Islanders' Lou Lamoriello: Door still open for Zach Parise to make a return
Zach Parise of the Islanders at UBS Arena on Feb. 24, 2023. Credit: Jim McIsaac
MORRISVILLE, N.C. — The door to return to the Islanders remains open for Zach Parise.
“The lines of communication are certainly open,” president/ general manager Lou Lamoriello said before the Islanders practiced at Invisalign Arena on Friday.
Parise, 39, an unrestricted free agent, has been skating on his own at home in Minnesota after playing the previous two seasons with the Islanders. He had 21 goals and 13 assists in 82 games last season and Lamoriello said during training camp, “The door will always be open.”
“What I said originally has not changed,” Lamoriello said Friday. “That’s the best way I can answer that.
“Zach could help any lineup.”
Parise said after last season that he believed he would play with the Islanders “or nowhere” in 2023-24. He can be signed any time up to the NHL trade deadline on March 8 and be eligible for the postseason.
“I didn’t know that,” Bo Horvat said of reports Parise has intensified his skating. “That’s great. Maybe it’s such a huge addition to our team. All the guys in here love him. I got to play with him for a short time and he was great. He did a lot of really good things for this hockey team and we’d love to have him back.”
The Islanders (15-8-9) will conclude a two-game road trip on Saturday night against the Hurricanes at PNC Arena before heading into the three-day Christmas break. They’ve earned at least one point in 16 of their last 18 games.
Lamoriello said he was not sure when the Islanders will have any of their injured defensemen back. Adam Pelech (upper body) is on long-term injured reserve after getting hurt on Nov. 24, Ryan Pulock (injured reserve/lower body) last played on Dec. 7 and Scott Mayfield (IR/upper body) will miss his sixth game on Saturday.
“I have no update,” Lamoriello said. “Hopefully we will know more a little after Christmas. I wish I could give you an update. I’d feel a lot better if I had an update.”
Overall, Lamoriello said he is pretty optimistic given the Islanders’ performance of late.
They’ll enter Saturday’s game — the second of five straight against Metropolitan Division opponents — in third place, one point ahead of the Capitals and Hurricanes.
“We’ve done a lot of good things,” said Lamoriello, referring to a 7-1-3 run that started with a 5-4 overtime win at Carolina on Nov. 30. “In particular, in my opinion, our special teams even though our [penalty killing] at the beginning didn’t show it. But scoring the number of shorthanded goals helped out with the penalty killing.”
Gauthier returning?
Right wing Julien Gauthier practiced after missing Wednesday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Capitals and exiting Tuesday’s 3-1 win over the Oilers at UBS Arena in the second period. “He’s healthy,” coach Lane Lambert said. “We’ll see what happens with [Saturday’s] lineup.” Oliver Wahlstrom continued to skate in Gauthier’s previous spot on center Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s third line during practice . . . Goalie Ilya Sorokin is expected to start against the Hurricanes.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
