Islanders bringing in free agents Zach Parise and Kyle Palmieri (Reports)

The worst kept secret around the New York Islanders is that Zach Parise will join his former GM Lou Lamoriello on the Island. The links were being made the second Parise was bought out by the Minnesota Wild a few weeks ago.

Multiple reports from last night and early this morning state that Parise will sign with the Islanders when the signing window opens a little later today.

New York Islanders bringing in Zach Parise and Kyle Palmieri

What the deal looks like in regards to term and money is still unknown of course, but at 36 years old and still getting paid from his recently bought out $98 million deal with the Wild, you’d have to imagine that this deal will be for a short term and for little money (maybe around $1 million).

Sure, Parise didn’t have a great season in 20-21 (seven goals and 18 points), but those 18 points are more than Michael Dal Colle, Leo Komarov, Ross Johnston, and Kieffer Bellows combined for last season. Not to mention Parise put up 53 goals over the two-season prior to 20-21.

From 2014-15 through 2019-20, Parise is 37th in goals in the league with 145 goals. The only year he paced out to fewer than 20 goals was in 20-21.

Signing Parise should easily be a big upgrade on the Islanders third line. Putting him next to Jean-Gabriel Pageau gives the Isles a solid hard-working and reliable third line that can still put up points.

And again, it’s probably not going to cost them much to do so. Which is yet another win for a team that’s got to budget and allocate cap resources appropriately.

Palmieri Stays

Along with the Parise news, it seems that (to the surprise of no one) Kyle Palmieri will return to the Island.

Between 2014-15 and 2019-20, Palmieri ranks 36th (one spot above Parise) for goals. Add him to the Islanders top nine and you can see the team start accumulating quite the list of guaranteed 20 goal scorers.

Again, the term and financials aren’t known yet, but you’d have to imagine Palmieri won’t command more than Jordan Eberle’s $5.5 million AAV.

The busy day of signings has begun. Neither Parise nor Palmieri is the big fish everyone is hoping for, but both are very valuable pieces to add for a team that’s making a Cup run in 2021-22.