CALGARY, Alberta — The second half of the Devils' season, which begins Tuesday night against the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome, will be vital in determining whether Zach Parise remains with the club beyond this spring.



Parise told The Star-Ledger today that money will be a significant consideration when negotiations for a new contract begin, but his feeling about whether the Devils have a legitimate chance to eventually win a Stanley Cup will probably be the overriding factor.



"For me that's probably the biggest thing," Parise said. "The money is definitely important. That's real life, let's face it. I'm not going to say it's not. That's realistic. But most important for me is being competitive and having a chance to win the Stanley Cup."

Parise and his agent, Wade Arnott, both confirmed today that there have been no negotiations on a new deal yet with Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello.

“Nothing new to report and nothing in the near future,” Arnott said.

The left winger can became an unrestricted free agent July 1 and he will draw significant interest from around the league, so it would be beneficial to the Devils to get a deal in place before the season ends.

As written in the NHL’s current collective bargaining agreement, Jan. 1 was the date the Devils could start negotiating a new contract with Parise. So far there haven’t even been informal discussions.

“It doesn’t bother me that we haven’t talked yet,” Parise said. “I know how Lou likes operate. He doesn’t like distractions during the season. I would think they’d talk sometime soon.”

Parise isn't worried about being distracted.

“For me personally, I don’t think it would be a distraction," he said. "But I don’t know. I can see how people would think that. And I see why the organization has kind of not done it. I understand.”

Arnott agreed with Parise.

"It's a good question," he said when asked if he felt mid-season negotiations could distract a player. "From where we sit, probably not."

Where do the Devils start?

Parise signed a $6 million, one-year contract for this season to avoid arbitration. Upwards of $8 million per season seems a logical starting point and a five-year, $45 million deal would be in line with other players of his quality.

If he gets to free agency, Parise will almost certainly hear those numbers (or higher) from teams trying to sign him. By then he will also know for sure how this season went and what the future holds for the Devils.

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They haven’t gotten past the second round of the playoffs since be joined the team in 2005-06 and missed altogether last spring,

“I think in my situation you have to look down the road,” Parise said. “What’s happened, the lack of us doing well in the playoffs the last few years, is irrelevant. I have to look past that and look at how are we building for the future?

“We made some mistakes before. We lost some series we should’ve won. But what do you do now? It’s about how we’re going to do in the next few years.”

Whenever negotiations start, everything will be settled well before the current CBA expires on Sept. 15.

“I would hope so, or then I’ll start to get a little nervous," Parise said with a laugh. "That topic has never come up.

“I don’t think (the upcoming labor situation) will have an effect, just because it’s September. If it was June 15, then I would say yes. Sept. 15 doesn’t really make a difference, in my opinion.”

Parise’s father, J.P., was recently quoted in The Wall Street Journal saying: “If you go back to the first part of the year, he would have gotten out of there in a minute.”

Not so, Zach said.

“There is no way he meant this year. He had to have meant last year,” the 27-year-old Minnesota native said. “I talk to him all the time. He knows how much fun I’m having and how much I like Pete (DeBoer) as a coach.”

J.P. was also quoted as saying: “He's overly loyal, and he's not going to rush into anything. He's always loved the New Jersey Devils. He's been extremely loyal to the organization, to his teammates. But this is business now.”

Zach smiled.

“That,” he said, “is true.”

Rich Chere: rchere@starledger.com; twitter.com/Ledger_NJDevils