NHL

LUCKY DEVILS

MONTREAL – Here’s how you prove a negative – Zach Parise is here for tomorrow night’s All-Star Game representing the Devils and not the Rangers or Islanders, who both unaccountably passed on the winger in the 2003 Entry Draft.

Ancient history? Maybe. But the Rangers’ decision to select Hugh Jessiman 12th overall and the Islanders’ decision to tab Robert Nilsson 15th overall while the Devils traded up from No. 22 to grab Parise with the 17th pick represents a snapshot of why New Jersey has been the East’s best franchise since 1993-94, and the two other clubs have not.

“I remember we were pretty surprised that the Islanders didn’t take me, because of my dad’s history with the team. But I don’t really even remember the Rangers being part of the conversation,” said Parise, whose dad, J.P., is a significant part of Islanders lore.

“Honestly, I don’t even know who the Rangers took in that draft.”

Jessiman, dealt to Nashville in a minor-league deal early this season, is the only 2003 first-round pick who has not played in an NHL game. Nilsson was part of the package the Islanders sent to Edmonton in 2007 for the right to rent Ryan Smyth.

Parise, meanwhile, is tied for third in the NHL with 28 goals, three off the pace set by Alexander Ovechkin, and is seventh in the Art Ross race with 55 points. This is his first All Star appearance. J.P. Parise participated in the 1970 and 1973 All Star Games while playing for the North Stars.

“My dad’s been great about allowing me to experience things for myself; he just wants me to soak it all in and enjoy the whole experience,” Parise said. “We’re pretty similar in our approach to the game and our competitiveness, though I might have better hands . . . well, much better hands . . . and even he’ll tell you that.”

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Talk about those who got away, and there’s Boston All-Star center Marc Savard, who was sent away as a 21-year-old in the trade that brought Jamie Lundmark to New York as the ninth overall selection in the 1999 Entry Draft.

Neil Smith, then the general manager, knew Savard could play. But Smith was both seduced by Lundmark and put off by Savard’s cocky attitude that manifested itself when the pivot initially balked at reporting to Hartford for the 1999 AHL playoffs after having played 70 games for the Rangers.

“I’m not going to name them, but there were pretty important players on the Rangers who told me they didn’t think I should go,” said Savard, whose teammates included Wayne Gretzky, Kevin Stevens, Brian Leetch and Heartbeat Harvey. “I wound up going, but I guess I rubbed them the wrong way, I don’t know.

“I do know that about a week before the draft I got a call from Mac T (assistant coach Craig MacTavish) and he was telling me that he thought I had a good chance to be the second-line center the next year. We talked about what I needed to do over the summer to be ready for camp.

“Then came the draft, and bang, I was traded. I was shocked. It’s obviously worked out for me, but it would have been great to spend more time in New York.”

larry.brooks@nypost.com