Minnesota Wild Fifteen Greatest Players: #6 Zach Parise

Zach Parise is the first active Minnesota Wild player to crack the top fifteen list, but it’s fair to say that he won’t stay in this position very long. The Prior Lake native has shown excellent an excellent scoring touch and outstanding work ethic since day one, and he’s used it to find his place among the best in Wild and NHL history.

From an early age number six on the list of fifteen greatest Minnesota Wild players, was destine for greatness with excellent talent and a former NHLer father to mentor him. Since signing with the Wild in the summer of 2012, Zach Parise has been the undisputed leader and top producer for the Wild ever since. His gritty style of grinding/never surrender play mixed with a great scoring touch has made Parise one of the best offensive weapons in Wild and league history.

More from History

Parise grew up in Prior Lake Minnesota the son of North Stars great J.P. Parise. From the beginning, the knowledge and mentorship of his dad grew Zach into a great young player. He landed at the famous midget AAA development program at Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Faribault, and was quickly recruited by the University of North Dakota. At UND, Parise would excel in only two seasons posting 116 points (49 goals and 67 assists), be named an All-American in his sophomore year, and was nominated for the Hobey Baker Award in both of his seasons in Grand Forks.

After his Freshman year at UND, Parise’s performance would catch the eye of the New Jersey Devils who would trade up in the draft to select him with the 2003 Entry Draft’s 17th overall pick. After completing his sophomore campaign at UND, Parise left to join the Devils and would only spend one full season in the AHL, before making the Devils roster for the 2005-06 season.

Zach wasted no time establishing himself among the NHL elite. As a matter of fact he scored a goal in his first NHL game. In his seven seasons in New Jersey, Parise scored 30 goals or more in five of those seasons. The only two seasons he didn’t do that were his first season, and the 2010-11 season when he only played 13 games due to knee injury. He would bounce back the next season to lead the USA to a Silver Medal at the Vancouver Olympics, and captain the Devils to a Stanley Cup Finals appearance falling to the Kings in six games.

That offseason the Wild would come calling to sign Parise along with Ryan Suter to dual 13-year 98-million-dollar contracts that were unprecedented in the history of the franchise. In Parise’s four seasons with the Wild he has led the team in goals 3 of 4 those seasons, and been over 25 goals in every season except the lockout shortened season of 2012-13. That has translated to the Wild making the playoffs all four seasons of his career with Minnesota.

In his short time with the Wild, Parise has managed to put himself at the top of the Wild record books. He is currently fifth in franchise history in goals (105), eight in assists (104), and fifth in points (209). Not bad considering a lockout and a few different injuries have kept him from playing a full 82 game season since starting with the Wild. With so many more years locked in and Parise only being 31, it’s expected that he could have the franchise lead in all these offensive categories by the time he retires.

Next: The Minnesota Wild Need to Sign David Backes

With so much more time presumably left in his career, Parise will be no doubt move up on this list if it’s addressed later. The fact that he has made it as a current Wild player and has only four seasons with the team speak to the impact and talent that Zach possesses. He started his hockey career strongly in Minnesota, and it’s very likely he’ll end his playing career in the same way playing strong hockey in Minnesota.

Home/History