Can Devils lock up Parise long-term if he goes through arbitration?

The word "Arbitration" in the National Hockey League has in most occasions been the equivalent of the "F" word in the English language. It has been particularly harsh to the New Jersey Devils. In Summer of 2001, Bobby Holik went to arbitration and left the Devils for the rival Rangers in 2002. Scott Niedermayer in 2004 went to arbitration and left the Devils in 2005 for Anaheim and he did not even get paid that contract. Finally, in 2006 Scott Gomez went to arbitration and left to the rival Rangers in 2007 taking the Holik route to get rich.

Other teams also suffered through arbitration, like the Buffalo Sabres, who had to walk away from JP Dumont's award in 2006. This summer the Chicago Blackhawks decided not to bring back defenseman Chris Campoli and opted out of any arbitration process making him an unrestricted free agent. Now, there is no way the Devils will walk away from the Parise arbitration award, and Lamoriello said trading him is not an option, but if come close to trade deadline and there are no indications that Parise wants to stay long term with Devils, Lou might have to seriously consider a trade. Parise will be worth a lot like 1 or 2 current roster players, a 1st round pick and a top end prospect.

Now to the big question, can the Devils still sign him next year. Arbitration as mentioned above is like the F word in a way. It ruins relationships between the team, player and his agents. It will be very tough, but obviously it all depends how Parise will feel after the hearing and if there are any hurt feelings. If there is not, chances are good that he resigns next summer for long-term. But if there are hurt feeling, a trade by the deadline might be necessary, because he could be as good as gone.

There are a lot of whispers that Zach Parise's close family and friends might be pressuring him to just sign for one year with or without arbitration. Also, there is the case of the disappointing season the Devils had from 2007 til now where they are yet to make it out of Round 1 of the playoffs. Maybe, Parise wants a one year deal and put some pressure on the Devils to make a deep playoff run to sell him in Jersey long-term and show him the commitment of winning. We shall see, but I still think they get something done before the hearing.