Do you front-load a deal for Parise now?

by DownGoesAvery on Jul 20, 2010 9:42 AM EDT

What works once may work twice. That could not be more true for the Devils and the looming restricted free agency of Zach Parise. The Devils have set up what appears to be a long-term core with Parise, Zajac, Kovalchuk and young players such as Tedenby, Josefson, Corrente, etc., but most people agree that locking up Parise right away is priority number one right now that Kovalchuk is settled in for almost two decades.

Parise is going to demand around $7.5M or so, which may work out, because his current cap hit ($3.1M) plus the salary of soon-to-be unrestricted free agent center Jason Arnott ($4.5M) adds up to $7.6M per year. Parise deserves to cash in right away though, so if you're Lou, do you think about frontloading a long-term deal now? Might we see a ten or twelve year deal with Parise, offering him something in the neighborhood of $7.5M until Brodeur, Rolston, Elias, White and Langenbrunner come off the cap and then start to increase, adding minimum salary years at the tail end of the deal? (By the way, I feel I should point out that if Kovalchuk goes to the bank with the $11.5M he can earn $575,000 from the bank after 39, so I expect him to retire at age 39)

I would lock Parise up, and whether he becomes the captain immediately or not, he needs to be reminded that this is still Parise's team. Parise was raised here, and deserves to be treated as such. The bottom line is if Parise can make the money early in the deal, he might be willing to come back down to a $6.5M cap hit or something similar to that.

The future looks exciting for the Devils, as an offensive system seems to be implimented here, and Parise and Zajac are hardly entering their prime yet, now they will be able to play their game and show us how far they can go. As I mentioned in another reply, having a second line with a 40+ goal scorer isn't too modest at all, especially when those linemates (Arnott, Elias likely) may be on their way out within 2-3 years, Josefson and Tedenby figure to step up. That's looking ahead though, the bottom line is Lou wants a Stanley Cup in the 2010-11 season, that much is obvious.

Poll

What should Lou Lamoriello do with Parise in this 2010 Summer/off-season?

Lock him up forever, another 17-year deal sounds good to me!

76 votes

Make sure he gets signed for at least the foreseeable future

63 votes

Hope Parise is a Devil after 2010-11

2 votes

Start negotiations, but if nothing develops, wait and see

3 votes

Don't worry about Parise now, we have this season to look forward to

4 votes

148 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

The only flaw in your logic

Is by taking all of Arnott’s salary and re-directing it to Parise, you’re ignoring the fact that Arnott needs to be replaced on the roster. So what you really need to do is keep at least $525K (the min salary goes up in ‘11-12) for a minimum salary replacement player, smarter to keep about $850K since Henrique would probably take that spot (I’m assuming Josefson is on the roster in ’10-11). So you have CAP space of $6.775M available for Zach simply by replacing Arnott with Henrique or someone of his salary. Not even a hugely front-loaded contract would be required to pull that off.

Then you buy out Colin White, eat the $1M cap hit and use the almost $1.5M to give Andy Greene his raise, or use Langs/Zubrus’ salary (whichever one isn’t gone this summer).

Go Devils
Go Jets
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by FrankG929 on Jul 20, 2010 10:06 AM EDT reply actions

Josefson replaces Arnott or Henrique does. None of them make a million yet.

" I don't go to work.... I go to a game" - Bob Sheppard RIP

by RolliePollieKovy on Jul 20, 2010 10:13 AM EDT up reply actions

Then you buy out Colin White

I hate the concept of another buyout or set of buyouts. You can’t keep giving yourself chunks of dead cap space over multiple years in an attempt to fix one year’s cap situation — it is shortsighted, and can only hurt the team if you run to the well on this one too often.

The way I see it, you lose Arnott ($4.5m), Langenbrunner ($2.8m), and Hedberg ($1.5m) from the cap after this season, for a total of $8.8m to spread around. If you want to give those spots to Josefson, Tedenby, and Urbom, you claw back $2.7m or so…. leaving you $6.1m to give raises to Parise and Greene. Even if you give $8m to Parise, you have some money left for Andy Greene, and you can always get creative somewhere else.

by acasser on Jul 20, 2010 10:51 AM EDT up reply actions

I think the key is to start negotiating contract extensions for Parise as soon as possible and as soon as the season ends for Greene. They need to be signed before the buyout window ends so we can get a better idea of what moves need to be made to get under the cap.

by dr(d)evil on Jul 20, 2010 12:45 PM EDT up reply actions

im sure andy greene isnt going to be making 4-5mill, we will just have to see with this season
was last season luck, was it just lemaire working with the D?
if he does do good again then he might just want 2.5mill max

as for parise, lou should lock him up forever! give him a 15year-80mill=5.3mill (could go highest/lower for longer terms)

but like everyone is saying, Arnott alone can buy parise, and hedberg will be gone to so im not worried, plus Lou loves parise to much and he knwos we all do

PS3: J-CAMPS

by J-camps on Jul 20, 2010 5:37 PM EDT reply actions