Zach Parise repeated the query, the look on his face indicating that he thought it self-explanatory, that it had by no means as soon as occurred to him that one thing about this season may not be fulfilling.
“What’s made it enjoyable?” he requested.
Sure, as a result of enjoyable will not be the primary phrase that involves thoughts once you take a look at an Islanders season that began with Stanley Cup expectations and is ready to finish with six weeks of taking part in out the string, with a five-week highway journey, COVID-19 outbreak, plenty of dropping and schedule turbulence packed in between.
Parise, 37, has made the playoffs 13 instances in a profession now in its seventeenth season. He got here to Lengthy Island for lots of causes, however an opportunity to win his first Stanley Cup was no small a part of it. Barring a run that may put the 2019 Blues to disgrace, that isn’t occurring.
Nonetheless, despite the fact that he demurred when requested Thursday morning whether or not he’d mentioned a commerce or an extension with basic supervisor Lou Lamoriello, the pending unrestricted free agent answered unabashedly, “Oh yeah, I’d like to,” when requested if he’d wish to return to the Island subsequent season.
So, what’s made it enjoyable?
“It’s an ideal group of individuals, it truly is,” Parise stated. “We’re all on the market attempting our greatest and taking part in as onerous as we are able to, taking part in for one another. We haven’t gotten the outcomes that we wished, however we don’t come into the rink the following day pouting and quiet. There’s an ideal camaraderie about this group. And yeah, we’re not in a playoff spot proper now, and we’d like to be, however there’s extra to life than that. I don’t assume it’s gonna put everybody in a foul temper daily.”
It took Parise a while into this season earlier than he began to search out his sport, however he’s established himself as a flexible a part of the lineup, capable of slot in up and down the ahead traces, wherever Barry Trotz desires, and contribute. Trotz joked lately that Parise would placed on goalie pads if requested. Parise, who left the Wild after being made a wholesome scratch for parts of final season, simply may.
“Let’s be trustworthy right here: I used to be out of the lineup 12 months in the past,” Parise stated. “To have the chance that [the Islanders have] given me, I’ve tried as finest I can to make the most of it and I’ve cherished each minute of it. They usually’ve put me in good spots, I don’t care the place my identify is on the board.”
Parise’s sensibility suits in completely with this group of Islanders, which grew to become so shut over latest playoff runs. It was no downside for Parise to search out his place within the room this yr, even amid the upheaval, for simply that cause.
“Each night time, he provides you precisely what you anticipate,” Trotz stated. “It’s not, ‘What am I gonna get tonight?’ It’s, you recognize what you’re gonna get. And should you don’t get it, it’s most likely trigger he’s giving every part and he’s simply out of gasoline.”
There may be, looming over the following 4 days, the likelihood that Parise received’t be an Islander subsequent week. He's on an expiring, low-cost deal, and has the expertise and talent to assist a playoff crew.
It could be onerous guilty Parise if he desired such an consequence. Taking part in for a Cup sounds much more enjoyable than seeing what the Islanders can discover in themselves earlier than the clock expires on their season, in spite of everything. However when he speaks, you don’t get the sensation he does.
“I actually have loved being with this crew and these gamers,” he stated. “It’s been a blast, actually.”
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