What if NJ had won the Cup *then* Parise bolted?

[DEVILS ALL THE WAY*]

From Todd Cordell's post today

That's a pretty spot on analysis right there.

Let's throw the bank at two guys and figure out the rest later while we get nowhere in the postseason.

 

[Devils Trap]

To be honest as a 3rd liner, I wouldnt mind Clutterbuck. One of those tough guys who can actually play hockey

 

[DEVILS ALL THE WAY*]

To be honest as a 3rd liner, I wouldnt mind Clutterbuck. One of those tough guys who can actually play hockey

Clutterbuck is a better version of Clarkson and the guy actually knows his role. He won't change his game if ever he scores 25 goals.

 

[NJDevs26]

I feel if we would have won last year he actually would have stayed.

We won enough to convince him to stay if that was his motivation. I would have been far more understanding of him leaving if we'd lost in the first round again.

 

[Traitor Zach]

From Todd Cordell's post today

Well they do have Heatley's deal coming off after next season, but they'll probably need that to try and lock up Pominville who won't be cheap and will probably in all likelihood at least test FA next offseason.

My guess is Minny may let Clutterbuck walk. I think they need to try and keep Cullen though as insurance down the middle, as he can play all three forward positions, despite getting a bit older, and he's from around up there so he may stay on a cheap deal.

To me, goalie is a bit of an issue for them going forward too. I respect Harding's battle a great deal, but I don't think much of him as a goalie I'd want to lead my team to contention.

 

[Scott04]

People still would have hated him for it, just not quite to the same extent. If he left for the money, or left to go home, that's fine. But his words were that he left for the best chance to win a cup (I know you have to say that to an extent, but still). If he won a cup here, it shows his priority was definitely on going home (and possibly money too). His rationale wouldn't be as much of a slight on this team as it was to claim that going to a team like the Wild would give him a far better shot at winning than he could have here.

And by that same token, if we won the cup last year, we really wouldn't care because we just won the cup. It sucks to win and then have people jump ship. But to get that close and then have a guy jump ship because they don't think they can win here is a good way to piss off some fans.

 

[Sir Fenwick Corsi]

Parise who? He's history and he pissed away any budding legacy he had with this franchise. A guy like Neal Broten actually holds more significance to us than Parise ever will. Aside from one lengthy playoff run where he made a tremendous backcheck and scored a bunch of empty net goals, what history does he have here? He didn't win dick and his nice regular season numbers are just fluff. For me, he actually represents Devils mediocrity all too well. Take out 2012 and all you have left are the playoff series just like the one he concluded against Chicago. It's not to say the team doesn't miss his play, I mean they've been golfing for two weeks already. But other than that, why even give a **** about him? As mentioned by others, there is enough to worry about with the Devils, let alone some little dweeb who wanted to play boyfriend.

All that said, I really can't wait to hear how badly he gets booed when he returns It's going to be insane.

 

[AfroThunder396]

Nobody in their right mind should want Parise here. He's so overrated it isn't even funny, but then again we're talking about the same people who thought Parise was better than Kovalchuk a year or two ago.

You're delusional if you don't think Parise makes this team better. Did you see the forward group we had this year?

 

[Devils Trap]

You're delusional if you don't think Parise makes this team better. Did you see the forward group we had this year?

Yes Parise makes this group much better. However I wouldnt want him back if he is on the same contract Minny gave him

 

[4check22]

Clutterbuck is a better version of Clarkson and the guy actually knows his role. He won't change his game if ever he scores 25 goals.

Unfortunately, if Clutterbuck came here, he'd be a first or second-line winger instead of a 3rd-line winger.

 

[yakitate304]

Like a longtime girlfriend, I don't have any animosity towards Zach, but I also don't want to see him doing that well for a little while.

 

[Feed Me A Stray Cat]

free agents have left in the past and I haven't hated them

it was all about the lip service and how he dragged everyone along, only to go play with his lover. thats why people hate him. not because he left.

People are formulating their basis for hate on blind speculation. You have no idea what his intentions were. Most of this board comes off like a jilted lover in regards to Zach.

 

[Bleedred]

I think Parise saw that the devils were on the downturn, due to the age of both their goalies. So if they won it, I think he would have still left. I also think if they won it Brodeur wouldve retired. But thats another story. I think the Devils are on their last legs, and will soon turn to rebuilding. And I think Parise saw that.

What?

Not having Parise this year for us, or at least his production was probably the difference between missing the playoffs, and actually making them. There wouldn't have been any rebuild if he would have stayed. Brodeur also said before the SCF that he was planning on coming back after the next year, though he particularly only talked about coming back for one year rather than two.

Just look at the Wild this year. They scored like 10 or 12 more goals than we did, and gave up 3 more goals than we did. Their special teams were also just about as bad as ours were. If we had Parise it probably would have been the other way around, and we likely would have been better than the Wild were this year I'm sure.

 

[DEVILS ALL THE WAY*]

People are formulating their basis for hate on blind speculation. You have no idea what his intentions were. Most of this board comes off like a jilted lover in regards to Zach.

But what about his CORSI... that's the only thing we want to know

 

[Bleedred]

People are formulating their basis for hate on blind speculation. You have no idea what his intentions were. Most of this board comes off like a jilted lover in regards to Zach.

I think there's more than enough evidence that he was planning on leaving, but believe what you want.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

People are formulating their basis for hate on blind speculation. You have no idea what his intentions were. Most of this board comes off like a jilted lover in regards to Zach.

he told us exactly what his intentions were while all along he was apparently talking to Suter and lying through his teeth. he chased the big payday. thats what bothers me.

like I said, plenty of Devils leave via FA to go to other teams and I don't get pissed. Martin, Gionta, etc.

 

[JimEIV]

Yet, both guys combined have a whopping 1 point in 5 games in the post season with Parise being a -7 and Miko a -6. The regular season doesn't mean anything if you can't produce at the most important time of the year, the playoffs.

That right there is not what I call being a gamebreaker... but maybe we just have a different opinion of the word "gamebreaker"

Come on ....They played a far superior team...You're playing games with that fact and you know it. That was a team that is making its first playoff appearance in 4 years against the President Trophy winner...Do you really believe bad stats from players on the 8th seed that were just ousted by the best team in the league is a meaningful reflection off those players?

You don't even know what Kovalchuk's playoff track record really is...He's played 32 playoff in his 12 year NHL career and 23 of them where last year. He was swept his first time in the playoffs only scoring 1 goal in 4 games.... Is that what a "Gamebraker" does?

So if Parise 1 goal and -7 means he isn't a "Gamebraker" (Again whatever the hell that means) what does Kovalchuk's 4 playoff appearances in 12 season say about his game? Strength of team only counts for Kovalchuk?

So let me see if I understand this correctly........

We have the "Gamebraker" (whatever that means) and we couldn't make the playoffs, we couldn't make the playoffs in 2011 with the "Gamebraker" either (I know, MacLeans fault)....and we are better off now because we have a "GameBraker" with 32 playoff games of experiences and pretty much of all of those 32 game have been lackluster?

 

[Feed Me A Stray Cat]

he told us exactly what his intentions were while all along he was apparently talking to Suter and lying through his teeth. he chased the big payday. thats what bothers me.

like I said, plenty of Devils leave via FA to go to other teams and I don't get pissed. Martin, Gionta, etc.

Unless there's something I'm missing, he said that he and Suter had some convos about how it would be cool to play on the same team, something I'm sure a lot of friends who are hitting UFA do.

Not sure how that's an indictment about what his "true intentions" were.

The Devils were in play until the last moment. I personally don't think there's any hard evidence to suggest Zach was just stringing us along.

With that said, I'm glad we didn't sign him at that contract.

 

[Better Call Sal]

I'll get over Zach leaving at some point, but will surely take pleasure in him not performing and the Wild not doing well.

It sucks because the Wild were always my West team (Lemaire being their first coach was a big help). Right now, I'm still bitter, but at some point I will get over it like many other free agents that have left.

 

[njdevils1982]

Come on ....They played a far superior team...You're playing games with that fact and you know it. That was a team that is making its first playoff appearance in 4 years against the President Trophy winner...Do you really believe bad stats from players on the 8th seed that were just ousted by the best team in the league is a meaningful reflection off those players?

You don't even know what Kovalchuk's playoff track record really is...He's played 32 playoff in his 12 year NHL career and 23 of them where last year. He was swept his first time in the playoffs only scoring 1 goal in 4 games.... Is that what a "Gamebraker" does?

So if Parise 1 goal and -7 means he isn't a "Gamebraker" (Again whatever the hell that means) what does Kovalchuk's 4 playoff appearances in 12 season say about his game? Strength of team only counts for Kovalchuk?

So let me see if I understand this correctly........

We have the "Gamebraker" (whatever that means) and we couldn't make the playoffs, we couldn't make the playoffs in 2011 with the "Gamebraker" either (I know, MacLeans fault)....and we are better off now because we have a "GameBraker" with 32 playoff games of experiences and pretty much of all of those 32 game have been lackluster?

whats your reason for the vendetta? (for lack of a better word)...... kovy lead the team last playoffs with a bad back, yet you crucify him.

 

[battlingBard56]

If you don't want to look at the fact he was talking with another player about signing onto the same team as at least smoke, then how about his has been father feeding quotes to the media before and after Zach signed in MN? How about Russo leaking contract details before free agency?
He wasn't coming back.

 

[DEVILS ALL THE WAY*]

Come on ....They played a far superior team...You're playing games with that fact and you know it. That was a team that is making its first playoff appearance in 4 years against the President Trophy winner...Do you really believe bad stats from players on the 8th seed that were just ousted by the best team in the league is a meaningful reflection off those players?

You don't even know what Kovalchuk's playoff track record really is...He's played 32 playoff in his 12 year NHL career and 23 of them where last year. He was swept his first time in the playoffs only scoring 1 goal in 4 games.... Is that what a "Gamebraker" does?

So if Parise 1 goal and -7 means he isn't a "Gamebraker" (Again whatever the hell that means) what does Kovalchuk's 4 playoff appearances in 12 season say about his game? Strength of team only counts for Kovalchuk?

So let me see if I understand this correctly........

We have the "Gamebraker" (whatever that means) and we couldn't make the playoffs, we couldn't make the playoffs in 2011 with the "Gamebraker" either (I know, MacLeans fault)....and we are better off now because we have a "GameBraker" with 32 playoff games of experiences and pretty much of all of those 32 game have been lackluster?

The Kings were seeded where last year, 1st in the West, I can't remember anymore?

Parise isn't a playoff performer, period. The proof is in the pudding, he did nothing for us to get out of the 1st round when he was here and his track record isn't any better in Minny.

Kovalchuk played on a bottom feading team for over a decade while Zach played on division winning teams who racked up 100 pts seasons on a regular basis. Comparing the Thrashers to the Devils is a insult to your knowledge that you actully brought up on your own.

Playing a far superior team doesn't give you the right to have a stat sheet of a 4th liner. You get paid the big bucks to produce, so the end result is all that matters at the end of the day.

Regardin the MacLean era, if you can't see that Lou crapped the bed when putting him in charge when we played like gangbusters as soon as Lemaire took over, I don't know what to tell you. We missed the playoffs this year cause without Kovy, as much as it might eat you inside, we had no secondary scoring outside of Elias cause Zajac, Henrique and everyone who was supposed to step up... didn't. Marty going down only for Moose to turn as a our starter didn't help our cause either but it must be Kovy's fault for not cheering louder when he was in the pressbox.

 

[Feed Me A Stray Cat]

If you don't want to look at the fact he was talking with another player about signing onto the same team as at least smoke, then how about his has been father feeding quotes to the media before and after Zach signed in MN? How about Russo leaking contract details before free agency?
He wasn't coming back.

Russo didn't leak contract details - he speculated that Minnesota was ready to make a big, hard push with a double digit term contract at triple figure dollar amounts. Everyone knew that.

 

[Bleedred]

Can we please get Devils86 and Brodeurscups in here to set things straight for the zillionth time? Both of them knew first hand, and both of their stories were pretty identical.

 

[DEVILS ALL THE WAY*]

Parise signed a one year deal, making him a pending UFA the following summer... end of story.