It was July 4, 2012 when Zach Parise and Ryan Suter signed twin 13-year contracts with the Minnesota Wild. Now, just nine years into both deals, the Wild front office and general manager Bill Guerin has agreed to a buyout with both players. Wild reporter Michael Russo was the first to report the news.
As per Russo's report, Guerin contacted both players, letting them know they would be bought out, on Tuesday morning.
Since both players had no-movement clauses with their contracts, they do not need to go through unconditional waivers and will become free agents.
The Wild will continue to pay each player $6.7 million over the next eight years. The team will also be charged with a $2.371 million, $6.371 million, and two $7.371 million cap hits over the next four years, respectively. For the four years after that, they will have a cap hit of just $833,333.
The buyout gives the Wild another $10.333 million in cap space to play with this summer, as they attempt to sign a new contract with Calder Trophy winner this past season, Kirill Kaprizov, and other players like Kevin Fiala.
The buyout will also allow the team to protect two more players in the upcoming Seattle Expansion Draft. The deadline to submit protections lists to the NHL is set for 5 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 17.