These next 10 days are expected to be very busy for the Devils as they club attempts to sign Parise to a contract and avoid the dreadful arbitration process. Parise has made it known he and the Devils want to avoid arbitration and he wants a long-term contract. The Devils chose to take Parise to arbitration because they did not want him to field any restricted free agent offer sheets. Nashville did the same with their RFA captain Shea Weber.
The Devils currently have close to $4 million remaining in cap space to sign Parise. Therefore Lou has made it known he will likely need to make a trade in order to be able to sign Zach. Lou could also send players to the minors or put injured players like Salvador on LTIR to get some cap relief. But chances are high that he makes a move or two to make room for Parise.
Parise is the favorite to be named the new captain of the Devils assuming he signs an extension. Kovalchuk could also get the honor if Parise is only signed for one year. Other candidates for captaincy could be Henrik Tallinder, Andy Greene, Patrik Elias or Dainius Zubrus. One thing is for certain Devils are in a battle against time to sign Parise and make a trade. But chances are high that they avoid the process which ruins the relationship between the team, player and agent.
No comments:
Post a Comment