Zach Parise will not attend training camp with the New York Islanders and remains an unrestricted free agent, general manager Lou Lamoriello said Monday.
The 39-year-old forward is home in Edina, Minnesota, and Lamoriello did not rule out a potential return later this season.
"Zach Parise will not be here," Lamoriello said. "Zach will be with his family. We will see how the rest of the season goes, but right now, it's important for him to be there. He's spent a couple of years away, and so that is the decision at this point."
Parise said May 1 he would either play for New York this season or retire.
"To my knowledge, he is not retiring," Lamoriello said. "In fact, I don't feel he will at this point."
Parise played all 82 games in each of the past two seasons with the Islanders, scoring a combined 69 points (36 goals, 33 assists). He has 879 points (429 goals, 450 assists) in 1,124 games for the Islanders, New Jersey Devils and Minnesota Wild, who bought out the final four seasons of his 13-year, $98 million contract Sept. 21, 2021. He did not have a point in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, a six-game loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference First Round.
Parise was a first-round pick (No. 17) of the Devils in the 2003 NHL Draft, when Lamoriello was GM. He reunited with Lamoriello when he signed with the Islanders as a free agent Sept. 10, 2021, after the Wild bought out the final four seasons of his 13-year, $98 million contract.
"The door was always open," Lamoriello said. "And I think everybody knows the relationship that I have with Zach, from when he was 17 years old, and I understand, appreciate, and respect the decision where he's at. But I think that when you have a player like that, who loves the game, the way he looked and had the success he had and what he did for the team, it's a tough thing for him to make that decision, so you allow him to go as long as you possibly can without pressing or asking.
"I think he made the right decision for his family, and then we'll just keep the door open for him. And as I said to him, we'll keep the number (No. 11) open, too."
Parise is an 11-time 20-goal scorer in the NHL, including a career-high 45 for the Devils in 2008-09. He scored his 400th NHL goal when the Islanders lost 4-3 in a shootout to the San Jose Sharks on Feb. 25, 2022, and completed his 1,200th NHL game by scoring with 2:43 remaining in the third period to give New York a 5-4 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at UBS Arena on Feb. 17, 2023.
"It's really special to play with a guy like that," Islanders captain Anders Lee said July 13. "He's had such a successful career and you know, at his age, just to see what he's doing out on the ice is extremely impressive. And you can't find a better guy in the room."
NHL.com independent correspondents Stefen Rosner and Jessi Pierce contributed to this report
