Zach Parise confirms report that he's joining forces again with Lou Lamoriello

It's true - Zach Parise is headed to Long Island.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 2 years ago
Zach Parise confirms report that he's joining forces again with Lou Lamoriello
FanSided

New York Islanders president of hockey operations and general manager Lou Lamoriello just may in fact be a mad scientist. 

The Islanders earlier today announced four multi-year contracts for Anthony BeauvillierCasey CizikasKyle Palmieri, and Ilya Sorokin. However, one name that was not listed among them included ex-New Jersey Devils captain Zach Parise - until now. 

According to The Athletic's Michael Russo, Parise confirmed that he is indeed joining the Islanders, though the contract has yet to be registered officially with the NHL:

Of course, Parise has a long history with Lamoriello, who was once the head honcho with the Devils. Lamoriello drafted Parise with the 17th overall selection in the 2003 NHL Draft out of the University of North Dakota, and it wasn't long before he developed into one of the premier American-born players in the League. 

However, the two sides parted with one another in the summer of 2012, as the former Devils captain who had just led his team to within two wins of the Stanley Cup decided to sign a massive 13-year contract with the Minnesota Wild along with defenseman and good buddy Ryan Suter; both players were bought out of the remainder of their contracts in the Twin Cities by Wild GM Bill Guerin earlier this offseason. 

While Suter remained a steady blue liner, Parise saw his production and ice time fall in recent years, culminating in just seven goals and 11 assists for the Wild last season while averaging less than 14 minutes a game, the lowest since his rookie campaign of 2005-06. 

His new deal with the Islanders is expected to be filed with the NHL shortly after the team moves defenseman Johnny Boychuk to Long Term Injured Reserve in order to gain full relief of his $6MM cap hit. Of course, the salary and term won't be anywhere near the same stratosphere as the $98 million he agreed to with the Wild nearly a decade ago. 

However, you can bet that Parise will arrive at training camp later this month motivated to show that he can still be a productive player in the NHL. He's also only seven tallies away from reaching 400 career goals. 

In 1,060 career games with the Devils and Wild, Parise has lit the lamp 393 times to go with 417 assists for 810 career points, along with 384 PIM. 

Source: Twitter