Wild's Parise, Suter turn to Oates for power-play pointers
Minnesota Wild forward Zach Parise looked to a familiar face in his bid to brush up his game on the power play.
Hall of Famer Adam Oates, who was the assistant coach with the New Jersey Devils during Parise's time in the Garden State, joined defenseman Ryan Suter and the veteran forward on the ice Monday in St. Paul, Minn.
"Everything he says just makes sense," the 31-year-old Parise told Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "I've known him since I've played for him in New Jersey and we've kept in touch and he watches our games and our power plays, so we communicate during the season. He's probably the smartest hockey guy that I’ve ever been around."
Oates quarterbacked the training sessions as Parise and Suter worked on one-timers and moving the puck. The 53-year-old Oates knows a thing or two about contributing on the power play, recording 103 goals and 400 assists with the man advantage during his NHL career.
Minnesota struggled mightily on the power play last season, converting on just 15.9 percent of its opportunities to finish tied with the Toronto Maple Leafs for 26th-best in the league.
Parise collected 33 goals and 29 assists in 74 games for the Wild in 2014-15, with 11 tallies coming on the power play. The 17th overall pick of the 2003 draft, Parise has scored 274 goals and set up 292 others in 691 career contests with the Devils and Wild.
Suter, 30, had two goals and 36 assists in 77 games last season.
(h/t Minneapolis Star Tribune)
#mnwild's Zach Parise & Ryan Suter brought Adam Oates to Minnesota to work with them the past few days on skills/PP pic.twitter.com/4HGZYTN9GV
— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) September 14, 2015
