Here’s part of the reason why the Wild didn’t trade Zach Parise to the Islanders

People will be talking about the Minnesota Wild’s failed attempt to trade Zach Parise for a while. Both Parise and New York Islanders forward Andrew Ladd chose to waive their no-move clauses, and it seemed like a deal was imminent. However, the trade never ended up materializing, leaving many Wild fans scratching their heads. What caused the deal to fall through?

In his latest 31 Thoughts column, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman cleared the air a little bit regarding the trade that never was. There are still some details we might not ever learn about, but for now, it does appear that money played a significant factor in Parise not being moved to New York.

Friedman also mentioned in his column that the Islanders had some interest in Wild captain Mikko Koivu, but as The Athletic’s Michael Russo reported on Saturday, the soon-to-be 37-year-old opted not to waive his no-move clause ahead of the trade deadline. In all likelihood, Koivu will finish his career with the Wild.

It will be interesting to see if Parise remains on the Wild come the start of the 2020-21 season. This is the second time (that we know of) that the Wild have tried to move Parise elsewhere, which is reminiscent of how things unfolded for Jason Zucker before he was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins earlier this month.

The Wild are expected to make some potentially significant changes this offseason, and at this point, it wouldn’t be totally surprising if one of those changes involves the movement of Parise.