Congrats L.A. – Review and Contract Status – #15 P.A. Parenteau

Before we get started. . . . Congratulations to the L.A. Kings on earning their first Stanley Cup championship (I totally called it by the way, holy crap I’m so awesome) and their loyal fan base for sticking with them through thick and very very thin.  If my calculations serve me correctly, their rebuild began in 2006.  Islanders began their rebuild in 2008.  So John McCoy, you may be correct when you declare that the Islanders will hoist the cup again in two years.  It’d be a helluva way to close out the Coliseum, that’s for sure.

I preface the following post with a full confession.  I was not a humongous fan of P.A. Parenteau at the beginning of the ’11-’12 campaign.    In fact, I was one of his biggest detractors for reasons pretty similar to, the now extremely rare, non-P.A. supporter->  Costly turnovers in the neutral zone and the maddening poorly timed, possibly momentum killing, penalty that he is apt to take from time to time.  Was it me, or did he seem lackadaisical at times in ’10-’11?  From my amateur vantage point, it appeared P.A. lacked . . . shall I say . . . fundamentals.

But then came ’11-’12 and I got to know P.A.   I came to understand P.A.  I grew to respect and even like P.A.  No, we don’t hang out.  Never met him in fact, but he sure as hell seems like a nice enough guy (and that’s part of why I’m a fan of P.A’s now), and I also happen to have a lot of feelings . . . like the misunderstood loner girl in Mean Girls.  So random.

Parenteau, with much of his ice-time spent with Tavares and Moulson on the first line, posted some impressive numbers in the ’11-’12 campaign.  80 games played with 18 goals and 49 assists for a career best 67 points.  Go P.A. go P.A. go.   One drawback to P.A.’s stats was the -8 that he posted for the season; a career worst.  Given the Isles defense (and I use the term defense loosely) this past season, he gets a pass on the -8.  Sure, there were some bad nights when you could argue he cost the team.  1/23/12 infuriating play with a -3  in a loss to TOR and the 3/10/12 boarding penalty in a 2-1 loss to NJD.  But there were so many good nights . . . .

. . . . Nights when he was just so damn good and, not only complementary to JT and MM, but a standout player.  The 2/24/12 game against the Rangers comes to mind when he had two goals (In the face! IN THE FACE!) to lead the Isles to a 4-3 SO win.  By the way, he is a beast against his former team, yea?   7G / 9A career vs. NYR.  Yea.

So you say, “well, I could play on Tavares line and pot 20 goals”.  Well, la de freakin’ da.  How about the 11/5/11 win over the Caps when he was lined up with the Great Dane and Brian Rolston?  Let’s look at that little ditty.  Well, that line owned the joint that night with 7 points combined.  Shoot, Rolston even scored a goal.  You know the Isles came from behind that night . . . down 2-0?  Guess who had the game winner?  Yup.  P. to the frickin’ A.  Dare we say P.A. is clutch?

So, I think I not only made my argument for P.A. Parenteau earning an A- for the ’11-’12 Eyes on Isles player review, but I may have bumped up P.A’s next contract by a mil per season.  Which leads us right into . . .

P.A. rhymes with UFA, which unfortunately for Islanders fans, he is.  And although he stated he wants to remain an Islander, he could see some wacko and silly money being thrown his way beginning July 1.  I originally thought that $4 million at 4 years would keep P.A. here, but now I’m a little worried.   David Jones (who?) recently re-upped with the Avs for $4 million over 4.   His numbers last year?  20 G, 17 A, 37 P, -8.  Alrighty then, so what it’s going to come down to is whether or not Charles Wang is going to want to pony up and pay Parenteau somewhere around $4.5 million per season for 3-4 years.  C’mon Charles, do the right thing.