The Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS - The Minnesota Wild are poised for an aggressive approach when the NHL's free agent signing period starts.
The question is whether their sales pitch will be strong enough to persuade top prizes Zach Parise (pictured above) or Ryan Suter or both to join a team that has missed the playoffs for four straight years.
The market opens Sunday, and the Wild are more than $19 million under the salary cap that was set this week for the 2012-13 season at $70.2 million. So they'll be able to offer more money than some of the other teams competing in what's considered a high-quality, low-quantity pool of unrestricted free agents.
They also have local connections they can use with Parise, who grew up in the Twin Cities and Suter, from Wisconsin.
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