Mark Parrishes From the Wild

by Jes

Back when I used to cover the Florida Panthers, Mark Parrish was one of my favourite prospects on the club. I always have a soft spot for players who play the kind of game I do when I play ball hockey, and Parrish came from the school of Dave Andreychuk offensive forwards.

Sadly, Parrish has never been quite able to match Andreychuk's numbers, or come close to them, and will probably be known more for being part of the awful Roberto Luongo deal than anything else.

It shouldn't be a huge surprise to see that the Wild, facing some cap issues, had to waive Parrish and his $2.5M+ salary.

"Do I think Mark Parrish can still play in the league, can he make some adjustments to still be effective? Yes," [GM Doug] Risebrough said.

The presence of Parrish, who was paid $2.5 million last season, would have cost the team a salary cap hit of $2.65 million this season, bringing the Wild about $2.1 million short of the cap.

"Too close," Risebrough said. "We were looking for a little relief away from the cap."

The team had few options, he added. "I looked at Mark's salary and at what I thought his contributions would be and they were not totally in line," he said. "It's not Mark's fault;

I negotiated the contract."

Well, Parrish's contract wasn't too out of line given that he was an unrestricted free agent, but putting an offensive winger onto a defensive team and expecting good numbers isn't always the best recipe for success.

When I look at the career of Mark Parrish, I see a player whose style of play led to quite a few injuries as well as a player who only ever scored 30 goals once.

One other noticeable trend, besides the fact that Parrish was good at not taking penalties, is that Parrish NEVER got 200 shots on goal in one season ... not even close! You'd figure a net hang-a-rounder like Parrish would easily cross that threshold, but the guy never seemed to be consistent enough to be a dangerous offensive machine.

Parrish has had a solid career, and done well for a 3rd round draft pick, but I still get the feeling he could have been so much better.

* Over at Wild Puck Banter, Pavol Lover Roy Malhberg suspects that Jacques Lemaire had a hand in this transaction. Is there something between Parrish and Lemaire we don't know about?

An Off-Season Look at ... the Minnesota Wild

by Jes

Much to the joy of Canucks fans, the off-season has not been terribly kind to the Minnesota Wild.
Besides losing His Worship Pavol Demitra to free agency, the Wild also lost 2-way rock star Brian Rolston, as well as Branko Radivojevic.

Replacing them? An overpaid over-the-hill Owen Nolan.

Wow.

Let's check out the roster and salary commitments for the Wild as of right now.



Goaltending - Harding and Backstrom give the Wild a fairly strong pair for reasonable salary.

Defence - The strength of the Wild, with a noticeably pricey salary structure. Not a lot of good deals down here, but a group that possesses good mobility and puck moving. The Wild will obviously utilize their speed and passing to keep up a good transition game.

Forwards - The big weakness of the Wild, especially after the departures of Rolston and Demitra. The Wild have a few decent weapons, and little else. Nolan is a decent role player, and Parrish's offence has declined in his later career. Overall, this forward group won't put up many goals.

Never underestimate what Jacques Lemaire can do with a club, and we know the Wild will certainly be tough to play against. For sure, the Wild will be even more boring to watch on TV as Lemaire will have to tighten his system even further.

Right now, the Wild don't appear to be a playoff-bound club, despite what magic Lemaire can make. The Wild will certainly be a great team at preventing goals, but the lack of quality talent and lack of offence will ultimately kill this club.

PAVOL IS YOUR NEW DICTATOR !!!

It appears that our master, lord, and saviour, Pavol Demitra, has been named CAPTAIN of the Minnesota Wild.

Thanks to Mirtle and Roy from Wild Puck Banter for sending me this information.

SAINT PAUL/MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Minnesota Wild President and General Manager Doug Risebrough and Head Coach Jacques Lemaire announced today that forward Pavol Demitra will serve as team captain for the month of October. Brian Rolston and Wes Walz will serve as permanent alternate captains.

Demitra, 32 (11/29/74), collected 64 points (25-39=64) in 71 games for the Wild in 2006-07, his first season in Minnesota. Entering his 11 th NHL season, Demitra has posted 645 points (266-379=645) in 682 career games with St. Louis, Los Angeles and Minnesota. Demitra hails from Dubnica, Czechoslovakia.

Minnesota will continue to rotate its team captaincy on a monthly basis this season based on the player who has shown the greatest leadership qualities.

Rolston (October, November and January), Keith Carney (December) and Mark Parrish (February, March and April) wore the 'C' for Minnesota in 2006-07.

You may now bow down and kiss the skates he ... err ... skates in!

I am quite surprised that Pavol was given this honour, given the fact that he is a very quiet guy and has been generally shy about talking much due to his (self-perceived) lack of Engrish skills.

Pavol joined Zdeno Chara among the rare air of Slovak NHL captains. If Florida was smart, they would give their C to Josef Stumpel and we'd have a trifecta.

An Off-Season Look at ... The Minnesota Wild

By Jes

Over at Das FanHaus, I have a capsule preview of the Minnesota Wild, a team which will give the Canucks a great deal of competition in the Northwest division.

Just like the Canucks, the Wild pretty much stood pat, and did very little other than trade Manny Fernandez for Petr Kalus.

I know it's hard to believe, but Marian Gaborik has never had more than 40 goals or 70 points in a season.

He's got Pavol, he's got speed, he's got health (I hope), so now is the time to break the 40-50 goal plateaus and show us that he's a true star. There has been so much potential for this guy to skate circles around the league, but various factors, self-induced and not, have held this guy back. Really, he's got a huge salary, and needs to start earning it.

Here's the salary structure for the Wild.

It wasn't so long ago that the Wild had a pretty decent roster chalk full of cheap guys. Now? They are a fairly expensive roster, with few bargains to be found. Johnsson is pricey, Parrish is overpaid, and the rest of their stars are well compensated.

The Wild still have some room to add another piece or two, especially at RW, where Parrish isn't so productive any longer, and Koivu is playing out of position.

I fear the Avalanche' offence, but their goaltending is suspect. The Wild have a well-balanced team, a great coach, and good goaltending. It will certainly be a tight race between the Canucks/Wild/Avalanche, and I expect many great divisional matchups throughout the season.