They have 49 mil committed next year and the Habs 46 mil, both have 15 players signed.
Minny has to get guys like Gandlund, Coyle, Scandella, Zucker, Niederreiter Brodin and Fontaine all signed in 2014 or 2015. Plus they have pretty big holes on defense, makes little sense for them to spend 7.5-8 mil on another winger.
They had the deepest prospect pool a couple seasons ago, along with a nice core of veterans. They were in a similar position as the Blues were before they became contenders.
The Parise-Suter contracts were slightly over the top, but Suter is a very good defenseman and Parise is a great forward. They should have complemented those signings with the acquisition of value players like Regher, Leopold, Gilbert, Kennedy, etc. Instead, they sign Cooke to a ridiculous contract and give up 5 tangible assets (including picks in the deepest draft in a decade, a top goaltending prospect, and a great roleplayer prospect) for an ageing Pominville who is nothing more than a 2nd line winger at this point.
Now they give up two 2nd round picks for Moulson, who they probably won't sign. Odds are they sign Vanek to a 7 year $50m contract. That means about half their salary cap will be tied up in a handful of players over the age of 30.
They'll still have a very weak bottom6, very weak defense outside of Suter, Brodin, and Scandella, and no legitimate starting goaltender.
In other words, they had the chance to catch up to the Kings, Sharks, Blues, Hawks, but failed miserably and will continue to be a fringe playoff team.
