No. 9: Zach Parise
Left Wing
17th Overall, 2003
Many New Jersey Devils fans are still sour over Zach Parise’s free agent departure, which coincided with this team’s rapid regression. After being named Devils captain before the 2011-2012 season, Parise was expected to be the franchise’s next face, making his loss especially crushing from a cultural and identity standpoint. This of course occurred while the Devils were coming off their Stanley Cup Finals playoff run, giving many reasons to believe this team was marginally close to becoming serious contenders.
Despite being one of two players in these ranking’s top 12 to never win a Stanley Cup, Parise left his mark in team history. He was the last Devil to score 40 goals over a full season, netting 45 in 2008-2009. It was a career year for Parise, whose 94 points also ties for second-most (in one year) by a Devils player. He scored 31+ goals in five of his seven seasons with New Jersey, respectively ranking fifth and 10th all-time in goals and points for the organization.
Parise signed a 13-year, $98 million deal in his home state with the Minnesota Wild, where he’s spent the last nine seasons. Despite battling constant injuries, Parise was a consistent goal-scorer for Minnesota, who made playoff appearances eight of the last nine years. Minnesota never got beyond the Conference Semifinals, however, and only advanced past round one twice since 2013. Having recently been bought out by the Wild, Zach Parise enters this summer as an unrestricted free agent. While a Devils reunion is unlikely, it’ll be interesting to see who takes a stab at the veteran forward.