Dad Wild About Son Coming Home To Minnesota

Zach Parise signed a 13 year contract with the Minnesota Wild worth nearly $100 million dollars.

It is a homecoming for Zach, who was born in Minneapolis where his French-Canadian father J.P. Parise played nine seasons with the old Minnesota North Stars.

The most dad was ever paid was $100,000 a season. Zach will make more than that in his first week this season.

"For me, it's beyond comprehension, I guess. I'm an old guy (70). I'm from the old school. I don't think like that," J.P. told the Pioneer Press.

Zach's decision to come home was in no way influenced by his dad or his mom Donna.

"Not really," J.P. said. "The only thing I said is, 'Zach, it's not about tomorrow or today. You've got to look at the big picture here. How will (the Wild) be in a year or two? Will they keep progressing and getting better so that they have a chance to challenge for the (Stanley) Cup?'

"So Zach did all kinds of research on that and was very, very satisfied with the status of the Wild's organization, the prospects and all that. He's looking at the big picture."

Zach should be impressed by what he sees developing in Minny. Obviously the addition of friend Ryan Suter on the blue line is an equally huge boost. Nicklas Backstrom and Josh Harding provide very solid goaltending in net. Mikko Koivu is one of the league's most underrated players. Hopefully he can finally stay healthy for a whole season. And if Dany Heatley, Devin Setoguchi and Pierre-Marc Bouchard can have bounce-back seasons, the Wild are serious contenders for their division title.

But Parise and Suter should be most satisfied with what is yet to come in Minnesota. Mikael Granlund will debut this season. He is arguably the best player outside of the NHL right now. Soon Charlie Coyle, Matthew Dumba, Zack Phillips and Jonas Brodin will lead a pack of promising prospects that rival any organizations.

Parise and Suter should make the Wild a playoff team. But it is the coming generation of young guns that will make the Wild true contenders. The Wild are well positioned to become a top team in the NHL in the coming years.

Say What? Back in April Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold was quoted as saying “We’re not making money, and that’s one reason we need to fix our system. We need to fix how much we’re spending right now. [The Wild’s] revenues are fine. We’re down a little bit in attendance, but we’re up in sponsorships, we’re up in TV revenue. And so the revenue that we’re generating is not the issue as much as our expenses. And [the Wild’s] biggest expense by far is player salaries.”

So spending nearly $200 millions on 2 players is fixing their expenditures? Mr. Leipold isn't a billionaire because he's dumb. But apparently he thinks hockey fans are.