Gulitti: Parise now may be out for season

Tom Gulitti heard from Zach Parise today and got some bad news. Parise's doctor has recommended that he stay away from skating until he's re-examined in March. Depending on how that goes, that could keep him out for the rest of the season.

Personally, if this means the knee heals properly, then I'm fine with it. If it's a lost season, then there's no reason to rush Parise back with nothing to play for.

over 1 year ago John Fischer 12 comments 0 recs |

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Exactly, this is comparable to Tony Romo with the Cowboys, except the Devils are (somehow) much, much worse than Dallas is. There is no need to rush him back, the only hope is that this season hasn’t turned him off of this organization and Lou better get him under contract as soon as possible. I would hope that at the latest, Lou opens talks with he and his agent in April after the regular season is over.

It was "status quo" when the NHL rejected Kovy's contract, it was "status quo" when the Devils did not dress a full roster and it is "status quo" now that the Devils have lost 21 out of 32 games in regulation. In Lou We Trust...

by DownGoesAvery on Dec 24, 2010 8:48 AM EST reply actions

I’m only really okay with this if he is definite staying with the Devils and re-signing with them. The good thing is that since he might miss a year, he might accept less money cause he isn’t playing.

by Devils1192 on Dec 24, 2010 1:22 PM EST reply actions

Let him sit out the season. There’s no need for him to play 7 or 8 games when the team is at the bottom of the conference. Rest the knee, get strong during the off-season and come back next year rolling. I’d wouldn’t mind him playing in the World Championship

This does help the cap situation though, even though a move (or more) may and should happen anyway.

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by Matthew Ventolo on Dec 24, 2010 1:56 PM EST reply actions

I think this is actually a really big blow to this team (again)…Yes, by the time he would have originally been ready in early February, we would have already likely been eliminated from the playoffs. But I think it would have been really good to see this devils team with a healthy parise, kovalchuck, tedenby, and josefson for the 15-25 games they may have been able to play together and maybe carry some momentum into next season.

I know we all say this…but we HAVE TO RE-SIGN ZACH! I also don’t believe this is really going to change his market value much…everyone knows the tangibles he brings along with his talent, and while a knee injury can always be difficult to come back from and be the same player, its probably a risk most teams would be willing to take.

by TexasDevilFan on Dec 24, 2010 2:03 PM EST reply actions

Well this season it has become clear who has held this team together since dano and stevens retired, and the loss of rafalski and niedermayer. Parise has been that guy clearly our hardest working most effecient player. Time for the Devils to get a young team around him. The days or Brodeur, Rolston, White, Arnott are long since gone. May Parise get back to 100 percent for next season he is needed badly on this franchise.

by KingHellfire on Dec 24, 2010 5:01 PM EST reply actions

I’m fine with White for now cause he is honestly one of the most “consistent” defenseman of the inconsistent defensemen on the team this year.

by Devils1192 on Dec 24, 2010 5:19 PM EST up reply actions

I’m more annoyed at Zach Parise now then I was after the Los Angeles game. Per Zach, the injury happened in the pre-season…. and he continued to play through it! For what? Why couldn’t he have had the minor procedure done early and simply missed a month or two of the regular season…. instead of hurting it more playing a relatively meaningless game and missing the season?

I don’t see how this will decrease Zach’s value on the FA market, however. Unless there’s a reason to believe this will be a chronic, long-lasting injury that will impact his entire career, teams know what he is at this point. The only way this changes the calculus of a Parise contract extension is if the Devils are scared off based on the medical history…. and in that case they’ll simply shop him to the highest bidder.

At least this solves almost all of the salary cap issues for the season.

by acasser on Dec 24, 2010 5:45 PM EST reply actions

It only really solves a portion of the issues if Salvador returns at any point…but I guess at this point with all the players called up and sent down and contracts counting at a percentage depending on how many games they have played and what not..I wouldn’t want to be the one to try and figure that out

by TexasDevilFan on Dec 24, 2010 5:59 PM EST up reply actions

It’s still a pretty big portion. There’s a move that will have to be made when Salvador gets healthy, but that probably won’t be for a month or two. Even then, it doesn’t have to be a gigantic move…. it could be Rolston on re-entry waivers, it could be trading one player. Lou won’t have much of a gun to his head, so there’s a pretty good chance the Devils won’t get scalped in the process.

by acasser on Dec 24, 2010 9:29 PM EST up reply actions