Are the Wild making a mistake?

From Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News:

I guess the other interesting point about this deal for Minnesota is that they will be giving Antti Miettinen the same salary and same minutes that they gave to Parrish,and the numbers of the two players suggest that Parrish is a much better offensive player. Mix in the potential cost of a buyout for Parrish, and you have to wonder if the decision to sign Miettinen and cast Parrish aside is a smart one for the Wild.

Read the entire post from Stars Blog here.

The point raised by Heika is well taken.  Parrish had three years remaining on his contract, and Miettinen just signed a three year deal.  Additionally, the money per season is less than a million dollars apart in each of the three years that both players were signed for.  Looking more closely at the stats, demonstrates very similar production as well; as Miettinen had 34 points in 69 games last season and Parrish had 30 points in 66 games.