Earlier this year, after the Minnesota Wild bought out Mark Parrish’s contract, he said that he wasn’t too worried about finding a team to play for. But when the offers did not come as fast as he was hoping for, he was starting to worry about not playing at all this fall. So he signed with the New York Islanders' AHL team, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, to keep himself in hockey shape in the hopes that a call would come.

That call came sooner then later. Within a few days after it was announced that Parrish signed with the Tigers, the Stars came calling for his services and signed him to a contract worth $500,000 for one year.

When asked if he had something to prove because he was signed to a one year deal, Parrish said “Yeah, as soon as the buyout happened questions started to be raised about whether I wanted to play and my desire for the game. Of course that put a mighty big chip on my shoulder. The one year deal aside it doesn’t really matter. This year is a big stepping stone for me.”

What Mark Parrish needs is a big year to prove to the owners of all 30 NHL clubs that he still has what it takes to be a big part of any hockey team. In his first game for the Stars against the Anaheim Ducks, Parrish went out and got himself a hat trick.

“I guarantee you by far I was the most surprised one out there,” said Parrish. “I was shocked when all of them went in, let alone the third one.”

The hat trick against the Ducks is the 6th in Parrish’s career, his first since December 9th 2006 with Minnesota vs. Chicago Blackhawks. This year he has four goals already in five games played with the Dallas Stars, his fourth was a tip-in against the Coyotes. When asked if he thinks he can reach 20 or more goals this year he replied, “It’s still early yet, I don’t see why not.”

After scoring four goals in five games, I think that 20 goals are reachable for Mark Parrish this year, that is, as long as he gets ice time. When asked what his goal is this year he said. “To win the Stanley Cup with the Dallas Stars.”