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It’s Minnesota Wild day on PHT

Minnesota Wild Introduce Zach Parise and Ryan Suter - Press Conference

ST PAUL, MN - JULY 9: Zach Parise #11 and Ryan Suter #20 of the Minnesota Wild are introduced during press conference on July 9, 2012 at Xcel Energy Center in St Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)

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Welcome to our offseason initiative — 30 teams in 30 days.

From July 16 until Aug. 14, we’ll be dedicating each day to a new team by recapping the offseason and looking ahead to 2012-13.

There will also be a series of posts looking at key stories, player profiles and burning questions regarding each squad.

Today we continue with the Minnesota Wild.

In 2011-12, they missed the playoffs for the fourth straight year and, with just 81 points in 82 games, posted their worst record since the 2001-02 campaign. The timing seemed right to shake things up and they did just that.

The Wild are arguably the most improved team in the NHL after signing superstars Zach Parise and Ryan Suter to matching 13-year, $98 million contracts.

As if that wasn’t enough, top-tier prospect Mikael Granlund might be ready to not only join the team, but serve as a top-six forward in his rookie season.

There’s certainly a lot of buzz and excitement surrounding the Wild going into the 2012-13 campaign. The odds of them winning the Stanley Cup have vastly improved and the signings resulted in a jump in season ticket sales.

But is all this optimism warranted? Are the additions of Suter, Parise, and Granlund enough to immediately transform the Minnesota Wild from a bottom of the conference team to a legitimate Cup contender?

Stay tuned for our extended coverage of the Wild.