a dolphin getting it on when the season starts. Everyone is 0-0. It tradition was a factor as you are trying to present, then every top FA would want to sign with Montreal or Toronto. It's a nice thought but I don't see how history would convince a FA to sign or not sign in the present. It's about the here and now and then the future, IMO. How did either of them grow up in Ann Arbor?

Haha... Talk about overestimating. What world do you live in? Try and be objective.

I think you're underestimating how hard it is to "reload" like what happened last time when Stevie Y was on his way out.

I think Parise is gone no matter what. The money/stability isn't there in NJ.

34 is old for anyone who has been playing hockey their entire lives. Not saying there aren't a couple good years left but the decline is on.

The s*** sandwich being the notion that we're going to sign these FA's because there's no way they could possibly sign elsewhere and then all of our A++ prospects who are clearly the next Datsyuk's and Zetterberg's and Lidstrom's, will come in here and everything will be just fine. I don't buy into it.

The s*** sandwich being the notion that we're going to sign these FA's because there's no way they could possibly sign elsewhere and then all of our A++ prospects who are clearly the next Datsyuk's and Zetterberg's and Lidstrom's, will come in here and everything will be just fine. I don't buy into it.

I think we can all agree $10mil is a ridiculous number. He won't get paid that much. Even if he was offered that, Ken Holland would never pay that much. There are a number of teams in good position to sign him which is why I think that the bidding will ultimately get too high for Holland and unless he wants to take a substantial pay cut (1-2 mil) to play here, he will be elsewhere.

Rangers would be asking for a lot in return.

Just because he doesn't eat the s*** sandwhich put on his plate by arrogant fans/management doesn't mean he doesn't cheer for the team to win.

He's 34. He'd fit right in with Datsyuk and Z!

Most are drinking Red Wings flavored Kool aid and wearing their thick red wings glasses

Case in point.

Because they aren't really 'top prospects'. Maybe among our organization. Not so much throughout the rest of the league.