Fire & Ice

Parise: "It didn't seem like it was meant to be"

The Devils were still trying to come to grips with what happened in the final 80 seconds of Tuesday's 4-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.

"It's hard to accept a little bit," goaltender Martin Brodeur said. "There's times in the day you look back and just can't believe it. I've never felt that too much before."

Some of the Devils watched the tape of the last 1:20, in which they gave up the tying and winning goals after leading 3-2. Some did not.

Devils coach Brent Sutter said he didn't need to watch the video.

"I've seen enough of it to know what happened," he said. "The bottom line is the tying and winning goal is lack of execution. It's no one's fault it happened, but at that stage everyone has to be aware of their assignments."

Sutter called it "the most devastating loss I've ever had as a coach or a player." 

"I said to Lou [Lamoriello] this morning this was like a 100-yard dash for our first race," Sutter said. "I felt we got to the 99-yard mark and we fell down when we had the lead. There''s really no way to explain that."

Lamoriello: Devils won't be able to re-sign all of their unrestricted free agents

Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello recognizes that the team has some unrestricted free agents that have been with the team for a long time, such as John Madden and Brian Gionta, and would like to re-sign them.

He didn't mention any player by name, though.

"I haven't had a chance to sit down and talk to them and we don't talk during the season, but we have more than a couple unrestricted free agents that have been an integral part of this team and we have to do everything we can to keep them if possible," Lamoriello said. "It still comes down to being able to afford certain situations under different circumstances, but you never lose what these players gave this year and what they have given. Everything will be addressed and very methodically looked at and we'll see."

Lamoriello admitted that he won't be able to re-sign all of the team's unrestricted free agents, though.

"We have a lot of unrestricted free agents," Lamoriello said. "I would be impossible for us to have all of our unrestricted free agents back whether we wanted to or didn't want to. That's the only way I can answer that question."

Holik and Shanahan waiting to decide on their futures; Holik hurt back doing "silly" conditioning

Devils forwards Bobby Holik and Brendan Shanahan both said they will take their time before making a decison about whether they want to retire or come back for another season in the NHL.

"As of 48 hours ago, I was preparing and thinking our team and specifically our line would be going head-to-head against the Capitals and (Alex) Ovechkin, which I was really looking forward to," Shanahan said. "It's obviously too soon to reflect on any other decisions."

Shanahan said he enjoyed returning to the Devils this season. After sitting out the first half of the season while waiting for a team to make him an offer, he signed a one-year, $800,000 contracdt (pro-rated) with the Devils on Jan. 14.

"In the last couple of weeks here, I had my lip split open, my chin split open, I got stitches in my eyelid and I got hit so hard in Game 6 that it actually knocked one of my false teeth out," Shanahan said. "And I loved every minute of it. I guess after each thing occuring, I drove home at the end of the night feeling so lucky that I was still able to do this and perform at a high level and I was really enjoying it. I just expected it to go a lot longer."

Madden wants to feel wanted; Comments from other unrestricted free agents

This was one of the odder break-up days I've been through with the Devils -- or any other team for that matter.

Usually, many of the free agents will say they want to come back. Today, Brian Gionta was the only one who said that without reservation.

Center John Madden is scheduled to become unrestricted on July 1. When I asked him if he would be willing to listen to offers before that date, he said, "I guess it basically comes down to I want to go where I'm wanted and that's it. Obviously, if I'm wanted here, most likely I'll be here. But if I'm not wanted here, then I'l find other employment."

When asked if he feels wanted by the Devils, Madden replied, "Yeah.

But when asked if he was sure of that all season, he said, "No."

Asked if he thinks he'll be back, Madden said, "I don't know. Who knows? Your one question raises so many other questions, so it's not that easy."

Madden said he hasn't thought about what it would be like to play for another organization since he signed with the Devils as an undrafted free agent in 1997.

"I can say that before I came here to New Jersey, I definitely thought about that, but not while I've been here," Madden said. "I've been more focused on this place. To be quite honest, I never thought that we'd be having this conversation right now. I always thought I'd be here.

"I never thought I'd have this conversation because I just thought it would be a given that things would just keep going forward. That's a bad way to say it. It's just that when I was becoming an unrestricted before, a contract was settled. But it's just different."

Sutter still mum on his future

Devils Brent Sutter would not speak today about whether he intends to come back for a third season with the team.

'I'm not talking about myself," he said. "You guys have heard a bunch of stuff out there that are rumors and I told you at that time and I'm saying it again: I evaluate myself at the end of the year and there's a process I go through to do that and it takes time and I'm going to use time to my advantage and think through everything properly and whatever decision is made will be the decision made.

"I've done that every year since I started coaching in 1999 and I'll continue to do so moving forwards. But this is not a time to discuss that whatsoever. To be quite honest, I'll still thinking about what transpired here less than 48 hours ago. There's a process you go through with that. It's been the most difficult thing that's ever happened to me in my hockey career as a player or a coach. So, that's where I'm at.

"I'm not trying to be disrespectful to anybody or anything. It's just that it's not something that I've given it much time at this point time."

The 2008-09 Devils got together for the final time today for a team photo and exit physicals.They were eliminated from the playoffs with a 4-3 loss to Carolina in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals on Tuesday night,

They led 3-2 in that game before the Hurricanes scored twice in the final 1:20.

Sutter's future has been in question because he hasn't said he will definitely come back next season. He has one more season left on his contract.

"I knew that question was going to be asked," Sutter said. "But I don't want (the media) to take it disrespectful that I can't answer it for you because I'm not in that stage right now."

Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello told me Wednesday that he wants Sutter to return and expects him to do so. Lamoriello was far less firm about that today, though.

"The quickness of everything that's transprired -- has it been 48 hours yet? -- you usually take a step back and look at yourself first is what I try and do and then sit down and go through all of the other tangible situations and there are several," Lamoriello said. "There has been no timetable."

When asked if there is a possibility that Sutter will not be back, Lamoriello replied, 'I really don't want to get into any of that here. You had a conversation with Brent. I don't think this is the time to get into anything that's personal."

Sutter also wouldn't answer questions about whether he thinks the team needs personnel changes.

"We're less than 48 hours away from, to me, the most devastating loss I've ever had as a coach or a player," Sutter said. "I don't think it's a time to even go there with that, There's a process that you have to go through and making sure everyone is in the right frame of mind and whatever decisions are made moving forward, you're not making them through emotion."

Devils' first-round series produces highest TV rating in 12

The Devils' seven-game loss to the Carolina Hurricanes produced the team's highest television rating for a first-round series in 12 years.

MSG Plus averaged a 1.36 rating (101,100 households) for the seven games. Game 7 drew a 1.64 rating, tying with Game 3 of the series, for the Devils' highest rating since Game 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series with Toronto on May 5, 2001 (1.74 rating).

Lamoriello: "That was a very difficult loss"

Like his head coach and players and the team's fans, Devils president, CEO and general manager Lou Lamoriello was stunned by the team's final-80-seconds collapse in a 4-3 loss to Carolina in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals Tuesday night at Prudential Center.

The Devils led 3-2 until Jussi Jokinen tied it with 1:20 remaining. Eric Staal scored the game-winner with 31.7 seconds left.

"I'm sure your reaction is the same as mine," Lamoriello said. "Unfortunately, it did happen. There's nothing that can be done about it today and what you do is just look for reasons. No excuses. No looking left or right. Just look straight ahead and take a step back right now and reflect on everything."

Lamoriello said the collapse should not have happened.

"When you are in control of a game like that, you cannot let it slip," he said. "You don't have any reasons for it. That was a very difficult loss."

Lamoriello has seen the Devils lose in double overtime to the Rangers in Game 7 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals and lose a Game 7 in the 2001 Stanley Cup Finals in Colorado. He's never experienced a defeat like this before, though.

"Not the way this was lost," he said. "The set of circumstances, the last 80 seconds. We've seen it in other profressional sports. We've seen it with a Hail Mary pass. We've seen other situations and I've been on the other side of it in one situation in college, but certainly not here on the negative side of it. But, it's reality. It happened and we can't look for excuses and no one to blame. We're not pointing any fingers anywhere. It came upon us as a complete surprise, especially the way the end of the game went."

Lamoriello expects Sutter to be back next season

Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello said this morning that he has no reason to believe that Brent Sutter won't be back as his head coach next season.

He also made it clear that he wants Sutter to come back.

"There should be no discussion on this," Lamoriello told me today. "I have no knowledge of anything. You have to speak to Brent about this. Even to get into discussions about this makes no sense."

Although Sutter has admitted to being home sick, he has said repeatedly that he makes decisions about his future after every season and this one is no different. That said, he has not commited to coming back next season either.

He has one more season remaining on his contract.

To Lamoriello, however, the discussion is a moot one.

"There's no questions from me," Lamoriello said.

Lamoriello said he hasn't thought about discussing Sutter's future with him, yet. Everyone in the organization is still dealing with the shocking end of Tuesday's Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against the Hurricanes, in which the Devils gave up two goals in the final 80 seconds to turn a 3-2 lead into a 4-3 defeat.

"We haven't even spoken since last night," Lamoriello said of Sutter. "No one is even thinking of anything other than what transpired last night. To even get into any discussions about anything, it's not on the mind today. Today is just regrouping."

I'll have more on what Lamoriello said about Tuesday night's loss and the little he said about looking to the future in a few minutes in a separate post.

***

In case you missed it, Zach Parise was not voted as one of the finalists for the Hart Trophy. The three finalists are Washington's Alex Ovechkin, Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin and Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk.

It's hard to argue with that trio.

Devils headed for free agency

As many of you try to recover from Tuesday night's game, it's time to start looking forward. Don't worry. I will continue to go through the aftermath from the Game 7 collapse against Carolina and hope to have comments from Devils president,CEO and general manager Lou Lamoriello later today.

The team hasn't announced yet when it will hold its breakup day (and postseason team photo). All I know is it won't be today.

The process of getting ready for next season has already begun, though. So, let's start with the free agency picture. Here are the Devils' players who are scheduled to become free agents if they don't re-sign before July 1.

With restricted free agents, the team has the right to match any offer the player receives or would receive compensation (draft picks) for that player leaving to sign with another team.

The team has no right to match or to compensation for unrestricted free agents.

Everyone else not on this list is under contract for at least the 2009-10 season.

UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS (player's 2008-09 cap salary in parenthesis)

RW Brian Gionta ($4 million); C John Madden ($2,938,540); C Bobby Holik ($2.5 million); LW/RW Brendan Shanahan ($800,000);  LW Mike Rupp ($500,000); D Niclas Havelid ($2.7 million); D Johnny Oduya ($600,000); G Kevin Weekes ($687,500); G Scott Clemmensen ($500,000). RW Barry Tallackson ($475,000) -- Group 6 UFA.

RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS

C Travis Zajac ($984,200); LW Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond ($471,667); D Andy Greene ($600,000), C Petr Vrana ($475,000).

***

Someone asked for Brendan Shanahan's reaction to Tuesday's game. Shanahan was one of a handful of players I did not see in the postgame locker room. I also didn't see Travis Zajac.

Zach Parise was the most-visibly distraught player in the room, but all of them looked stunned. Jay Pandolfo and John Madden were also notable for the look of shock and disappointment on their faces.

Reviewing the final 1:20

I just watched the end of the game over when I got home and was able to get a good look at the last two goals.

First, Rod Brind'Amour carried the puck into the Devils' zone with 2:20 left in the game, The Devils never got it out or were able to stop play after that. Jussi Jokinen scored exactly 1:00 later. That's quite a long time to be in your zone without a stoppage for the line of Zach Parise, Travis Zajac and Jamie Langenbrunner and the defense pair of Niclas Havelid and Andy Greene.

About 20 seconds before the goal, Havelid blocked a Joni Pitkanen pass that was intended for Brind'Amour for a back-door one-timer from nearly the same spot that Jokinen scored from. But Havelid only pushed the puck out to Tim Gleason at the right point.

Gleason made a big play by diving to keep the puck in at the blue line on an errant pass from Brind'Amour (after Parise blocked Gleason's right point shot). Then Gleason passed across (and over the stick of a diving Langenbrunner) to Pitkanen, who set up Jokinen's one-timer with a similar pass to the one he tried to make to Brind'Amour. On that one, Havelid was closer to the net and could not reach the pass with his stick.

Second, on Eric Staal's winner, Colin White ran out of position to hit Chad LaRose in front of the Devils bench. LaRose made a good pass to Staal, who had a lot of room to carry into the Devils' zone with speed before letting go his shot for the winning goal from the right circle.

Although Brendan Shanahan was back to cover for White in the defensive zone, giving Staal that space and speed in the neutral zone is what made that goal. That and a pretty good shot by Staal.

"We didn't read the situation right," Devils coach Brent Sutter said. "That's part of our stuff that we go through and we talk about. Stuff we don't want to do we did. All it is executing."