On Tuesday, Minnesota hockey icon Lou Nanne appeared on KFAN Sports Radio to discuss what players the Wild might target this offseason.
For Wild fans longing for Zach Parise, it was a very interesting interview.
Nanne suggested that New Jersey -- due in part to financial troubles -- would be unable to re-sign Parise, which would then set the stage for Minnesota to make a play.
A big, big play.
“I had dinner with [Wild owner] Craig Leipold on Wednesday night,” Nanne said. “I know Chuck Fletcher and Leipold really want Parise, and what Craig told me is how hard he’s going to go after him, and the kind of money he’s going after him [with] -- I don’t see how Parise’s not coming here.
“I can tell you this: No one is going to outbid the Wild. So if Parise goes somewhere else, you can bet he’s going for less money. What I said is, ‘the kind of money that they’re going to offer him, he might as well just come here and own the team and in his later years, win the Stanley Cup as an owner.”
When it came to actual dollars, Nanne wasn’t ready to reveal what Leipold told him, but suggested the offer is going to be huge.
“In confidence of him, I’m not going to say the figure -- but it’s going to be plenty. It is going to be a lot more than I ever expected and you will find out, because once July 1st comes, you’ll be aware of the numbers.
“It is going to be so substantial that I cannot see Zach Parise turning it down.”
According to Capgeek, the Wild project to have $21 million in available space for next season. Long-term, the team is only really locked into Mikko Koivu ($6.75 million annually until 2018) with the likes of Dany Heatley ($7.5 million) and Pierre-Marc Bouchard ($4.08) off the books by 2014.
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