Jump to content
Hockey Wilderness
  • 2019 Minnesota Wild Year End Player Review: Zach Parise


    Giles Ferrell

    Zach Parise
    Age: 34
    Position: Left Wing
    2018-19 Stats: 28G-33A-61P
    Contract Status: Signed for six more seasons through 2025 ($7.53 million AAV)




    There was a great deal of uncertainty around Zach Parise entering the 2018-19 season. The year before, Parise underwent a procedure on his back, and it cut his season in half. Parise did return to decent form by March that season, but the question was, could he put together a full season of solid play at the age of 34?

    Parise answered that question with a resounding yes.

    Offering up his best goals and points per game mark since 2014-15, Parise reminded the Minnesota faithful just how good he can be when he fully healthy. Even at an age when players in the NHL take a sharp decline, Parise was able to find a form he had not seen in four seasons.



    The 61 points Parise tallied in 2018-19 was second highest among all NHL forwards aged 34 or older, just trailing San Jose's Joe Pavelski who finished with 64.

    Query Results Table
    Scoring Goals Per Game Point Shares Adjusted
    Rk Player PTS Tm Lg Pos Season Age GP G A +/- PIM EV PP SH GW S S% TOI G A PTS S OPS DPS PS G A PTS
    1 Joe Pavelski 64 SJS NHL C 2018-19 34 75 38 26 -4 22 25 12 1 6 188 20.2 1428 0.51 0.35 0.85 2.51 6.1 1.2 7.3 38 26 64
    2 Zach Parise 61 MIN NHL LW 2018-19 34 74 28 33 -2 26 18 10 0 5 229 12.2 1381 0.38 0.45 0.82 3.09 5.0 1.9 6.9 28 33 61
    3 Justin Williams 53 CAR NHL RW 2018-19 37 82 23 30 -4 44 14 9 0 5 237 9.7 1430 0.28 0.37 0.65 2.89 3.8 1.6 5.3 23 30 53
    4 Eric Staal 52 MIN NHL C 2018-19 34 81 22 30 -7 34 15 7 0 6 215 10.2 1468 0.27 0.37 0.64 2.65 3.3 1.9 5.1 22 30 52
    5 Dustin Brown 51 LAK NHL RW 2018-19 34 72 22 29 -17 24 12 9 1 3 180 12.2 1469 0.31 0.40 0.71 2.50 3.3 1.4 4.7 22 29 51
    6 Joe Thornton 51 SJS NHL C 2018-19 39 73 16 35 8 20 13 3 0 4 90 17.8 1135 0.22 0.48 0.70 1.23 3.5 1.4 4.8 16 35 51
    7 Patrick Marleau 37 TOR NHL C 2018-19 39 82 16 21 -6 28 12 4 0 3 161 9.9 1340 0.20 0.26 0.45 1.96 1.6 0.9 2.5 16 21 37
    8 Thomas Vanek 36 DET NHL LW 2018-19 35 64 16 20 -12 26 12 4 0 1 108 14.8 903 0.25 0.31 0.56 1.69 2.7 0.5 3.3 16 20 36
    9 Frans Nielsen 35 DET NHL C 2018-19 34 72 10 25 -7 14 10 0 0 4 120 8.3 1201 0.14 0.35 0.49 1.67 1.2 1.1 2.2 10 25 35
    10 Ilya Kovalchuk 34 LAK NHL LW 2018-19 35 64 16 18 -26 10 12 4 0 1 141 11.3 1039 0.25 0.28 0.53 2.20 2.2 0.4 2.6 16 18 34

    Provided by Hockey-Reference.com: View Original Table
    Generated 6/6/2019.


    There were even some individual accolades for Parise this season, as he continued to climb the franchise leaderboards in offensive categories. He surpassed Dave Christian (340) for the most goals scored in NHL history by a Minnesota-born player with now 361 career goals.



    Parise currently sits third in team history in goals (167) and fourth in points (336). He also is now second with three career hat tricks in Minnesota, just trailing Marian Gaborik's nine.

    The Bloomington native was even feeling so great this season, he created a Twitter account for which he made his first tweet a memorable one to honor another Minnesota legend.

    https://twitter.com/ZachParise/status/1095387511453552640

    However, next season will mark Parise's age 35 campaign. A fact he is not lost on, as he continues to try and win the elusive Stanley Cup. Parise made it clear at locker room cleanout day in April that he hopes the team does not rebuild and tries to make some additions to get this team back into the playoffs next season. He even cited there is plenty of work to do for general manager Paul Fenton to help inject life into the team's offense, which went lights out in the second half of the season.




    As Parise approaches the 1,000 games played milestone next season, he hopes that the Wild will be back in the competitive column. Perhaps no player will be watching the Wild offseason more closely, as he hopes to get another kick at the can in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

    Even with six years left on his 13-year contract, Parise knows he might not be able to play out that contract with his injury history. For the Wild, they certainly hope he can, as early retirement would cost them dearly.

    But for now, Parise looks to be all systems go as he enters 2019-20, which is about all you can ask of him heading into another season.

    Stats in this post courtesy of Natural Stat Trick, Evolving Hockey, HockeyViz, and Hockey-Reference.




    Never Miss an Episode of Giles & The Goalie!
    http://zonecoverage.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/itunes.jpghttp://zonecoverage.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Podcast-header-Image-City-1.jpg

    Think you could write a story like this? Hockey Wilderness wants you to develop your voice, find an audience, and we'll pay you to do it. Just fill out this form.


    User Feedback

    Recommended Comments

    There are no comments to display.



    Join the conversation

    You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
    Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

    Guest
    Add a comment...

    ×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

      Only 75 emoji are allowed.

    ×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

    ×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

    ×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...