If the Rangers take Zach Parise at Wednesday’s discouraging word, it could cost the upcoming unrestricted free agent millions.
Parise said he will not be heading to the Rangers as a free agent. But it would have been treason to say otherwise inside the Devils’ locker room after their Stanley Cup loss to the Kings.
“No. No way,” Parise said. Then he added, in vain, “Don’t try to get a headline out of that.”
Pressed further, he mumbled, “No. … no.”
If Parise is on the Rangers’ radar, his statement wouldn’t stop them from trying to lure the Devils’ captain across the Hudson. If the Rangers make a run and fail to get Parise, they still would benefit. That’s because they would have driven up the pricetag, as they did with Patrik Elias, for the Devils, who did lose Bobby Holik and Scott Gomez to the Rangers via free agency.
Poaching the Devils’ unrestricted free agent should be a win-win for the Rangers, weakening their new nemesis and strengthening themselves, though it didn’t work that way with Holik and Gomez, the advantage mainly in subtraction from the Devils.
Wednesday was breakup day for the Stanley Cup runner-up, who came within two overtime goals of capturing their fourth Cup. Instead, their loss in Game 6 in Los Angeles Monday crowned the 1967 expansion Kings first-time champs.
The Devils had hoped to play Game 7 for the Stanley Cup on Newark ice Wednesday. Instead, they took team photos there with the Eastern Conference playoff championship Prince of Wales Trophy, which Parise finally touched.
Parise, who mostly had been silent about free agency in the second half of the season, opened up yesterday.
“I’m excited about it because it’s something as a player, especially your first time, you don’t get to do it very often,” Parise said.
“That being said, hopefully we can get things worked out here,” said Parise, who also said he’s “absolutely” willing to talk contract with the Devils before he becomes free on July 1.
“I’m 27, but you have to start thinking about family,” said Parise, who is getting married next month. “You have to be comfortable with the surroundings, the coaches, the teammates. A lot of things come into play.
“I’ve always liked playing here. That’s never changed. We’ll see where that takes us right now.This is a great place to play. I love being here. I love playing here.”
Parise said the decision will be his.
“I’ll probably just shut off my phone and not talk to anybody and really reflect on everything,” Parise said. “Everyone’s got opinions and probably rightfully so. Everyone’s been through different things.
“But this is a decision I think I need to make on my own.”
Most other business centered on the upcoming unrestricted free agents, including Martin Brodeur, Johan Hedberg, Bryce Salvador, Ryan Carter, stand-up Steve Bernier, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Petr Sykora, Stephen Gionta, Cam Janssen and Peter Harrold, all hoping to return for another crack.
General manager Lou Lamoriello said Brodeur will be back if he wants to return, and the 40-year-old star said he will take a few weeks to reflect, but almost certainly will want to play for New Jersey again.
“We built something really good along the year. When we start another season, we have to rebuild all that,” Brodeur said. “You hope to keep certain core players and make the right moves to make us successful. It’s always a gamble. There’s going to be one staying, one going. That’s hockey and free agency, and not just us.”
“It’s been unbelievable,” Brodeur said of this season. “It’s not fair, because I’ve won before so other people can’t relate to what I have gone through. But I’ve had a blast, a great time. We gave everything we had.”
Brodeur did not begrudge the Kings their Cup.
“I could go home and be really happy about who won and it’s hard for them to digest that,” Brodeur said. “It’s a tough thing to translate to other guys on the team, but you have to lose to a certain extent to be able to win. The Kings deserve what they got, but the guys should be really proud of what they accomplished.
“These guys will be celebrating a championship in the near future.”
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Lamoriello said Wednesday he did not miss Tuesday’s deadline to forfeit his 29th overall first-round pick as part of Devils’ punishment for CBA “circumvention” in first Ilya Kovalchuk signing two summers ago.
He said the team had long ago decided to keep its pick, though this pick is as late as it will have unless it returns to the finals in the next two seasons, by when a pick must be forfeited.
Lamoriello erroneously said Tuesday he had 48 hours to decide. … Kovalchuk would not specify the nature of the back injury that hampered him from Game 1 of postseason.