'He's a highly dedicated player': Avalanche excited for what new forward brings to team
The Avs new forward has experience, leadership and skill — qualities that add to the team's depth on and off the ice.
Colorado's addition of Zach Parise was a move to add depth — and he does. While head coach Jared Bednar has not placed him in the lineup yet, expect he'll be in the bottom six to strengthen one of those lines.
"He's a highly dedicated player. When it comes to his habits, they're elite a lot like Cogliano (Andrew Cogliano) — in that, an older guy that's been around, great leadership," Bednar said about his new veteran forward. "I think you'd take his reliability — has played 82 games the last couple years. It's because he takes care of himself off the ice and has those types of habits that we really like. And he chips in offensively. He does a great job as a trusted guy on the defensive side. So yeah, we'll see. We'll get him in here. See what he looks like with our group and we'll make a decision."
The 39-year-old spent his last two seasons with the New York Islanders and according to The Hockey News' Stefen Rosner, he said he didn't plan on playing anywhere else.
As Rosner points out, you can't blame a player at the end of his career wanting to win a Stanley Cup, right? Something the Avalanche are familiar with from the past.
According to Mikko Rantanen, veteran leaders Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog had a part in bringing Parise to Colorado. Rantanen said he is excited for what his new teammate brings to the group.
"Great veteran guy and solid, hard working guy and always had the edge in his game a little bit. He was battling hard what I remember from Islanders and playing against Minnesota," Rantanen said. "He was always tough to handle sometimes even though he's a small guy. So, happy for him again, and he could score you know, it's like we saw even last years, older guy but still ... can put the puck in the net."
The Minneapolis, Minnesota native played in 1,224 career NHL games earning 879 points (429G/450A) with the New Jersey Devils, Minnesota Wild and the Islanders. He tallied 80 points (37G/43A) in 111 career postseason games.
"From what I've seen, he's a tough player to play against — very strong on his legs, especially as a D-man he's really good in the corners," Cale Makar told Guerilla Sports' Jesse Montano. "I'm excited obviously to meet him and then hopefully he can be a big impact for us going forward."
The Avalanche have not confirmed whether Parise will be available to media on Monday, but that is the expected day he will address his new group of reporters.