Zach Parise chose to play his last season with Colorado for one obvious reason.
Zach Parise chose to play his last season with Colorado for one obvious reason.
The Colorado Avalanche added a veteran forward to their lineup just before All-Star Break and he's ready to get going.
Zach Parise joined the Avs on Jan. 26 and participated in his first practice on Sunday. He said he trained and skated knowing he'd be hopping in the middle of the season and didn't want to be too far behind his team.
"Knowing from September that I was going to take the time to get myself ready. It wasn't really much of a waiting game. I knew this was going to be the timetable," Parise said after practice Sunday morning. "Towards the end it got a little boring just being by myself that long, you want to jump in with the team. Fortunate to have been able to come here and play and I'm looking forward to it."
The 39-year-old said a few players reached out to him but his move to the Avalanche was kept quiet and he mostly dealt with management on making the decision. But he specifically chose the Avs for a reason.
"Just from watching and playing against this group for a long time it's no secret how good they are," Parise said. "And for me, just this being my last go at it, wanted to —nothing's guaranteed — but I wanted to put myself in a spot where you have a good chance (to win the Stanley Cup), and that's all you ask for so that was the biggest draw."
The Minneapolis, Minnesota native said the organization contacted him months ago but he was planning on calling it quits. He said in September when training camp started is when he changed his mind about hanging up his skates to give it one last shot.
"They had reached out a while ago and that was pretty early. And then just kept in touch from then on," Parise said. "At that point still I wasn't sure that I was going to fully commit to doing this but then just as the months started going, I started skating, I started feeling really good and then wanted to pursue it."
This is Parise's 19th season in the NHL, but he said it will be his final one. As a veteran, he brings experience and leadership to a team he knows well having played against them in the same division in his nine seasons with the Minnesota Wild.
"Playing against this team long enough hopefully that style will fit in with these guys but the way these guys work and compete on a nightly basis, I think it'll be a good mix," he said about joining the team.
Parise said he just met some of his teammates for the first time, and he's looking forward to starting off on a long road trip after the rest of the team has been on a week-plus long break (minus Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Alexandar Georgiev who participated in All-Star Weekend). Head coach Jared Bednar said it is good timing to be able to bond with his new team and develop some chemistry with the other players.
"I like it you know, similar to all of our guys at the start of the year — a lot of new faces, I like getting out on the road together. You're coming out of a long break jumping into a back-to-back," Bednar said. "We're going to have a lot of days off on this road trip just because the length of it — and just going through one before the break, I thought we were really fatigued. We've got a nice deep lineup now. We're going to travel with 22, 23 guys so we've got some options there. But for Zach to be able to get around all of our guys 24/7 12-day trip or whatever it is, I think that's beneficial."
Colorado's coach said he is not easing Parise into action, he's throwing him right out there on a line with Ryan Johansen and Artturi Lehkonen. Bednar said he plans on putting his new forward right into the penalty kill unit, as well.
The Avalanche start the long time away from Colorado against the New York Rangers on Monday night.
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