It has been quite the recent fall from grace for unrestricted free agent winger P.A. Parenteau. He’s five years removed from a 67 point season and has played for five different organizations since then and now finds himself looking for his next contract more than a month into free agency.
2016-17 got off to a very weird start to Parenteau. He was coming off a good season with Toronto and landed a one-year deal with the Islanders to potentially play alongside John Tavares like he did when he had that 67 point campaign. Instead, he found himself on waivers after training camp before suiting up for a single regular season game.
New Jersey picked him up and the 34-year-old acquitted himself relatively well in a secondary scoring role, picking up 27 points (13-14-27) in 59 games before the Predators picked him up to serve as injury insurance and extra depth although he was a scratch for most of their postseason run.
Parenteau has scored at least 13 goals in seven of his eight full NHL seasons. While on the surface, that may make him an appealing secondary scorer, his overall game isn’t the strongest while he isn’t the best of skaters either. As a result, he has seemingly become the type of player that teams feel they can use for a bit but are expendable before too long. While the negative here is that he’s moved elsewhere fairly quickly, the positive is that teams have continued to be interested in him along the way.
Potential Suitors
At this stage of the summer, Parenteau may be best suited to look for a rebuilding team who would view him as a bridge until a youngster is ready before moving him midseason to a team with injury issues or in need of more depth.
Teams that come to mind are the Coyotes who have a plethora of youngsters without much in the way of a veteran supporting cast. He’d serve as insurance in case some of them need more time in the minors. His former team in New Jersey also makes some sense as they have a few vacancies to fill up front. Florida also has some holes to fill up front and have lost quite a bit of their attack this offseason. The Sharks haven’t added much as they’re hoping some of their young players can make the jump but someone like Parenteau would hedge against them not being ready right away.
Projected Contract
Back in June, Parenteau slotted in at #41 on our Top 50 Free Agents list with a projected one-year, $1MM contract. With the number of veteran offensive wingers still on the market, there’s a good chance he’ll have to take a bit less to land a guaranteed deal in the coming weeks. Parenteau is an interesting candidate to go the international route to take a shot at playing in the Olympics if he’s still unsigned as of a month from now with only PTO offers on the table. There is a potential market for him but it’s a small and crowded one.
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