If the Islanders had more points, would Zach Parise be here? 'Tough to answer'
Colorado Avalanche left wing Zach Parise (9) warms up before a game against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Monday, Feb 5, 2024. Credit: Brad Penner
No Islander seemed more devastated after the team was ousted from the playoffs last April than Zach Parise, who sat and stared straight ahead in the dressing room without taking off his uniform for a long, long time.
Did he expect that night that he would play professional hockey again?
“At that point, no,” he said on Monday at Madison Square Garden after a morning skate with the Colorado Avalanche before facing the Rangers, his first game since that loss to the Hurricanes last spring. “I didn’t know for sure, but even throughout the summer, I stayed in shape, but I didn’t skate at all, and I was kind of content on being done.”
That mood changed in September as he saw friends returning to their teams and got “the itch.” Soon he was planning a return for early in the new year.
But things got complicated when the Islanders played unevenly, which in turn complicated Parise’s original plan to play for them or no one in 2023-24.
Parise is 39 and never has won a Stanley Cup, and the Avalanche appear better positioned to do that this season than the Islanders are. Entering Monday night’s games, they had 67 points to the Islanders’ 52.
After Parise signed a one-year, $825,000 contract on Jan. 26, the Islanders’ Mathew Barzal said, “He knows his time is ticking and Colorado is a frontrunner for winning the Cup. I wish that we had done a better job to allow him to come here.”
Parise seemed to confirm Barzal’s account when he told reporters in Colorado on Sunday, “This being my last go at it, nothing’s guaranteed. But I want to put myself in a spot where you have a good chance.”
When asked by Newsday on Monday if he might have been an Islander now if they had sported a better record, he would not say that definitively.
“It’s tough to answer that question,” he said. “I loved playing on the Island. It’s such a great organization and people. Those last two years were awesome. Things happen. There’s conversations that you have.”
Some of those conversations, Parise confirmed, were with Islanders president Lou Lamoriello.
He smiled when asked about Barzal’s comment about him. “I saw that,” Parise said. “Again, he’s a great guy. I loved playing with him. All I can say is that I really loved playing there with those guys.”
Parise said he also loved playing for Lane Lambert, who was fired as the Islanders’ coach last month, and declined to analyze what has gone wrong this season.
“Everyone can speculate; that’s the easy thing to do,” he said. “But when you’re not there, it’s tough to say.”
Parise has gotten good early reviews of new coach Patrick Roy from former teammates.
“From everything I’ve heard, the players love it,” he said. “Talking to a handful of them, they’ve really enjoyed having him there. I think he’s going to do a great job.”
Parise, whose late father, J.P., played for the Islanders in the mid-1970s, spent two years with the team, playing all 82 regular-season games in both and totaling 36 goals and 33 assists.
“I like what he brings to our team,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “He looks like he’s moving real well. He’s in good shape. So he’s ready to go.”
Parise said he will need time to get in hockey shape but hopes that not playing the first 49 games will leave him fresher for the playoffs and a potential Cup run.
“That,” he said with a smile, “is what I keep telling myself.”
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
