More than half of the NHL was interested in signing one of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise. Only a few select teams had a legitimate shot at signing both, though. The Detroit Red Wings were one of them, and they were in the hunt for Suter and Parise until the very end. Unfortunately, the very end was Suter and Parise both agreeing to 13-year, $98 million deals with the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday.
Missing out on both free agents certainly stings, but it wasn't for a lack of trying. The Red Wings offered "competitive" deals to both players, but it just wasn't to be for the Red Wings. As general manager Ken Holland said on Wednesday after learning of the news, now it's time to move on.
Just chatted with Ken Holland, ``We feel good about our offers to both Suter and Parise. They were very competitive. Now we move on.''
— Pierre LeBrun (@Real_ESPNLeBrun) July 4, 2012
Holland says he's happy Wingshad the chance to meet with Suter yesterday. Was joined there by Mr. Illitch, Chris Chelios and Mike Babcock
— Pierre LeBrun (@Real_ESPNLeBrun) July 4, 2012
The Red Wings will likely move on by exploring a variety of backup plans for adding help on defense and scoring on offense. What exactly those plans will entail is likely to become clearer in the coming days.
For more on the Detroit Red Wings, check out Winging It In Motown. You can check out more hockey news from around the league at SB Nation's NHL page.