Family loss shows Parise and Suter made the right decision in 2012

When Ryan Suter and Zach Parise signed with the Minnesota Wild in the summer of 2012, there was a little bit of anger from their former fanbases, mostly due to the reasoning of why they wanted to head to the Twin Cities.

The major talking point for both was that they wanted to be closer to home, and near family. At the time Parise (a former Devils captain) was engaged to be married. Suter (a Predators minute-crunching cornerstone) had a young son.

Suter’s father, Bob, lived in Madison, Wisc. – Ryan’s hometown. Zach’s father, J.P., lived in the Twin Cities.

Now it’s clear both made the right choice. Bob died in September of a heart attack. J.P. died Thursday of lung cancer. And the proximity of both parents to their children to see their kids play before they died made their 2012 decision seem so much clearer, especially with 2015’s 20/20 hindsight.

“I’m so happy I got to be closer the two years prior,” Suter said to Puck Daddy in early December. “He came to a lot more games and we were able to spend a lot more time together since he was closer. In that regard it worked out great.”

Tweeted Minneapolis Star Tribune beat scribe Mike Russo:

Per the Parise family in a statement:

We appreciate the outpouring of support we have received from family, friends and the entire hockey community during this difficult time. J.P. was a great husband, father and grandpa and will be greatly missed by all of us. 

On the day Parise and Suter signed matching 13-year, $98 million contracts with the Wild, there was obvious frustrations from their fanbases and former bosses.

Said Predators general manager David Poile on a July 4, 2012 conference call.

“He told me it was for family reasons. I guess that’s where the disappointment comes in. I know family is important to all of us, but I know he and his wife likes Nashville. It’s not very far from (his home in) Wisconsin or Minneapolis where her parents are from.” 

You can sort of excuse Poile for these comments, simply because it was a "heat of the moment" type thing. Suter had just signed and he felt a little scorned. Plus, who could have ever known about the unfortunate events in Suter's family two years later.

But those words sort of sparked a groundswell from a lot of Nashville fans ripping Suter for his decision to go to the Wild and perceived insincerity for his family reasoning.

After all, some strangely thought Nashville wasn’t really far from Madison, even though it is actually much further than St. Paul.

Parise was a little different, mostly because he grew up in the Twin Cities area.

Said Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello The New York Times in 2012:

“We made our offer and were told that the money we offered would not be an issue,” Lamoriello said, adding that he was not asked to make a second offer and that the Devils’ financial problems were not part of the negotiations. “The decision from what Zach told me was based upon going home and playing with someone he grew up with.”

While many parsed whether both made a good choice in 2012 from a hockey perspective – and considering the events of recent days they probably didn’t – nobody can be angry for deciding based on family.

Sometimes, the universe calls you to a certain place for a certain reason. Though Craig Leipold's money (as well as their histories of playing Team USA hockey) certainly played a role in their decisions, both guys need each other right now. And it's a positive that they have one another, and family, to lean on.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

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