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 won’t be fulfilling.
“What’s made it fun?” he requested.
Yes, as a result of enjoyable just isn’t the primary phrase that involves thoughts if you have a look at an Islanders season that began with Stanley Cup expectations and is about to finish with six weeks of enjoying out the string, with a five-week highway journey, COVID-19 outbreak, numerous dropping and schedule turbulence packed in between.
Parise, 37, has made the playoffs 13 occasions in a profession now in its seventeenth season. He got here to Long 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 will put the 2019 Blues to disgrace, that isn’t taking place.
Still, though he demurred when requested Thursday morning whether or not he’d mentioned a commerce or an extension with common supervisor Lou Lamoriello, the pending unrestricted free agent answered unabashedly, “Oh yeah, I’d love to,” when requested if he’d wish to return to the Island subsequent season.
So, what’s made it enjoyable?
“It’s a great group of people, it really is,” Parise mentioned. “We’re all out there trying our best and playing as hard as we can, playing for each other. We haven’t gotten the results that we wanted, but we don’t come into the rink the next day pouting and quiet. There’s a great camaraderie about this group. And yeah, we’re not in a playoff spot right now, and we’d love to be, but there’s more to life than that. I don’t think it’s gonna put everyone in a bad mood every day.”
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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, in a position to slot in up and down the ahead traces, wherever Barry Trotz desires, and contribute. Trotz joked not too long ago 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 would possibly.
“Let’s be honest here: I was out of the lineup 12 months ago,” Parise mentioned. “To have the opportunity that [the Islanders have] given me, I’ve tried as best I can to take advantage of it and I’ve loved every minute of it. And they’ve put me in good spots, I don’t care where my name is on the board.”
Parise’s sensibility matches 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 12 months, even amid the upheaval, for simply that motive.
“Every night, he gives you exactly what you expect,” Trotz mentioned. “It’s not, ‘What am I gonna get tonight?’ It’s, you know what you’re gonna get. And if you don’t get it, it’s probably cause he’s giving everything and he’s just out of fuel.”
There is, looming over the subsequent 4 days, the chance that Parise gained’t be an Islander subsequent week. He is on an expiring, low-cost deal, and has the expertise and talent to assist a playoff staff.
It can be exhausting accountable Parise if he desired such an consequence. Playing 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 any case. But when he speaks, you don’t get the sensation he does.
“I really have enjoyed being with this team and these players,” he mentioned. “It’s been a blast, really.”
