thestonedkoala
Going Dark
- Aug 27, 2004
- 28,169
- 1,600
So he WAS a star, at 25. He's kind of a long ways from that age now.
Eh, I don't know. He's still scoring 20+ goals at a pretty good clip.
And in his best year in NJ, the top 3 scoring centers were Zajac (62 points), Zubrus (40 points) and Madden (23 points).
Fair point, though Elias had 73 points and Langenbrunner had 69 points. His centers weren't that great in New Jersey either.
And knowing that this a shot at Koivu, Parise's first 2 years in Minnesota (pre-Granlund), Koivu played at a 63 point level (lockout-shortened season) and 68 point level (injury-shortened season).
That seems to be Koivu's MO over the years. Either injured or not gelling. I remember trying a ton of different wingers during the lean years and the only ones that he could work with were Brunette and Mitts. But it wasn't just Koivu, who else have we had? Oh yeah; Kyle Brodziak, a really old Matt Cullen, Mikael Granlund, who couldn't stick at center, Zenon Konopka, Erik Haula, who struggled here for whatever reason, Charlie Coyle, Ryan Carter...We finally got Staal, but that was way too late.
Can we just appreciate that Parise while in Minnesota has scored; 25 or more goals 4 times, that's not including an 18 goal performance in 48 games...
Since coming to Minnesota he's scored 167 goals in 444 games. That's good for .38 goals per game or 31 every 82 games. Only Staal really has shown that kind of production. If that isn't a star, I don't know what is. And he's played with some really questionable centers.