NHL

No Stanley Cup, but Parise pleased with Devils’ tenure

Not since Kirk Muller, nearly 21 years ago, has a Devils captain departed New Jersey without a Stanley Cup ring, whether won before, during or after his term of office.

By signing with the Wild on Wednesday, Zach Parise has broken that lineage of Bruce Driver (after), Scott Stevens (during), Scott Niedermayer, Patrik Elias and Jamie Langenbrunner (before).

Yet, Parise said he doesn’t feel he left things undone in New Jersey when he went home to Minnesota for 13 years and $98 million.

“I’d hate to say unfinished business. I don’t want to downplay what we did this season. We went from missing the playoffs and three first-round exits to the Stanley Cup Finals,” Parise told The Post Friday.

“We got close, very close. We all played as hard as we could. Only one team wins each year, and we gave ourselves a great chance.”

Muller was the last Devils captain never to win a Cup in New Jersey, his reign ending in a trade in 1991. He and Parise are joined by only Mel Bridgman and Don Lever without Devils rings.

Parise, 27, said the Devils were the runners-up to the Wild among the serious bidders, believed to number 17 after the auction opened July 1, and whittled down to a handful by Tuesday.

He expressed regret at saying “No way,” June 13 to the possibility of going to the Rangers, but not because he wanted to go there.

“I wasn’t trying to disrespect them at all,” Parise said. “I was getting attacked [questioned] pretty good. It was the first thing that came into my mind, with my loyalties to New Jersey.”

He said those feelings for the Devils worked against the Penguins and Flyers, who both made attractive bids.

“[Rivalry] makes things a lot tougher,” Parise said.

Parise also denied his apparent place in the pecking order behind Ilya Kovalchuk, revealed by power-play usage, had anything to do with his departure.

“Not at all,” Parise said. “That stuff, [former assistant] Adam Oates would diagram what he felt would be the best option, and I’m not the type of player to complain about it, whether I’m standing at the side of the net, or at the half boards. That didn’t enter into it at all.”

Parise said he doesn’t quite know what he’s getting into in Minnesota. Defenseman Marek Zidlicky came from the Wild last season after having beefs with coach Mike Yeo.

“You can talk to whomever, talk to the coach as much as you want, but when you don’t see a team play much, you don’t know. I know the type of players they have and I know [as assistant coach] he was instrumental with the Penguins going to the finals [in 2008],” Parise said.

Parise said he rejected several shorter offers than the deal he accepted.

“I wanted long-term,” he said. “A couple of teams offered 7-8 years, but that would put me at an awkward age (34-35) when it was over.”

It wasn’t enough to prevent him from going home, but Parise said he will miss the Devils.

“That’s what makes it so hard. I had so much fun playing with those guys. I have really good friends, great friends among them,” Parise said. “Lou [Lamoriello, the general manager] runs a great organization, everything first class, and he always puts together a great team. But I think it will be the players and staff I miss most.”

These moves always have left-behinds. So often, they’ve been the Devils, as was the case with Bobby Holik, Doug Gilmour, Joe Nieuwendyk, Dave Andreychuk, Scott Niedermayer, Bruce Driver, Scott Gomez, Brian Rafalski and Brian Gionta. And still, the Devils have been to the finals five times since 1995, amid all those departures.

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Defenseman Matt Taormina signed with the Lightning as a Group 6 unrestricted free agent yesterday. He played 47 games for the Devils over the past two seasons, including 30 last year. He was 4-8-12 in his Devils career.