George Parros

After graduating high school in 1998, he deferred admission to Princeton University to play junior hockey with the Chicago Freeze in the North American Hockey League during the 1998–99 season. Playing in the juniors gave him a chance to improve his play and get a bit bigger. During his 54 games with the Freeze in Juniors, Parros nearly averaged a point per game.

Parros played four years at Princeton University, where he totaled 52 points and 119 PIM in 111 games. He was named team captain for his senior season in 2002–03. While at Princeton, Parros majored in economics and wrote his senior thesis on the West Coast longshoremen's labor dispute.[3] In 2010, he was chosen as the fourth-smartest athlete in sports by the Sporting News.[4]

Parros was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in the eighth round (222nd) of the 1999 NHL Entry Draft. After graduating from Princeton, he joined the Manchester Monarchs, the Kings' AHL affiliate. Parros remained with the team through the 2004–05 season. His best season was 2004–05, when Parros had 22 points (14 goals, 8 assists) and 247 penalty minutes. He was second on the team in penalty minutes that season. He also appeared in three games with the Reading Royals, the Kings' ECHL affiliate, where Parros took boxing lessons to become a better fighter.[5]

When Parros made his NHL debut with the Kings on October 5, 2005, he became the seventh Princeton Tiger to play in the NHL. He scored his first NHL goal October 20 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas against the Dallas Stars. He recorded a goal, an assist and a major fighting penalty in the same game, an achievement known as a "Gordie Howe hat trick." He missed a total of 21 games over two different stretches between November and January of that season. However, he finished the 2005–06 season with two goals, three assists, and 138 PIM in 55 games. He played in the most games for a Kings' rookie during that season, as well as leading all Kings' players in major penalties.

George Parros of the Anaheim Ducks during a pre-game warm-up in 2007.

On October 2, 2006, he was waived by the Kings and picked up by the Colorado Avalanche. He would play in only two games for the Avalanche. Just a month later, on November 13, 2006, Parros was traded to the Anaheim Ducks for a 2nd round draft pick and an option to swap 3rd round picks. During the 2006–07 season he scored just one goal against the Chicago Blackhawks. He led the Ducks with 18 fighting majors during the regular season.

Parros was a member of the Anaheim Ducks team that won the Stanley Cup in 2007. On June 12, 2007, coming off of the Stanley Cup win, George Parros and the Anaheim Ducks agreed to a two-year contract.[6] The contract was worth 1.1 million dollars for two years. Parros had 183 penalty minutes during the 2007-08 NHL Season, at the conclusion of which the Ducks would be eliminated in the first round of their Stanley Cup defense by the Dallas Stars. His penalty minutes would drop to 135 the following season despite playing in an additional five games, while contributing five goals and five assists.

After the better part of 6 seasons with the Ducks, Parros left as a free agent and signed a two-year contract with the Florida Panthers on July 1, 2012.[7]

On July 5, 2013, after one season with the Panthers, Parros was traded to the Montreal Canadiens for Philippe Lefebvre and a 7th round draft pick in 2014.[8] In the season opener against the Toronto Maple Leafs on October 1, 2013, Parros engaged in a fight with Colton Orr in the third period. Parros lost his balance and fell headfirst to the ice, he was taken off on a stretcher with a concussion.[9] Parros missed the next twelve games as a result of his injuries. This incident touched off renewed debate regarding fighting's place in the National Hockey League and player safety moving forward.[10][11] After returning to play, Parros sustained a second concussion on December 14, 2013 following a fight with Eric Boulton during a game against the New York Islanders.[12] Parros next played on January 11, 2014, in a game against the Chicago Blackhawks. However, he saw limited action during the season, either because of injury or because of being a healthy scratch, and appeared in only 22 games in total.

The Canadiens did not offer Parros another contract at the end of the season and on July 1, 2014, he became an unrestricted free agent. He subsequently announced his retirement on December 5, 2014.[13]

In September 2016, the NHL announced that Parros had joined the league's Department of Player Safety.[14] In September 2017, he was promoted to Head of the Department of Player Safety, succeeding Stéphane Quintal.[15] Upon being promoted Parros said, "What uniquely positions me for the job is that I played the game as physically as anybody and I never once was fined or suspended." Parros plans on renewing emphasis on slashing and other "nonhockey plays."[16]