NEWARK, N.J.—The owner is dreadfully deep in debt and can’t find a viable business partner. The club will lose an estimated $20 million (all figures U.S.) this season and is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. The NHL has already advanced the franchise millions of dollars and is poised to step in if necessary and make sure this doesn’t spiral into a Phoenix Coyotes, The Sequel situation.

Oh yes, and three of the team’s key players, one arguably the best to ever play his position, could theoretically walk out the door in another six weeks.

Good thing the New Jersey Devils are too busy trying to win the Stanley Cup to fret about all this stuff.

“Worried? No, not really,” said winger David Clarkson on Friday. “These things will work themselves out. I’m just happy where we are right now.”

Behind the Devils’ surprise run to the Eastern Conference final, with Game 3 set for Saturday at The Rock, is a state of affairs with the franchise that could best be described as messy, verging on chaotic.

Not as dire, perhaps, as the Coyotes. But close.

To anyone who knows much about the team that emerged from the embers of the Kansas City Scouts, won a Cup in 1995 amid rumours it might move to Nashville and has had chronic problems at the gate, this isn’t anything greater, probably, than what has been faced before.

Hence, perhaps, Clarkson’s attitude. The problems being encountered by principal owner Jeff Vanderbeek aren’t any uglier than what the late John McMullen had to deal with when the team played out of East Rutherford, N.J. Moreover, while the team might indeed be forced either into bankruptcy or the hands of the NHL, it almost certainly isn’t going anywhere.

If there’s an immediate concern, it would be over the fact that the Devils have 11 unrestricted free agents, including winger Zach Parise, Hall of Fame-bound netminder Martin Brodeur and defenceman Bryce Salvador, who has emerged as a difference maker in this series against the Rangers.

Vanderbeek has about $80 million in overdue debts that may come due July 1, and the team and Devils Arena Entertainment, which manages the Prudential Center, owes a lot more than that. For about 18 months, Vanderbeek, who owns 47 per cent, has been searching for a partner willing to own about the same percentage but allow him to maintain control.

He’s had no luck, and bankruptcy is certainly a consideration, and if that happens or the NHL assumes control, it throws into uncertainty the immediate future of the team’s finances.

That could certainly impact the team’s ability to retain players. It wouldn’t be a problem with the 40-year-old Brodeur, who wants to play at least one more season.

Asked on Friday if he would be shocked five years from now if he was still playing, Brodeur said, “No. I feel the same as I did when I was 30. I love being around this team. This has been a fun season.”

Salvador, despite his strong play against New York, is unlikely to break the bank. Parise, however, is another issue entirely.

The Devils, through the gigantic Ilya Kovalchuk contract, have already proved they are willing to spend big if necessary. Parise is likely looking at one of those mammoth deals, and it would be tricky if the Devils were in franchise limbo for such a deal to be worked out in Jersey.

Detroit, and probably the team in Parise’s home state, the Minnesota Wild, are lurking. Perhaps other teams, too. One of those isn’t likely to be the Maple Leafs, a team more focused on pursuing a possible deal with Columbus for Rick Nash. The playoff run of the AHL Marlies suggests this is a team that may indeed have more young assets than they have been given credit for, assets they hope might help land Nash.

The Leafs prefer Nash’s size, particularly with the more lenient way in which NHL rules have been administered down the stretch and in the post-season. Other teams will look at Parise, note he appears to be fully recovered from last season’s knee surgery and see his leadership talents on a winning team as reasons to covet him.

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That said, New Jersey GM Lou Lamoriello has this way of keeping the players he wants, and he believes Parise will want to stay. As it stands, the Devils seem unbothered by the franchise’s financial problems.

“It hasn’t affected this room,” said Clarkson. “We don’t talk about it, and I can tell you nothing has changed. It hasn’t disrupted anything at all. It’s not like there’s been less of something. Everything is exactly the same.”

That’s the way hockey players have to think. But as soon as this season is over, some harsh realities may be unavoidable for the Devils.

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