Craig Leipold, determined to win a Stanley Cup for Minnesota, two summers ago invested $196 million in free agents Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. Monday night, before 19,314 raucous fans in St. Paul, Parise and Suter teamed up on the winning goal for the Wild against Colorado in Game 6 of the playoffs.

This summer, look for Leipold, the Wild owner, to spend whatever it takes — probably another $40 million or so — to add free agent Thomas Vanek to the roster.

Simple math shows what impact Vanek could have on the Wild. This season, in 78 games for three NHL teams — Buffalo, the Islanders and Montreal — the former Gophers winger scored 27 goals.

Vanek, 30, presumably will replace Dany Heatley, 33, in the Wild offense and salary slot. In 76 regular-season games this season, Heatley scored 12 goals.

Assuming Vanek produces at the same rate next season, that’s a 15-goal differential. And probably four or five more Wild victories. And that could mean home ice for the playoffs, which the Wild could have used in their series against Colorado.

Chicago’s Duncan Keith (79 games, 61 points, on-ice average of 25 minutes, 39 seconds) probably will win the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman. But the Wild’s Suter (82 games, 43 points, 29:25) has to be considered among the top three Norris candidates with Nashville’s Shea Weber (79, 56, 27:54).

Bob Mason, who was the Washington Capitals’ goaltender in the 1987 Stanley Cup playoffs, is the Wild’s goaltending coach. It’s his job to make sure Minnesota goalie Darcy Kuemper, 23, is ready.

“Your preparation probably isn’t any different for a goaltender (for the playoffs) than it is for a regular-season game,” Mason said Monday. “You’ve got to prepare every night. If you don’t prepare in regular season, you’re going to be in trouble.

“The importance of these (playoff) games is bigger — in the back of your mind, you know that — but you can’t alter. If you’ve had good preparation throughout the regular season, there’s not a big need to alter it.”

Mason and Kuemper sit down before games “and you give him a rundown of what might happen,” Mason said. “We did video yesterday, a little bit on (Colorado’s) offense, what are their habits, little reminders on certain players on the ice, how their defensemen play in a zone — a glimpse of what he might see, so he’s ready for it.”

Mason described Kuemper as “cool and confident.”

Ben Clymer, the former Bloomington Jefferson, Gophers and NHL standout who is an insightful TV analyst for the Wild, Gophers and Big Ten Network, has missed working the past few Wild games after undergoing reconstructive nose surgery Thursday at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

Clymer, 36, who spent eight seasons in the NHL, had his nose broken 14 times as a player.

“I’m looking forward to being able to breathe and sleep again,” he said, still recovering Monday.

Clymer, who won a Stanley Cup in 2004 with the Tampa Bay Lightning, recently accepted a financial adviser position with managing director Pete Eckerline‘s Merrill Lynch Wayzata firm.

Clymer’s nose, he said, “has had its moments when it got knocked about.” The last time it was broken was about six years ago in a fight with Mike Commodore, then of the Carolina Hurricanes.

“He punched me and made it a little bit straighter,” Clymer said.

Were those 14 broken noses worth it?

“A Stanley Cup along the way certainly makes all the bumps and bruises worth it,” Clymer said.

Defenseman Jack Dougherty of the U.S. National Development program via St. Thomas Academy, at No. 30, is the top-ranked Minnesota high school-age prospect for June’s NHL amateur draft by Central Scouting.

Among other Minnesotans: Defenseman Jack Blover, No. 38; defenseman Luc Snuggerud, No. 42; forward Mitch Slattery, No. 81; defenseman Nickey Wolff, No. 89; forward Karson Luhlman, No. 94, forward Steven Spinner, No. 96; forward Austin Poganski, No. 100; defenseman Tyler Nanne, No. 118.

With encouragement from former Montreal Alouettes coach Marc Trestman after the current Chicago Bears coach had Adam Weber in for a recent tryout, the former Gophers QB has signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League. Weber, 26, will be one of four QBs competing for a starting job.

DON’T PRINT THAT

Pssst: Although Phil Falcone still is believed to own the second-most equity in the Wild after Craig Leipold, that equity has diminished, and the Chisholm native no longer is considered a potential majority successor to Leipold.

Don’t be surprised if former North Star Brian Lawton, former general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning, ends up with a GM offer from the Washington Capitals.

Wild players will tell you that the speed of Mikael Granlund and Erik Haula, both 22, changed the team’s offensive complexion during the second half of the season during the second half of the season.

Discussions for a permanent practice facility for the Wild have quietly begun.

Twins players Glen Perkins, Josh Willingham, Trevor Plouffe, Brian Dozier and Phil Hughes bought a suite to attend Monday night’s Wild-Colorado game.

Also planning to attend was Vikings wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson.

OVERHEARD

Suspended Wild winger Matt Cooke, who was the last player on the ice for Monday morning’s team practice: “Doing my best.”

Follow Charley Walters at twitter.com/Charley_Walters. He can be reached at cwalters@pioneerpress.com.