Now that their season has come to an end, the two biggest questions facing the New Jersey Devils are what the future holds for two of their best players: goaltender Martin Brodeur and captain Zach Parise.Brodeur has already made it sound like he plans on returning next season (and while he's an unrestricted free agent, it's hard to imagine him playing for anybody else), but what happens with Parise is an entirely different issue. Like Brodeur he is also eligible for unrestricted free agency on July 1, and is the top forward that will be available on the open market. Along with Nashville Predators defenseman Ryan Suter, he's one of the two best players at any position that could be available to the highest bidder when the free-agent market officially opens.
It didn't take long after the Devils Game 6 loss on Monday night for questions about his future to start coming up. Well, they were being asked even before their loss on Monday, and Parise still had no interest in discussing any of it (which is understandable at that moment) simply saying, "I'm not talking about that" when asked.
After missing most of the 2010-11 season due to injury, Parise returned this year and appeared in every single game for the Devils scoring 31 goals to go with 38 assists. He also finished the postseason tied for the league lead in goals with eight.
Of the two players, Parise will be the Devils' top priority this summer.
Given his skill and production, combined with the lack of impact scorers available on July 1 (Alexander Semin is next on the list, and then there's quite a drop off), Parise has a big pay day coming his way. If there is a concern about giving him a massive long-term deal it might be the fact that his production -- particularly at even strength -- has dropped a quite a bit over his past three full seasons, going from a career-high 94 points in 2008-09 down to 82 in '09-10, and then down to 69 this past season.
He's still an excellent player, but it's worth keeping in mind that top scorers usually see their peak performances earlier than most people realize (a good look here shows it's usually somewhere around the age of 25). Parise turns 28 on July 28. That doesn't mean his production is going to fall off of a cliff, or that he will cease to be useful, because he's going to be a very productive player for quite a while. But the team that signs him probably shouldn't expect to see the type of 45-goal, 94-point performance he had a few years ago.
The Devils currently have 13 players under contract for next season and are sitting a little over $24 million under the projected salary cap of $70.3 million. That salary cap figure, of course, is subject to change pending a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. Along with Parise and Brodeur, the Devils also have 10 other unrestricted free agents heading into the summer, including defensemen Bryce Salvador and Peter Harrold, forwards Petr Sykora, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Ryan Carter, Petr Sykora, Steve Bernier, Stephen Gionta, and Cam Janssen, as well as backup goalie Johan Hedberg.
So no matter what happens with Parise and Brodeur this summer, this Devils team is probably going to have a very, very different look when the puck drops next season.
Photo: Getty Images
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