One of this summer’s biggest RFA’s, Zach Parise has finally inked a new contract with the Devils. With his arbitration hearing set for August 3rd, Parise and the New Jersey Devils agreed to a one year, $6 million dollar contract this past Friday. With the one year deal, Parise can become a UFA next summer and go to whatever team he chooses. Devils GM Lou Lamoriello said the two sides continue to talk in hopes of working out a long-term extension for the talented left winger.
In his six NHL seasons, Parise has improved each year and is knocking on the door of breaking out as a star left winger in the league. The 27 year old American has had campaigns of 32 points (rookie season), 62, 65, his breakout year with 45 goals and 94 points, and 82 points. Last season, Parise only suited up for 13 games as he suffered a right knee injury that forced him to miss 69 games. His presence was missed as the Devils got off to a horrible start and ended up missing the playoffs last season.
This contract comes with many questions: Will Parise sign a long-term deal with New Jersey or flee like so many other Devils greats have in the past? Can the Devils afford to be paying Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk franchise money for two players who play the same position? Does Parise want to experience a new offensive system and see if he could be a dominant offensive force in the league? And after seeing how free agents get more money on the open market, will Parise, as the best free agent available next summer, go to the highest bidder?
If Parise does make it to unrestricted free agency, you can guarantee that there will be 30 NHL teams bidding for his services. From a Ottawa standpoint, a top pairing of Jason Spezza and Parise would be magical. Since the “Hated One” left, there has been a gaping hole on the Sens top line and Parise would be the perfect trigger man for Spez. One can dream.
The saga of Alex Kovalev‘s NHL career has seemingly come to an end. The 38 year old Russian is reportedly set to sign a two-year contract with Atlant Mytishchi of the Kontinental Hockey League. After spending a month trying to find a new NHL team, Kovalev seems to be wanted only across the pond.
After signing a two-year, $10 million dollar contract with Ottawa in the summer of 2009, Kovalev only teased Sens’ fans in his 131 games in the nation’s capital. While he recorded 32 goals and 76 points in his year and a half in Ottawa, Kovalev found a new nickname to replace his L’Artiste one from his Montreal days — Floatalev! The Sens shipped Kovalev to the Penguins at the trade deadline for a conditional seventh-round pick where Kovi proceeded to play out the year doing nothing. Good luck Kovalev doing what you do.
Broken by SensTown, the Sens are reportedly planning to upgrade their outdated scored board with a new LED score board. Courtesy of SensTown,
"the new scoreboard had been leaked by Anthony James Partners, a company who designs scoreboards for pro and college teams. They have designed scoreboards for other well known pro teams like the Green Bay Packers, the Buffalo Bills and the Charlotte Bobcats. The new scoreboard brings us up to speed with most of the other arenas and appears to be quite similar to the one at the Bell Centre."
As per the Ottawa Sun, the Sens organization has not yet confirmed that there will be a new score board in place for the 2011-12 season. They did confirm that they are in talks to have a new score board designed, but have yet to finalize anything. The6thSens also took a look at the whole complicated mess that is the new Sens score board. Will there be a new score board at Scotiabank Place come this fall, who knows but here’s hoping.
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