The NHL's summer logjam has officially been removed, as the Minnesota Wild scored a massive coup on Wednesday by signing both forward Zach Parise and defenseman Ryan Suter, the top two free agents on the market this summer.

With that out of the way, it's expected that the rest of the NHL's summer business can proceed. The business of signing free agents and trading unhappy players, that is, not the business of signing a new collective bargaining agreement between the league and the NHL Players' Association (although negotiations are set to continue on Thursday and Friday).

With Parise off the market and playing for his hometown team, the bidding figures to intensify around Columbus Blue Jackets star-slash-malcontent Rick Nash. The first overall pick in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft is this summer's top trade target after he requested a trade during the 2011-12 season, and Parise's decision to sign in Minnesota should clear the way for him to move, as teams that were previously in the hunt on Parise may now be more likely to come up with a deal that's to the liking of Columbus general manager Scott Howson, which had been an issue previously.

Howson's hopes of getting absolute top value may have taken a tumble when Parise chose Minnesota over Pittsburgh, as the thought of Parise playing alongside either Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin with the Penguins could have lit a fire under the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers - two of the teams believed to be in the hunt for Nash - to try to keep up. That said, however, the fact that the Detroit Red Wings missed out on both Parise and Suter may give them more urgency to try to make a deal, as Howson is reportedly willing to trade Nash within the Central Division if the price is right. That decision wouldn't go over well in Columbus, though, as evidenced by a column by Michael Arace in Thursday's Columbus Dispatch.

"That might be the only resolution that makes the situation worse here," Arace wrote. "Please, not Detroit."

While the Parise and Suter decisions felt drawn out, the reality is that they took the first four days of the free agent season to make their decision. Howson will likely take longer, as the deal for Nash is a pivotal decision for the future of the Blue Jackets franchise and Howson's tenure as general manager.

With Parise off the market, however, expect teams to show more urgency.