In Lou We Trust, a New Jersey Devils community

He [Parise] was asked twice about the potential for ever playing for the Rangers, the Devils' No. 1 rival and the team they beat in the Eastern Conference Finals, and both times emphatically responded "No," and added, "Don't try to get a headline out of it."

"The picks are not going determine that. You’re not going to just do this to get picks. Whatever decision is made is going to be made because you feel that you can do certain things and not hurt yourself. All you have to do is go back to the Marty Brodeur year. Those are decisions that you make and you don’t worry about what people think."

I am a kind of person who never looks back. I only look to the future. There is no point feeling sorry for the past. You have to live for today and look forward to what's ahead of you.I will now play for a team that is always a contender for the Stanley Cup.It's something that I always wanted.

Mottau admitted that he "would have rather played "Tuesday if he had a say, but accepted Lemaire’s decision to sit him.

"The coaches decide to rest guys here and there and at this point in the saeson I take it as a positive," Mottau said. "Use the rest and then come back ready to go the last few games and into the playoffs."

"I know that if you’re close to making it [the playoffs], you think about that. It’s something that is going to push you, maybe. But I thought that the job was to be at your best, to play at your best. I don’t think it says to be at your best only when there’s something on the line. I don’t know. An athlete plays a sports and he’s got to play his best every time he plays."

The Devils’ non-Olympians resume practice at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Prudential Center and the hope is that defenseman Paul Martin and right wing David Clarkson will be able to participate.

"We’re waiting for the doctors’ OKs," Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello told me this morning.

"The teams are here, the officials are here, so, as we speak, the game is on," Lamoriello said at 10:45 a.m..

"The reason we got Alex Mogilny at that time was for similar reasons: what he could bring offensively with the shot he had and he could do almost individually at times, but still be a team player. I feel that Iyla can bring that sort of explosiveness and also I really believe strongly that he wants to win and he will fit in."

"We had a couple of beers and just hung out," Brodeur said, downplaying it. "Celebrating these things…I'm not done playing the game so there will be more."

"Oduya has been better," Lemaire said on Monday. "But he can do more as far as his skating with the puck and breakout passing."

Lemaire did not blame rust for hampering Oduya’s play. He has had time to re-acclimate himself. "It’s got to be him pushing a little harder," the coach said.