WHILE THE Devils organization promotes its own particular variation of “Where’s Waldo?” by providing such scant information about Scott Stevens that the team’s players and coach are constantly pestered with questions about a hypothetical heroic return of their captain, we’re posing an alternative query:
Where’s Zach?
If management believed this would be postseason business as usual, the decision-makers were mistaken. Entering their first tournament without Stevens since 1991, and having lost the critical third-seed on the final day of the season with a flatline loss at home, the Devils were going to need a spark plug to successfully navigate their title defense.
And they had one in Zach Parise, the dynamic albeit smallish 19-year-old center out of North Dakota the team had selected 17th overall in last June’s Entry Draft and signed two weeks ago within days of the Sioux’s elimination from the NCAA tournament. It was all in place; the perfect plan. Except it wasn’t the plan at all. Because as the season ended, the Devils announced Parise would not be part of the playoff roster.
“We’re going with the bunch of guys who worked hard to get us where we are,” Pat Burns said. “We think the guys we have can do the job, that and we don’t think Zach is ready to take the step from going from college to an NHL playoff game.
“You have to go with your gut feeling, and mine is that we’re going with the better option.”
Now, after two losses to the Flyers in which the Devils have created few problems while coming with an old and familiar look, Burns may be feeling indigestion. Though matters would be calmed if Martin Brodeur could come up with a vintage performance tonight at the Meadowlands, you wonder whether a misplaced sense of propriety that eliminated Parise from the list of Burns’ options.
“There’s a certain structure here, a certain way that Lou [Lamoriello] has always believed in doing things; guys paying dues,” Brodeur said. “It wouldn’t affect me personally because I’m a goalie, but it might have a negative impact on the centers.”
John Madden is a checking center. Jan Hrdina and Viktor Kozlov have been Devils for 10 minutes. Igor Larionov just hasn’t worked out. So who exactly would have been unduly afflicted; Scott Gomez? Well, no.
“I’d have no problem whatsoever with Zach being here if he could help the team,” Gomez said yesterday. “That’s what this is about.
“One thing I would say, though, is I was kind of in the same position myself in 1999. I’d been a first-round choice, played the year in junior, and then I joined the team to skate with the extras during the first round [seven-game loss] against Pittsburgh. I remember walking into the room with my gear and Dave Andreychuk and some of the other veterans stared me down like, ‘What are you doing here?’ It was the worst feeling.
“So there’d be a lot on Zach, but in this room I’d hope we’d be beyond that type of jealousy or resentment.”
Maybe Parise wouldn’t have been ready at all. But maybe he could have been Neal Broten, who left the U. of Minnesota and helped the North Stars reach the Finals in 1981. What would the harm have been having Parise available, just in case?
It’s funny; Lamoriello always talks about the Devils as if they’re a college team, metaphorically referring to their freshmen, sophomores, juniors and graduating seniors, and now it turns out that he doesn’t believe in early entry.
Problem is, that may contribute to his team’s early exit.
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The hole truth
This is the fourth time in their history the Devils have fallen behind 2-0 in a playoff series. They came from behind to win once before, vanquishing the Bruins in six in the 1994 Eastern Conference Semifinals. Here’s the lowdown, and how the Devils fared:
Series – Result, Games – Opponent
1993 Patrick Semifinals – L, 1-4 – Penguins
1994 Eastern Semifinals – W, 4-2 – Bruins
2002 Eastern Quarterfinals – L, 2-4 – Hurricanes