newjerseynewsroom.com

BY SAM HITCHCOCK

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

COMMENTARY

Devils’ forward Zach Parise will be looking for a long-term contract and a much deserved payday on July 1st (when he becomes an unrestricted free agent officially), but the continued success of the Devils would seem to suggest an increasingly difficult decision for him if his biggest goal is winning Stanley Cups.

The Devils are one win away from being the Eastern Conference champion, and unlike a LeBron James (when he was in Cleveland) scenario, Parise has definitely not carried the team to glory by himself. The Devils have very important players -- like Kovy, Patrik Elias, Travis Zajac, Dainus Zubrus, David Clarkson, Jacob Josefson, and Adam Henrique -- on the books for next season on offense.

On defense, Anton Volchenkov, Marek Zidlicky, Andy Greene, and Adam Larsson are staying put, and the highly underrated Mark Fayne is an RFA (his continued ascension as a premier defenseman means they have to sign him). Even with the Devils financial troubles, anyone who is interested in buying them would want to secure one of the Devils’ principal assets by signing a long-term contract with Parise.

So what pieces could they move around to get more cap space? The Devils have made it to a game away from the Cup final without defenseman Henrik Tallinder being on the ice, and frankly, he was not very good this regular season. His On-Ice Corsi (On-Ice Shot Differential- goals + saves + missed shots + blocks) was a paltry 0.35, and he posted a measly Defensive Point Shares of 1.1.

Using both advanced metrics helps gain a more accurate picture of a defenseman’s season. For instance, a player like Bryce Salvador’s On-Ice Corsi was awful, but his DPS was the top among Devils defensemen. Pretty accurate picture for anyone who watched him this season, given that he led the Devils in plus/minus and was on the ice for a lot of New Jersey goals, but was saved on some terrible turnovers (especially in the second half of the season when his game capsized), which is reflected in Corsi.

In Tallinder’s case, both stats were bad. Illustrating the larger point: he was a bit of a sieve on the ice. Strangely, people remember him having a much better season than he actually did, and he is on the books for 3.5 million next year. If GM Lou Lamoriello could deal him and free up cap space, the Devils would be making an affordable subtraction.

So who else would they need to part with to achieve maximum cap space for Parise? Here is a list of their UFA forwards: Ponikarovsky, Carter, Sykora, Janssen, and Bernier. With the exception of Janssen, all of the above players have had a tremendous impact on the playoffs, and Carter and Bernier have helped drive the miraculous surge of the Devils’ fourth line.

While that fourth line has been crucial in the team’s salient playoff run, none of the fourth-liners made much of a ripple of impact during the regular season (Brian Gionta being excluded because he only played one game). They were minimally effective players and deserve all the credit in the world for playing well beyond their means in the postseason and helping to carry the Devils to within a game of reaching the finals. But it is likely that they will never be able to replicate this amazing string of success again.

While Carter and Janssen struggled mightily during the regular season, Bernier did show some flashes of how good he could be and has been more consistent with that play in the second season. Bernier and Gionta make a smidge over a million combined, and if they are comfortable with an extension, then reprising their roles as fourth liners next season would be a very promising development for the Devils. As for the Devils’ other forwards, re-signing a superstar like Parise means omissions need to be made.