Devils may be playing with fire with Parise
More than two months have passed since the Devils’ season ended without a playoff appearance and it’s been nearly eight weeks since general manager Lou Lamoriello said he’d try to re-sign Zach Parise, “as expeditiously as possible.”
Yet, Parise remains unsigned today and says, “nothing” has happened so far with his contract. While this raises questions about whether the Devils’ ownership situation (partners Mike Gilfillan and Ray Chambers want to sell their share) is impacting business, the intention appears clear.
Lamoriello would not discuss the matter Friday, but the Devils likely will file for team-elected arbitration before next week’s deadline, which is 5 p.m. Wednesday or Friday if there is a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Finals. That would prevent Parise from fielding offer sheets from other teams if he’s still unsigned on July 1, when he’d become a restricted free agent.
The Devils and Parise’s agents could continue to negotiate after that and if they can’t agree on a long-term deal, he’d still be locked up for 2011-12 with a one-year arbitration award. That also would leave Parise only a year away from unrestricted free agency, however, and risk hurting his feelings with what’s said in the arbitration hearing. That undoubtedly would include mentioning the now-healed knee injury that limited Parise to 13 games in 2010-11.
Parise says he’s prepared for it all.