The Puck Stops Here

One player who has been very dominant in the playoffs so far is Zach Parise of the New Jersey Devils. He has been the Devils best player in the playoffs so far. He leads the league with six playoff goals. Parise is beginning to show that he is a star in the NHL.

For Parise it has been a slow climb to stardom, but not an improbable one. He has been on track to be a star in the NHL for a few years and has made admirable progress. Parise was drafted 17th overall in the 2003 draft by New Jersey. Most experts expected that he would go much earlier in the draft and were surprised by his slip down to 17th place (possibly because some scouts thought he was too small to play his physical game in the NHL). Parise was named the MVP of the 2004 World Junior Championships, as part of the gold medal winning American team. In 2005/06, Parise first made the NHL. As a rookie (often in limited ice time) he put up 32 points in 81 games. In his sophomore season (this season) he progressed to a 31 goal, 62 point season, which made him the second highest scorer on his team. In the playoffs, he is making the step to the next level.

Parise will have a very good NHL career. He looks like his career will be better than that of his father J.P. Parise who played 14 NHL seasons (including a role on the 1972 Team Canada in the famous Canada-Russia Summit Series).