from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,

Now the new GM (candidates still being vetted) has to find a way to build a new, successful model, while saddled with the combined $15 million cap hit of two high-profile players entering their middle 30s with a combined 1,863 games. No easy task, though the new guy at least is not walking into a minefield of high-profile UFAs who must be signed or lost to the open market.

But with both Parise and Suter protected by no-movement clauses, along with captain Mikko Koivu, 35, it looks as though a roster overhaul will take years rather than months. If asked, one or more could be willing to pack up, and Parise and Suter no doubt would have suitors, provided Minnesota were to make sizable accommodations (draft picks, salary share) to soften the seven more seasons (each) at $7.5 million remaining on those deals.

“We shot for the moon,” Fletcher said when the franchise landed Parise and Suter. Six years later, with virtually no postseason success to show for it, those signings in large part jettisoned Fletcher.

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