Zach is not worth a 2nd...and it's not like he will likely go anywhere else besides NJD and NYR I'd imagine now.

he's worth a 2nd, why wouldnt he go anywhere else?

I'd say he is close to worth a second, but a fourth was added to make the trade more of a third rounder worth of value.

trade Zach elsewhere he doesn’t have a spot on the roster and isn’t welcome back

Retain half on Varlomov and take DeSmith back in return and the Pens might accept depending on another move to make enough space.

No appreciation of Minnesota cap situation. They also aren't taking on any long term contract or player of that age

Dude, he would only entertain the thought of potentially waiving his NMC to go to the Isles while still in Minnesota. It was the only place he was willing to go to.

After being bought out by Guerin. Zach proceeded to talk to ONE team about his next contract, the Isles and Lou. He didn't talk with any other team or show interest in playing anywhere else. Parise has had a long career, and goes to play wherever he wants.

He's going to finish his career in NY, because that's where he wants to finish it. And for as long as Lou remains the GM, Parise will get to do that.

The only reason Parise will get moved will be if Lou gets fired, and his replacement either trades Parise or if Parise retires.

Parise has no trade protection with the isles, and he did talk to other teams in free agency. Lou won’t be the isles GM next season so it’s not like he’s going to re-sign with the isles

OK, Now explain to me how Minnesota affords Nelson next season?

Because we only have $9M to resign 7-8 players. Which include the leading Calder defenseman who's RFA, and a fantastic young 24 year old goaltender who has led the league in both GAA and Save % since November.

Both of them are getting raises.

Then he retires during the offseason.

But the point remains.

If Lou is still the GM by the TDL THIS year, Parise won't be moved.

His agent took calls from other teams yes, but they were flat out told they weren't interested. He was only willing to sign with the Isles.

It’s realistic that Parise would want to play for a contender assuming he won’t be back with the isles. He still has a lot left in the tank, I don’t think the isles not wanting to re-sign him will force him to retire

No thanks to trading for Nelson.

We’re not trading a first for Mayfield.

Does Parise want to win, sure. He will put it all on the line all day every day for whichever team he plays for.

But I watched Parise for in part of 9 seasons and listened to enough interviews and read enough articles about the guy to know 2 things for certain.

1) While he wants to win, it's not the end all be all for him. He would rather play for teams that have some sort of emotional significance or attachment to them for him than those that he doesn't have any ties to.

He was willing to sign in Minnesota, strictly because he was from here. We were not contenders at the time and were the farthest thing from that while he was here.

The Isles interested him for two reasons. A) His father, JP, played for the Isles back in the day. And B) Lou is the guy that drafted him in NJ and was/is the current Isles GM.

The only other team that he would likely have ties to currently is probably the Flyers because of Chuck Fletcher. Parise is the type of guy who would be more willing to get traded to Philadelphia then to a cup contender that he has no ties to.

Because the name of the game with him, is comfort. Not a cup. He's just simply not a cup chaser like Marleau was.

2) Parise has *some* gas left in the tank. But he isn't a fit for most teams in the NHL anymore due to his lack of general foot speed these days. He's slower now than he was even just a few years ago.

That's, obviously, not his fault. Father time is undefeated after all.

But the entire reason he was bought out in Minnesota is that he couldn't keep up with the play. As Minnesota was transitioning from one of the oldest teams in the league and among the slowest, to become league average in both age and footspeed.

Parise works so well on the Isles because that team is both one of the oldest and slowest teams in the league.

If he were to play for say the Avs, Canes, or maybe Boston. There's no real chance he'd be able to keep up. He be a stride or more behind everyone else, thereby making him an useless acquisition.

He's making league minimum, is he really at the age he wants to even move? Locally he gets to stay home.