Parise and Suter a package deal?

Rumors concerning a package deal to the Red Wings between Nashville defenseman Ryan Suter and New Jersey sniper Zach Parise has been somewhat persistent this spring and early summer. Rumors continued on a Parise and Suter rendezvous in Detroit continued at the IIHF World Championships.

Gregg Krupa of the Detroit News reports it’s a “common assumption … Parise and Suter are intent on signing together with a new team” while the Wings have a mutual interest in the two 27-year-old players.

“I am assuming that, at least as of right now, they are a package deal,” one NHL team official told the Detroit News. “They certainly seem to have set it up that way, themselves.”

But before Red Wings fans start committing money to those new Parise and Suter Winged Wheel jerseys, there is still a chance that Suter re-signs with the Predators. Suter has made it clear so far that he intends to sign his last contract this offseason so the Wings and their fans need to be totally sure if they want Suter for the next 10 years or so.

With Parise, there may be little point speculating on his future considering the Devils are one win away from the Stanley Cup Finals.

But, if Suter and Parise do in fact hit the open market, it’s looking more and more likely that their preferred destination would be Detroit.

If longtime forward Tomas Holmstrom retires, defenseman Brad Stuart heads out west and Jiri Hudler signs elsewhere the Wings would have roughly $44 million dollars committed to salary in 2013 and should be able to accommodate both Suter and Parise without issue.

This is how Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, and LeBron James ended up with the Miami Heat.