Where do the Minnesota Wild go from here?

Cap Hell is here.

The 2022-23 season is the first in which the combined buyout penalties for Zach Parise and Ryan Suter will rise to likely unmanageable levels -- more than $12.74 million next season, and then more than $14.74 each of the following two.

That’s a scary proposition for the Minnesota Wild, to be sure. But it’s also one that provides a little more flexibility than one might think, because the Wild only have one truly expensive restricted free agent to sign.

Kevin Fiala has arbitration rights and a qualifying offer of $5.1-million. Yes, the Wild only have about $3.5-million in cap space, and will have to re-sign other players, but the alarmism about all this feels at least somewhat overblown. Fiala is a very good player, but his qualifying offer is probably just about what he’s wo