Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Wild fans dream of adding Minnesota native Zach Parise

Anaheim Ducks v New Jersey Devils

NEWARK, NJ - FEBRUARY 17: Zach Parise #9 of the New Jersey Devils prepares for a faceoff during the game against the Anaheim Ducks at the Prudential Center on February 17, 2012 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Just about any NHL fan base could probably be guilty of imagining how much of an impact pending unrestricted free agent Zach Parise could make on their team’s lineup.

Still, some likely have a little more reason to dream big - and Minnesota Wild fans are in that group.

As SBN Minnesota’s Bryan Reynolds points out, Parise is a Minnesota native and his father (and former NHL player) J.P. Parise said that he expects him to live in the State of Hockey after he retires.

Parise’s dad said that “fun” and other factors are important - not just money. Reynolds breaks down why the Wild would clamor to add him (and why they might fall short of certain standards, particularly fun).

No one at Hockey Wilderness put very high odds on either player coming to Minnesota, and no one was willing to say there was better than a one in three chance Parise suits up in Iron Range Red.

Still, Parise seems to be the main target. Suter might provide the stability the Wild blue line needs, but Parise is the ticket selling signing. Parise adds the scoring touch the Wild haven’t had since the departure of Marian Gaborik. Parise would put the fans in the seats, and then provide the excitement to get them right back out of them. And... he’s a good Minnesota boy. The Wild’s Joe Mauer.

There’s only one problem. The money is there. The winning and fun are not.

Parise could be the Wild’s Joe Mauer? I demand his appearance in cheesy dandruff control shampoo commercials, then.

(H/T to Puck Daddy.)