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These is a small obsession among fans when it comes to sweater numbers. It is almost always the first question asked when a player is signed, called up, or traded for. Remember when the conversation about Zach Parise centered on whether or not the 9 sweater being taken would prevent him from coming to Minnesota? Yeah, it's over the top sometimes.
With Parise and Ryan Suter wearing 11 and 20, respectively, what will the other big free agent signings wear with the Wild? For that information, we turn to the one man in the know. And we provide that information after the jump. Get out your wallets.
From Wild equipment manager Tony Da Costa on Twitter:
Wild # update Kassian will wear #42Konopka #28, Dowell #18, Mitchell #17And of course Parise #11,Suter #20#can'twaittogetgoing
— Styleswild (@styleswild) July 18, 2012
For those not following along, that means Zenon Konopka is taking Matt Kassian's number, most likely out of respect, and throwing on the 42 sweater, his number with the Houston Aeros, and becomes the Meaning of Life according to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It really is nice to see the big kids get along.
It also means that you will have to get over the fact that Filip Kuba, Casey Wellman, Todd Fedoruk and Petr Sykora are no longer the 17s to remember in Minnesota. Looks like Nick Palmieri is going to need a new number, too.
Update your score cards, burn your old Palmieri and Kassian sweaters (you know you have them) and thank goodness another day has passed in our quest to get out of this damn heat and back to the good part of the calendar.