The Ducks and enforcer George Parros agreed today to a three-year contract extension worth $875,000 per year. Parros gets a raise of $325,000, and his status as a fan favorite makes him worth arguably more to the franchise. It’s helped that he has showed skills beyond fighting this season, with a career-high three goals and eight points through 45 games.
It’s worth noting that while many more Ducks are set to become free agents on June 1 – Brendan Morrison, Todd Marchant, Rob Niedermayer, Sammy Pahlsson, Travis Moen, Scott Niedermayer, Bret Hedican, Francois Beauchemin, Steve Montador, Kent Huskins, Nathan McIver, Brett Festerling – and GM Bob Murray has attempted negotiating with some of them (if not all), Parros is the first to sign. The Princeton grad didn’t know what’s been holding up so many of his teammates.
“I couldn’t tell you,” Parros said. “I think that goes case by case. I hear they have a lot of things to work out. So I’m happy they wanted to come to me and figure something out right away, because they have a lot of other decisions to make, too. So I’m glad they got me off their checklist; we’ll move forward from here.”
For Parros, getting the contract done early was about peace of mind.
“Now I can go concentrate – not that I wasn’t before – but it’s nice not to have to worry and bite your nails all season,” he said. “I wouldn’t have done it if this wasn’t where I wanted to be, my first choice.”
