As the season looms, just three days until Saturday’s Opening Night, it’s time to look at some of the Wild players and the projections that are currently tied to them for the upcoming, shortened season. Up first is the most anticipated season debut for the Wild in quite a few years, Zach Parise.
The signing of Parise and Ryan Suter have instantly jolted the expectations of Wild fans, from just a playoff spot to competing for the Northwest division title. Parise will have a major impact on whether or not the Wild can claim one of the top three seeds in the West.
According to ESPN’s fantasy hockey projections, they have Parise scoring 19 goals while adding 25 assists; good for 44 points. They also project Parise will play in all 48 games, making him just under a point per game player.
Last season Parise played all 82-games for the Devils and racked up 31 goals and 69 points that helped him come in at number 13 on TSN’s top 50 NHL player rankings. He registered a point in roughly 84% of the games he played in and when comparing it to this year’s projections, he would register a point in 92% of the games.
I think that the total point projections are reasonable for Parise but will take him to be over the 44 point total, but only by a point or two. He is going to see a lot of power play time while playing along side sniper Dany Heatley, Mikko Koivu and Ryan Suter. Those four, along with a second point man will push Parise’s production slightly higher than projected.
I’m also going to go over in the goal department, predicting that Parise will be a 20-goal scorer, finishing the year with 22 tallies. This will be a huge accomplishment for any player this year given the shortened schedule.
In the end, I’m projecting Parise to be over the goal and point total, while under on the assists number – 22 goals, 24 assists = 46 points.
Agree or disagree? We welcome your comments.