Stars Sign Parrish

Could it be that the Dallas Stars are hitting the panic button or are they just going down to the pharmacy to pick up some band-aids for their chemistry problem? The 4-6-2 Stars have signed forward Mark Parrish to a new two-way deal on Monday night, hopefully to insert him into the line-up and infuse some more veteran savvy into a line-up that is seemingly in disarray.

Last season, Parrish scored 16 goals and added 14 assists in 66 games for the Minnesota Wild, the team that eventually bought out the final three years of a five year deal this summer. 30 points in 66 games doesn't seem to be a terrible result for a player, but apparently he wasn't fitting in with the Wild system. The new deal will pay Parrish a pro-rated salary of $500,000, if he can stay up with the Stars for the remainder of the season and will see a drastic pay cut, if he's sent down to the AHL.

It is somewhat ironic that a player like Parrish, cut from a defensive minded team like Minnesota, gets signed onto the worst Goals Against Average team in the NHL in Dallas. The Stars have scored 35 goals in 12 games, which isn't terrible at all, they've just let in 50, which is terrible. The addition of Parrish is somewhat questionable, unless Joel Quennville has an idea of how to use Parrish in a two-way role.

Dallas also ranks as the second-worst team in penalties, averaging over 20 minutes in penalties per game and almost one major (more likely for fighting) per game as well. Dallas' penalty numbers have gone up significantly, from 14 minutes per game to 20, which could be closely attributed to the addtion of Sean Avery. Also having a penalty kill that's 10% lower than last season isn't going to help either. I'm just saying...