Parise

[sundstrom]

i have absolutely ZERO doubt that Parise will stay here if he's shown money comparable to what is offered on the open market. i am even willing to be he'd take slightly less or allow the devils not to have to max him out upfront. but he's not going to take $50mm from the Devils if $100mm is offered. if the devils offer him $70mm to another team's $80mm, i think he stays.

i think parise's list is very short: NJD, NYR, MIN, DET and perhaps BOS.

[The 29th Pick]

If a team he grew up rooting for offers him big bucks..well what would you guys do (as long as they are a decent team)

But if a team like the Canes offer him big bucks, and we offer something really good (but less), I bet he would stay.

Who knows.....look there is so much stress as a fan right now, I'll worry about it later.

[Devil Dan 56]

Do you disagree? Marty hasn't been great in the playoffs. Why shouldn't he be concerned. Who's the replacement and when?

Of course I disagree! Your blind Marty hate has you ignoring the fact that he's played fine the last 7 games. Is he playing like he did in his prime? Of course not. But he's playing well. If Marty comes back, the Devils need a young back-up to be a stop-gap before Wedgewood is ready. Maybe a Josh Harding or something like that if it won't cost an arm and a leg. I'd kill for Cory Schneider, but he'd cost too much.

Zach wants the cash, and he wants to play on a contender. The question will be what the Devils can afford to give him. They have proven they can be a contender... even with Marty dragging them down

[Risky]

Obvious troll is obvious

Please don't feed Get Real anymore, he's been doing this from his bunker in Maine for years during the season. During the off-season, he sits around, pleasuring himself in his own feces thinking "wow, it's amazing how f*cking crazy I really am."

[devilsrule33]

i have absolutely ZERO doubt that Parise will stay here if he's shown money comparable to what is offered on the open market. i am even willing to be he'd take slightly less or allow the devils not to have to max him out upfront. but he's not going to take $50mm from the Devils if $100mm is offered. if the devils offer him $70mm to another team's $80mm, i think he stays.

i think parise's list is very short: NJD, NYR, MIN, DET and perhaps BOS.

Giant hypothetical. If Parise led the Devils to a championship with the MVP award and then bolted to the Rangers, where would that be in all-time sports heel moves. Even if it wasn't the Rangers, it be up there as an all-time sh!tty move.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Of course I disagree! Your blind Marty hate has you ignoring the fact that he's played fine the last 7 games. Is he playing like he did in his prime? Of course not. But he's playing well. If Marty comes back, the Devils need a young back-up to be a stop-gap before Wedgewood is ready. Maybe a Josh Harding or something like that if it won't cost an arm and a leg. I'd kill for Cory Schneider, but he'd cost too much.

Zach wants the cash, and he wants to play on a contender. The question will be what the Devils can afford to give him. They have proven they can be a contender... even with Marty dragging them down

Admittedly, though Marty's numbers look pretty good at first glance, they pale in comparison to the goalies left standing (Smith, Quick, Lundqvist, and Holtby...a lot of strong goalie play in these playoffs). But Marty has hardly sucked...overall he's been pretty good, and has made some big saves along the way.

And it's not like Zach hasn't been aware that Marty is likely to hang 'em up soon. There's going to be bigger factors than Marty that decide where Zach's going.

[Devil Dan 56]

Admittedly, though Marty's numbers look pretty good at first glance, they pale in comparison to the goalies left standing (Smith, Quick, Lundqvist, and Holtby...a lot of strong goalie play in these playoffs). But Marty has hardly sucked...overall he's been pretty good, and has made some big saves along the way.

And it's not like Zach hasn't been aware that Marty is likely to hang 'em up soon. There's going to be bigger factors than Marty that decide where Zach's going.

Yeah, that's the main point I was going for. The goalie situation is not as bad as people make it to be, and there's a lot more than that factoring in for Zach.

[Chuck the Duck]

Has he had some bad experiences here, for instance with the medical staff?

You mean the same medical staff that performed miracles in healing Kovy between Games 1 and 3 of the Philly series?

If he is to be believed based upon what he says, he will only go to a team that can contend in the future and, most importantly, will pay him the most money. We fit both of those categories Also, he has also repeatedly stated that he loves living in NJ and playing for DeBoer. Therefore, I think our chances of re-signing him are very good based upon what this team has accomplished and the exciting style of hockey they play. In fact, the only way I think he doesn't re-sign is if Lou put a top value on him of $7 million per year and he gets blown away with a ridiculous offer by a team like the Rangers, Red Wings or Kings.

[Chuck the Duck]

Do you disagree? Marty hasn't been great in the playoffs. Why shouldn't he be concerned. Who's the replacement and when?

Yes, I completely disagree.

Marty hasn't been great during every game in these playoffs, but his numbers have been very good overall and, clearly, he's been more than good enough to get us this far and beat the ESPN presumed Stanley Cup favorites (after they beat the Sid the golden child in Round 1) in the process.

Scott Wedgewood ... 1-3 years from now.

You were right in your first analysis as the team that pays Zach the most will get him to sign. You should have stuck to that before going off on another illogical tirade about Brodeur.

As Robin Williams once said, "you're in more dire need of a blowjob than any (insert your race here) man in history."

Edited May 10, 2012 by Chuck the Duck

[AEWHistory]

Disagree...

Nashville - $32 million in space, 12 players under contract

St. Louis - $28 million, 16 under contract

Detroit - $20 million, 17 under contract

Minnesota (hometown) - $18 million, 15 under contract

Rangers - $16 million, 14 under contract

Good info. Thanks.

The Rangers don't concern me. IMHO $16million with only 14 under contract isn't that much. Signing a player like Parise would leave less than $8 mil for a minimum of 5 more players (really more) plus needing to leave some cap space for potential injuries and so on. That means maybe one more decent player and a bunch of near vet min contracts. Is it possible they could do it? Yes, absolutely. But they would be putting themselves in a position similar to the one we were in when we signed Kovy and had to maintain a partial roster because we had no cap space. It was death. Of course, so was MacLean.

Minnesota is In a somewhat better position, but if you look at their roster, almost their entire defensive corps is in need of being resigned. Of course, they use a slew of cut rate players, but still... If they tie up too much in another forward they could be playing with a badly unbalanced roster.

That leaves Nashville, ST. Louis, and Detroit. Of those, the two that worry me are St. Louis and Detroit. Nashville has massive cap room, but needs to resign a large chunk of the roster. This includes Shea Weber who will no doubt get another $7 mil plus contract I would think. So that really leaves less than $25 mil in cap room with 13 players signed in theory. If they took Zach they would be down around $16 mil or less with only 14 players signed. Better position than the Rangers, but with a couple RFA on their roster they are also in a position of either offering big pay raises or letting guys walk. In the end they have a very complex situation.

STL and DET have a more happy medium IMHO. DET has a tremendous history of success in the past two decades as well. STL, despite their recent choke, looks like a contender. What's more, both teams have signed ex-Devils of note in recent years (not sure if this is a future indicator of interest, but some teams purists other teams players and some do not; makes sense given the system, coaches, etc.). If Zach really does look into free agency seriously these two teams are definitely my biggest worry. However, I tend to agree with the folks who argue that success will/has tilted signing him in our favor. He clearly wants to win. I don't see him signing for some ridiculous hometown discount, but if the Devs and Another team offer the same sheet I say he resigns with us. And the further we get the more confident I get that he will stay.

[halfsharkalligatorhalfman]

Maybe I'm just being optimistic here but hear me out.

It's clear the Devils want to keep Zach and will do whatever they "can" to keep him. Last time that happened to a Devils FA was Ilya Kovalchuk and we saw how far they went to keep him in NJ. The last time before that was Scott Niedermayer, who Lou offered more money than Anaheim to try and keep. They didn't make Parise captain for nothing.

Things are a little more uncertain with regard to the team's finances this offseason (of course) but we are certain to be able to fit Zach under the salary cap (as opposed to the Kovalchuk offseason). The fact that the Devils got the go ahead to add salary next year by acquiring Zidlicky is also a good sign. Cutting the team to the bone right before giving a massive payout to Kovalchuk for 6 years is franchise suicide, of course that Kovalchuk contract bump up is when the sh!t hits the fan, but still.

These are all good signs. The team is in the middle of an impressive cup run. Things can only possibly get better. The further the team goes, the more money the Devils make and the more attractive staying in NJ is to Parise. Also, it makes the Devils more attractive to potential buyers (possibly the key).

The number of positives I think makes Parise signing with NJ the smart money at this point. But yeah, Detroit scares the sh!t out of me.

Edit: Also the CBA expires / we are gonna have a lockout so who knows really? Maybe they retroactively alter cap numbers on long term contracts to reflect actual salary? That would absolutely screw us. A lot could possibly happen.

Edited May 11, 2012 by halfsharkalligatorhalfman

[ThreeCups]

I'm impressed. LD found a way to make Zach leaving Marty's fault.

CLASSIC!

[ThreeCups]

I always felt Zach genuinely wanted to stay with the Devils as long as their offer was comparable to what other teams were offering him, and we showed promise as a true contender. This year we may just witness a miracle run culminating in Gary Bettman saying, "Zach Parise....come get the Stanley Cup!" to a deafening chorus of boos (either on the road or THE ROCK...THE ROCK would likely be even louder) This team has a lot of young talent and can be in good shape with DeBoer behind the bench for years to come. Zach is familiar with the area and organization, teammates, upper management and ownership....he has the captaincy....this is HIS team. That will be proven on July 1-3 when he reinks with the NEW JERSEY DEVILS!

[Pepperkorn]

There is NO WAY WE CAN KNOW.

I don't think Zach knows.

There are costs to keeping him and to letting him go. The wisest decision for Lou is to leave it up to Zach - because in the end whatever Zach chooses is the right choice for the team. I think Lou is on that same page. I think he always is, but this is very clear. There is no conflict between the organization and the player. Nothing is unresolved now. The only way Lou can f*@$ it up is to not make a timely and realistic offer. So where do you go from here?

[SterioDesign]

If a team he grew up rooting for offers him big bucks..well what would you guys do (as long as they are a decent team)

But if a team like the Canes offer him big bucks, and we offer something really good (but less), I bet he would stay.

Who knows.....look there is so much stress as a fan right now, I'll worry about it later.

He was a north stars fan growing up.. So yeah

[95Crash]

Giant hypothetical. If Parise led the Devils to a championship with the MVP award and then bolted to the Rangers, where would that be in all-time sports heel moves. Even if it wasn't the Rangers, it be up there as an all-time sh!tty move.

Theoretically that might be one of the biggest sports heel moves ever. I'm racking my brain trying come up with ones that were worse. Probably Babe Ruth leaving the Red Sox to go the Yankees. But that's ancient. Brett Favre going to the Vikings was pretty bad, but that was an indirect move; he signed with the Jets in-between. Same with Roger Clemens and the Red Sox-Blue Jays-Yankees. LeBron James is hated in Cleveland, but the Heat weren't their chief rival. I'm probably forgetting someone ... but who?

I know Chris Pronger is still hated in Edmonton. But the Parise scenario would top that, for sure.

Edited May 11, 2012 by 95Crash

[Chuck the Duck]

Theoretically that might be one of the biggest sports heel moves ever. I'm racking my brain trying come up with ones that were worse. Probably Babe Ruth leaving the Red Sox to go the Yankees. But that's ancient. Brett Favre going to the Vikings was pretty bad, but that was an indirect move; he signed with the Jets in-between. Same with Roger Clemens and the Red Sox-Blue Jays-Yankees. LeBron James is hated in Cleveland, but the Heat weren't their chief rival. I'm probably forgetting someone ... but who?

Babe Ruth didn't leave the Red Sox as a FA to go to the Yankees. He was sold for approximately $125,000. He didn't volunatarily go anywhere, but was sold when he demanded a $20,000 raise and the Red Sox owner refused.

I really can't think of anyone pulling a move that is the equivalent of Parise going to the Rangers after a championship, if the Devils were to win. Can you imagine the boos/hatred in the Rock next season if that happened? It would make the greetings Gomez gets every time he touches NJ ice look like a Christian camp out.

Edited May 11, 2012 by Chuck the Duck

[95Crash]

Babe Ruth didn't leave the Red Sox as a FA to go to the Yankees. He was sold for approximately $125,000. He didn't volunatarily go anywhere, but was sold when he demanded a $20,000 raise and the Red Sox owner refused.

I really can't think of anyone pulling a move that is the equivalent of Parise going to the Rangers after a championship, if the Devils were to win. Can you imagine the boos/hatred in the Rock next season if that happened? It would make the greetings Gomez gets every time he touches NJ ice look like a Christian camp out.

Good point on Ruth. I forgot that's what happened.

[95Crash]

Gretzky leaving Edmonton was pretty devastating. But for a short time, they won without him.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Giant hypothetical. If Parise led the Devils to a championship with the MVP award and then bolted to the Rangers, where would that be in all-time sports heel moves. Even if it wasn't the Rangers, it be up there as an all-time sh!tty move.

I don't get as caught up in this kind of stuff as I once did.

If the above happened, what more does Zach owe us exactly? He will have done his job, and will have made less than market value for most of the time he was here. Not trying to imply that Lou screwed him in any way...that's the way it goes when you're a younger player and a star to boot.

Now he's older and has earned the right to sign with another team for big money. If he chooses the Rangers, so be it. It's not like he ever chose the Devils...they chose him. I don't expect him to think like a fan and say "Oh geez, I'd better not sign with the Rangers, Devils fans aren't to be happy with me." He gave us several terrific seasons, and clearly never dogged it while he was here. No, I'm not going to like it if he ever went across the river, but if playing in New York appeals to him more than playing in Newark, it's not up to me to decide whether he's right or wrong in feeling that way.

Babe Ruth didn't leave the Red Sox as a FA to go to the Yankees. He was sold for approximately $125,000. He didn't volunatarily go anywhere, but was sold when he demanded a $20,000 raise and the Red Sox owner refused.

I really can't think of anyone pulling a move that is the equivalent of Parise going to the Rangers after a championship, if the Devils were to win. Can you imagine the boos/hatred in the Rock next season if that happened? It would make the greetings Gomez gets every time he touches NJ ice look like a Christian camp out.

Even worse, that money was used to finance some play that tanked horribly.

[NJDevs4978]

Giant hypothetical. If Parise led the Devils to a championship with the MVP award and then bolted to the Rangers, where would that be in all-time sports heel moves. Even if it wasn't the Rangers, it be up there as an all-time sh!tty move.

Claude left after '95, technically it was a trade but he forced his way out and the fans didn't seem to hold it against him.

Johnny Damon went from the Red Sox to the Yankees soon after winning and never lived that down in Boston though, despite being a folk hero on that team. So it depends on where Zach would go, to a degree.

Can't really think of other parallels on that level, at least among players. Belichick leaving the Jets at the altar to go to the Pats was pretty bad though.

[MadDog2020]

Babe Ruth didn't leave the Red Sox as a FA to go to the Yankees. He was sold for approximately $125,000. He didn't volunatarily go anywhere, but was sold when he demanded a $20,000 raise and the Red Sox owner refused.

I really can't think of anyone pulling a move that is the equivalent of Parise going to the Rangers after a championship, if the Devils were to win. Can you imagine the boos/hatred in the Rock next season if that happened? It would make the greetings Gomez gets every time he touches NJ ice look like a Christian camp out.

He wasn't a huge star so maybe its not on the same level, but I was irate when Bruce Driver signed with the Rangers after winning the Cup with us in '95. A longtime Devil, a fan favorite who everyone loved, finally wins a Cup here, and then bolts to the Rangers? I hated Bruce Driver for a long time for that. I'm over it now, but that one hurt me.

[RowdyFan42]

Gretzky leaving Edmonton was pretty devastating. But for a short time, they won without him.

His situation was similar to Babe Ruth's, though. He was traded because the Oilers were broke.

He wasn't a huge star so maybe its not on the same level, but I was irate when Bruce Driver signed with the Rangers after winning the Cup with us in '95. A longtime Devil, a fan favorite who everyone loved, finally wins a Cup here, and then bolts to the Rangers? I hated Bruce Driver for a long time for that. I'm over it now, but that one hurt me.

And some Devils fans still hold Johnny Mac's game-day trade demand against him.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Claude left after '95, technically it was a trade but he forced his way out and the fans didn't seem to hold it against him.

Johnny Damon went from the Red Sox to the Yankees soon after winning and never lived that down in Boston though, despite being a folk hero on that team. So it depends on where Zach would go, to a degree.

Can't really think of other parallels on that level, at least among players. Belichick leaving the Jets at the altar to go to the Pats was pretty bad though.

Claude didn't really force his way out...he tried to use his playoff run to get more cash out of Lou (not the smartest idea with a guy like Lou), and Lou wasn't having it...I think Claude would've happily stayed if he'd gotten the cash (and considering how lost Lemieux looked during the '95 regular season, I can understand why Lou didn't ante up). It's kind of too bad the Devils couldn't have just gotten Wendell Clark for Lemieux straight up...the Devils clearly got the worst and softest of the three players in that three-team deal in Steve Thomas.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

And some Devils fans still hold Johnny Mac's game-day trade demand against him.

I didn't, but it did bum me out big-time when he did (he was my all-time favorite Devils and still is, despite his ill-fated head coaching stint), and I never liked that fact that he didn't give his new role (more of a checker) a chance, the way guys like Scott Stevens did.