It’s been 1,564 days since the Wild signed Zach Parise and Ryan Suter to matching 13-year, $98 million contracts.

At the time, Wild owner Craig Leipold called the move a “game-changer,” the same words used by Suter’s agent, Neil Sheehy, who compared the deal to Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin playing together in Pittsburgh, and Wayne Gretzky moving to Los Angeles.

“This is the organization’s Rosebud,” Sheehy said.

But the Wild have failed to advance past the second round of the playoffs since 2003, which sparked the club to sign Bruce Boudreau, one of the most successful NHL coaches in recent memory, to a four-year contract last May. Little else has changed, including the fact that Parise and Suter make a combined $196 million and have nine years remaining on their contracts.

So, the question remains: Was it worth it?

“It was absolutely worth it,” said Lou Nanne, longtime North Stars player and general manager. “It was a magnificent stroke by management. It changed the franchise. You can’t have any doubts about that move. That was one of the best moves a team has made in years, in my opinion.” Related Articles Wild open season, Bruce Boudreau era with loss at St. Louis

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Certainly, Parise and Suter were the top players in the 2012 free agent class. Parise was on the brink of stardom after leading the New Jersey Devils to the Stanley Cup Finals; Suter was recognized among the league’s elite blue liners, a smooth-skating minutes-eater in Nashville.

Despite interest from from teams throughout the league, they picked Minnesota and were awarded with identical 13-year, $98 million deals. From that moment, it was Stanley Cup or bust for the Minnesota Wild.

“It’s certainly a lot of money,” said former NHL goaltender and longtime league television analyst Darren Pang. But he still believes the blockbuster signings “were the right move for the Wild.”

Heading into Saturday night’s home opener against the Winnipeg Jets, Parise, 32, has 105 goals and 104 assists in 260 games. He led the Wild with 25 goals last season despite being limited to 53 games because of a back injury. An astonishing nine of those goals came in three games, three hat tricks.

Suter, 31, has 23 goals and 142 assists in 290 games. He scored a magnificent goal in a 3-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues in the season opener on Thursday night but has mostly credited with being the steady leader on a young blue line.

But it’s not the numbers that mean much, anyway. The Wild have made the playoffs in each of their four seasons in Minnesota, but only twice won first-round series. Overall, Minnesota is 153-107-34 since signing Parise and Suter.

Wild fans once ecstatic over the acquisitions are starting to wonder if the Wild wildly overpaid.

“That comes with the package,” Pang said. “The common layman going to watch Minnesota Wild games is maybe making $35,000 to $50,000. They are pouring in money to watch a game that they love. So, to put expectations on two players that make a lot of money is fair.”

The Wild are essentially tied to Parise and Suter for the rest of their careers, taking cap hits until the contracts expire or the players retire, but Nanne believes it was well worth it.

So why isn’t everyone so convinced?

“It’s because people aren’t realistic when they look at it,” Nanne said. “They think if a team makes a big deal like that, then they should automatically win the Stanley Cup. That doesn’t happen. There are a lot of things that go into winning the Stanley Cup. It’s not only on two players to win the Stanley Cup.”

Parise said there have been “steps in the right direction” since he and Suter signed, noting that the team has made the playoffs in each of the past four seasons.

“Not that that’s the ultimate goal,” he added. “We obviously want to keep going and make it further. We have gone in that direction of being a consistent playoff team now. We want to get to that next level and be a legitimate contender. That is what we’re working towards.”

Suter echoed that notion.

“It takes time to win,” he said. “You don’t make a couple trades and win overnight. It’s a process, and for us to win we knew it’s going to take time. To make the playoffs in every year since we’ve been here is a huge thing. Now it’s time to start taking those next steps. … We know it’s a marathon not a sprint.”

Mikko Koivu said criticism of the Parise and Suter deals is “a media thing,” emphasizing that it takes more than two players to win the Stanley Cup

“It doesn’t work that way,” he said. “Everyone has to be good.”

“We have to find the positive things, too,” Koivu added. “It doesn’t happen by accident that they’re great players every season. And I believe because of them, the younger guys have been better because we have leaders like them.”

Charlie Coyle, for example, said he has learned a lot simply from watching Parise and Suter play and prepare.

“You come in here as a kid, basically, and look at the older guys and how they go about their business,” he said. “I learned a lot from watching them. It’s nice to have guys like that to learn from. You try to emulate that.”

Coyle has played on lines with Parise over the past few years and is entrenched on the top line with him again this season.

“Zach’s been great at making me feel comfortable over the years,” he said. “When I started as a rookie, I was playing with Zach and it was pretty nerve-wracking. He was great at making me feel comfortable and allowing me to play my game with them. That is pretty much the way it’s been for everyone since they’ve been here.”

Marco Scandella said the same of Suter.

“When we watch a guy like that play, he makes the game look easy,” Scandella said. “So, having him as the general on the back end is huge. It has made everyone better.”

It’s pretty clear why current Wild players feel good about the signings. What about the detractors?

“You know, people can say what they want about it, about how it wasn’t ‘good for the franchise,’ ” Nanne said. “It was good for the franchise. It helped stabilize the franchise. It gave the franchise a chance to go bigger. It gave the franchise an opportunity to reach the next level.

“They have been to playoffs every year since they’ve been here. You make that move 100 times out of 100.”

In the end, Pang said, the Wild got exactly what they paid for in Parise and Suter, calling them “foundation guys” that every franchise needs to succeed.

“I can’t stress enough how difficult it is to make the playoffs out of the Central Division. You want to talk about getting over the hump,” he said. “Is a pair of players going to get a team over the hump? No. You look around the NHL, though, and who wouldn’t want a Zach Parise on the up-top and a Ryan Suter on D. They are really, really good players. … I think they’ve got lots left in them.”

With nine years remaining on each of those deals, the Wild are hoping Pang is right.