The arbitration hearing for Devils restricted free agent center Travis Zajac is still eight days away, so there is time left to re-sign him without the help of an independent party. So far, however, the sides have not been able to hammer out a deal.
Deadlines have a way of jump-starting negotations and the fact that both sides aren't saying they're finished talking and will wait to see what the arbitrator decides leaves some hope that the hearing can be avoided, but the clock is starting to tick a little louder.
"We'll continue to talk, but, as of this point, there is no agreement," Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello said today,.
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Unrestricted free agent Brendan Shanahan also remains unsigned, despite Lamoriello's stated interest in keeping the 40-year-old wing. Lamoriello said there has been "nothing yet" in that area, though.
Shanahan's agent, Rick Curran believes things might heat up soon, though, after a quiet couple of weeks.
I asked Curran if he got the impresion that interested teams have business with other players to attend to first before seeing what room there is for Shanahan in the budget and he said, "It's not that."
"I think everything is real slow right now," Curran said. "People have taken a little time away after the initial frenzy and I expect over the next week or so teams that were intially interested will get back in touch. I'm not concerned."
As we discussed a little on Wednesday, word has it the Rangers are interested in bringing back Shanahan after choosing not to re-sign him last summer. Head coach Tom Renney's departure might clear the way for Shanahan's return.
A report Wednesday said the Philadelphia Flyers are not pursuing Shanahan.
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Like a lot of fans, Lamoriello is disappointed that the Devils' home schedule includes only one 1 p.m Saturday game (Nov. 28 vs. Isles) and two Sunday 5 p.m. starts. He explained that this was due to the compressed Olympic-year schedule, which has created a lot of Friday-Saturday back-to-back sets and leaves few opportunities to play on Saturday afternoon. (The earliest a team can play the day after a night game is 5 p.m.). The NBC Sunday telecasts in the second half of the season also hurt the Devils because they have not been selected to play in any of them and are locked out of playing during the same time window.
"What happens is if teams are playing on Friday night, they can't play in the afternoon (on Saturday)," Lamoriello said. "It's hard to have a night off on a Friday. So, if you don't have a night off on a Friday, you can't play an afternoon game on a Saturday. Even if you don't have one (on Friday), the other team does."
By comparison, the Rangers have three 1 p.m. weekend starts at home (one on a Sunday and two on Saturdays). They also have one 5 p.m. game on a Sunday and a 3 p.m. home start for an NBC game against Philadelphia on Sunday, March 14.
The Islanders have three 2 p.m. starts for Saturday home games and make good use of holidays with two Monday 2 p.m. starts (Columbus Day vs. Los Angeles and Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday/Jan. 18 vs. the Devils) and a 2 p.m. start on the Friday after Thanksgiving against Pittsburgh.
They also have four 5 p.m. home games on Sundays -- three of them after playing the night before on the road.
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Lamoriello on signing Patrice Cormier: "We liked what we saw certainly in training camp (last year) and what we saw in junior, So we decided to sign him."
Lamoriello mostly squashed any suggestions that Cormier has a chance to play for the Devils in 2009-
"I wouldn't read into it," he said. "The intention is for him to go back to junior. But we'll see how he is in training camp."
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Patrice Cormier about his older brother Kevin, who had 94 penalty minutes in 29 games in Trenton last season. also being at the rookie camp this week: "He takes care of me."
Nice work, TG.
Posted by: Zorin | July 16, 2009 at 03:45 PM
Is the NYSE ticker "CIT" the one that put up hundreds of millions for the Prudential Center? They're down 75% today on the stock market...
Posted by: Maxwell | July 16, 2009 at 03:46 PM
OH BOY...you mean the REAL STOCK MARKET!
Posted by: Jason | July 16, 2009 at 03:47 PM
Interesting..I wonder what Lou and Zajac are locking horns on
Posted by: Scratch | July 16, 2009 at 03:47 PM
thanks for the update TG. what do you think is the zajac hold up? length of contract or cash. seems like both sides would lose in a hearing, zajac for $ and the devils for length. it would be bad for the team to just get 2 years out of it
Posted by: brian s | July 16, 2009 at 03:52 PM
zajac should take what hes been offered. hes nothing without parise.
Posted by: Ray | July 16, 2009 at 03:54 PM
"Interesting..I wonder what Lou and Zajac are locking horns on"
Probably the years...I'm sure Lou wants to lock him in long-term while Zajac may not be willing to sign into his UFA status
Posted by: Mose | July 16, 2009 at 04:02 PM
NBC will play it's usual dozen or so games with the same teams, NYR, PIT, PHI. It's ok the Devils play better on MSG+ anyways.
Posted by: Devl23 | July 16, 2009 at 04:09 PM
yeah, it doesn't sound like this will be resolved before arbitration.
Posted by: Scratch | July 16, 2009 at 04:10 PM
Devl23...you forgot Det. LOL.
Posted by: Zorin | July 16, 2009 at 04:16 PM
TG, I don't tend to post..just pretty much read the blog, but just want to say that Fire&Ice gets me through the summer. It's nice to see that people actually put thought into their posts , unlike other boards.
Posted by: Devl23 | July 16, 2009 at 04:16 PM
True haha Detroit also
Posted by: Devl23 | July 16, 2009 at 04:23 PM
Forgot Washington too.
Posted by: Sohl | July 16, 2009 at 04:26 PM
TG pays me, Devl23...just don't tell him. haha, jk.
Posted by: Zorin | July 16, 2009 at 04:34 PM
I'd think the lack of afternoon starts is a huge issue for the Devils. The NHL is still a gate driven league. With the number of younger fans and families that the Devils have, I'd think that the lack of afternoon games would hurt their ability to generate ticket sales.
The NBC clause of no competing games seems outrageous to me. I get the issue with no Sunday afternoon starts during football season, and I get that the Olympics creates an issue for Saturday afternoon games. However, the impact for me is that I may not be able to attend any games next year because I can't take my kids a 7pm start. If I don't go to a game next year, not going the year after will be a lot easier (why bother - I watched all of last season on TV anyway). The idea that the Devils are willing to lose me and people like me as paying attendees because of the promise of NBC...I don't know. I'd love it if it worked out so that more teams could be on stable financial footing, but this seems like the wrong approach to me.
Posted by: tailfins | July 16, 2009 at 04:45 PM
Lou and zajac were close to a deal...i remember right before july 1st he said he was close to a deal and would be signed in a couple days. then all of a sudden several rfa's got ridiculous contracts...3 and 4 mil per for players who did less than zajac did. this opened up zajac's and his agents eyes and i bet they asked for a lot more money. this pissed lou off and he is probably sticking to his guns with what he thinks is fair market value. i can see this going to arbitration and getting ugly to be honest.
this is very similar to the morrison situation back in the day....
zajac is a very nice player...but parise made him who he is today. without parise is a 50 point a year 2nd line center. he better wake up or he will be shipped out of town real quick.
Posted by: rd | July 16, 2009 at 04:49 PM
I can't see Zajac getting more than 3.5 per year. I would imagine it will probably be 3.25.
Posted by: Tom | July 16, 2009 at 04:51 PM
To be honest Parise did make Zajac who he is. Zajac deserves 2.75 mill for I'd say 4 years I'd say with contractual bonuses in the last 2 years if he produces over a certain amount of points. Anyone else agree to those terms for his contract. I think its fair. I'm guessing he will get 3 mill right on though. In all seriousness though if our team doesn't get greedy we will be so able to pick up a top notch player next year when we can bring Tedenby in and have [arise and Oduya and Zajac locked down with a year of young guys getting experience. Also gotta sign i believe its martin who's a ufa next year? not sure who else.
Think about that for a second we would have some of the best cap space if it went down. we could possibly do some real damage next season. I believe Lou really knows what he's doing if we want another cup!
Posted by: Andrew borsos | July 16, 2009 at 05:02 PM
Zajac should count his lucky stars that he got paired up with a player like Parise early in his career and ride that gravy train as long as he can...
Posted by: Scratch | July 16, 2009 at 05:02 PM
I think Clarkson is a UFA next year too...I agree that Zajac will probably get 3M, I'd be surprised if he gets more than that, I suppose it could happen but I don't think he deserves it.
Posted by: Scratch | July 16, 2009 at 05:04 PM
The NHL wants teams like the Devils to fail if you analyze the schedule.
Posted by: Always Devils Fan | July 16, 2009 at 05:08 PM
Clarkson is RFA next year, not UFA.
Posted by: frankied | July 16, 2009 at 05:10 PM
Guys just be glad that Lou designed this team to where its system oriented and not player oriented. We can let key players walk, and still feel we can be contenders.
Islanders are stuck on DiPietro with 12 more years cause they thought they had to... Soon, you'll see Washington screwed too, with $124m tied in AO for 12 more years.
Posted by: RickyM2 | July 16, 2009 at 05:11 PM
Scratch-Isn't Clarkson a RFA? I think he is also arbitration eligible.
Posted by: Tom | July 16, 2009 at 05:11 PM
Yes Tom, you are right, #23 will be an RFA. Martin Mottau and Leach will be UFAs
Posted by: Scratch | July 16, 2009 at 05:17 PM