UFAs Gone Wild: Wings Weep as Suter, Parise land in Minnesota

It is a worrisome day for Wings fans.

After all the hype and nigh-certainty that the two biggest names on the UFA market were coming to Hockeytown for a run at the Cup, Detroit fans were shocked to hear that Zach Parise and Ryan Suter have both signed with the Minnesota Wild, both landing 13-year, $98 Million contracts.

Isn't that cute?  They match...!

Detroit was desperately hoping to land Suter, arguably even more than Parise, as the void left by the retirement of Nicklas Lidstrom and departure of Brad Stuart have left the Wings' blueline dangerously thin.  Losing out on Parise means that the Wings are still lacking a high-offense forward to take over the spot that Jiri Hudler vacated when he signed with Calgary.

Thus far, the Red Wings have signed backup goalie Jonas Gustavsson, Swiss forward Damien Brunner, Nashville pest Jordin Tootoo, and Detroit returnee Mikael Samuelsson.  Many fans were baffled by some of these moves, excited about others, but most all agreed they were simply precursors to the big deals the Wings would ink with Suter and Parise.  Now, Detroit is still left short on the blueline, and the offense still has a huge question mark hovering over its head.

So now that plan A has failed, it's time to see what Ken Holland and the rest of the Red Wings' management have up their sleeves as a contingency plan..