The New Jersey Devils have a history of losing big name free agents, but today could be the biggest one of all. Scott Niedermayer was once considered a career Devil, but in Summer 2005, he left to join his brother in Anaheim. Back in 2001, the Devils lost leading scorer Alexander Mogilny to the Maple Leafs. In Summer 2002, they lost Bobby Holik to the rival Rangers, but everyone forgot that quickly since the Devils went on to win the Stanley Cup and in 2007 they lost Scott Gomez to the rival Rangers and Brian Rafalski to the Red Wings. 2009 was not as bad, but they did lose Brian Gionta and John Madden. Today, Team Captain and forward Zach Parise, who was loved by many chose to go home and play for the Minnesota Wild along with his long-time friend and USA Hockey buddy Ryan Suter. Both players signed identical 13 year/$98 million dollar contracts, an annual cap hit of $7.5 Million dollars a year.
Make no mistake about it, the New Jersey Devils and General Manager Lou Lamoriello did everything they could to try and convince him to stay. In fact, Parise said he would not have chosen the Wild had Ryan Suter not come there, so Zach himself enticed Ryan to join him with the Wild. It was rumored the Devils made a significant offer to Parise, but he chose to play in his home state. Obviously this is a very huge loss for the Devils. He is a great fore-checker, can go to the tough to play areas and he created a lethal penalty kill unit with Adam Henrique.
So, now the question is where do the Devils go next? Well today is not a negative on the New Jersey Devils Organization. Obviously they lose a great leader, but as Lou Lamoriello says, this locker room is made up fo leaders. It will create an opportunity for someone to step in and play a bigger role on the team. Most notbaly Left Wing Mattias Tedenby, the Devils 2008 1st round pick who is a small guy, but has yet to live up to expectations. Should the Devils decide to go to free agency and make a trade, viable options include Alex Semin, Shane Doan, Peter Mueller out of many players. It would be interesting to see if Lou Lamoriello will try and trade for Rick Nash or Bobby Ryan, but that is a severe long-shot. Are the Devils a playoff team without Parise? Yes, in my mind they are still a playoff team. It will be tough for them to return to the Stanley Cup Final, but they are a playoff team.
The Devils played 69 games without Parise during the 2010-2011 season, which was a very disappointing season, but they had a stretch run, so they might have to revert to that formula for this season, but obviously play at a very consistent level.
Make no mistake about it, the New Jersey Devils and General Manager Lou Lamoriello did everything they could to try and convince him to stay. In fact, Parise said he would not have chosen the Wild had Ryan Suter not come there, so Zach himself enticed Ryan to join him with the Wild. It was rumored the Devils made a significant offer to Parise, but he chose to play in his home state. Obviously this is a very huge loss for the Devils. He is a great fore-checker, can go to the tough to play areas and he created a lethal penalty kill unit with Adam Henrique.
So, now the question is where do the Devils go next? Well today is not a negative on the New Jersey Devils Organization. Obviously they lose a great leader, but as Lou Lamoriello says, this locker room is made up fo leaders. It will create an opportunity for someone to step in and play a bigger role on the team. Most notbaly Left Wing Mattias Tedenby, the Devils 2008 1st round pick who is a small guy, but has yet to live up to expectations. Should the Devils decide to go to free agency and make a trade, viable options include Alex Semin, Shane Doan, Peter Mueller out of many players. It would be interesting to see if Lou Lamoriello will try and trade for Rick Nash or Bobby Ryan, but that is a severe long-shot. Are the Devils a playoff team without Parise? Yes, in my mind they are still a playoff team. It will be tough for them to return to the Stanley Cup Final, but they are a playoff team.
The Devils played 69 games without Parise during the 2010-2011 season, which was a very disappointing season, but they had a stretch run, so they might have to revert to that formula for this season, but obviously play at a very consistent level.
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