The New York Rangers acquired Juuso Parssinen at the NHL trade deadline, and he ended up skating in 11 games to conclude the 2024-25 NHL season. That super small sample was enough to convince Chris Drury to sign him to a two-year contract extension, a move that is still baffling. As of right now Parssinen is expected to make the main roster, and he is expected to hold down a third-line center spot. Here's why this is a big mistake for a team with Stanley Cup aspirations
Parssinen has gotten worse since his career has progressed
The one positive thing you can say about Parssinen is that he got off to a great start to his NHL career. He debuted for the Nashville Predators back in 2022-23 with a line of six goals, 19 assists, and 25 points in 45 games skating 14:20 per night. Since that point it's all be downhill. over his last 92 games between the Predators, Colorado Avalanche, and New York Rangers, Parssinen has just 28 points. That he played on three teams last season should also speak to how expendable he's perceived as a player.
His underlying metrics are horrid
As a third line center, Parssinen will be counted on to play shutdown role at the very least. Given that it is already well known that he isn't going to provide offense, it makes his struggles to defend pretty problematic. Last season with the Rangers he posted a slash line that includes a 57.46 GF%, a 36.57 CF%, and a 35.6 xGF%. With Nashville he posted a 19.87 GF%, a 45.48 CF%, and a 37.2 xGF%. Lastly, Parssinen posted a 67.1 GF%, a 53.47 CF%, and a 45.71 xGF% with the Avalanche.
During the 2023-24 season, spent all with Nashville, his line included a 38.6 GF%, a 46.04 CF%, and a 46.45 xGF% per Evolving-Hockey. The long story short is that Parssinen's only positive spike came on a good Colorado team, and even though he was a bit productive for them, they had no problem trading him away.
Another metric of note to look at with Parssinen is GAR which stands for goals above replacement. A league average player would have a GAR of 0, and then you can get a sense of how impactful they are based on how much higher or lower they are. His rookie season saw him produce a 5 GAR season which is perfectly fine. His second season saw him post a -5.1 GAR, and this past season he posted a -2.3 GAR.
The Rangers wasted money they could have allocated elsewhere
Parssinen turned 24 in February, and there is still some time for him to try and find his game. But this is an important season for the Rangers, and there was no reason to re-sign him. The money they spent on him could have gone elsewhere, and used on someone better equipped for the job. To make matters worse, if they do eventually assign him to Hartford, they will have $100,000 in dead cap space because they signed him to a deal above the threshold that can be buried in the minors.
The move remained curious the day he was signed back in May, and it remains baffling that the Rangers are seemingly fine with having a net-negative on their roster which only hurst what they are trying to accomplish. Maybe Parssinen proves everyone wrong, but the data suggests that is highly unlikely.