Parise won't say yet, delays domino effect

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The Decision hasnt been made.

It gives us another day here at Comcast SportsNet to get a satellite truck up to Minnesota, hire Jim Gray, and sell advertising time.

On second thought.

But second thoughts are apparently what the Devils captain is having after a brief visit with reporters at the headquarters of his agents office in Toronto. Leaving the only NHL team hes known, and wears the C for, after just getting to the Stanley Cup Final has to be weighing on him.

Pittsburghs said to be a favorite and if the Blackhawks have worked their way into his consideration, theres talent galore to play with. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and James Neal with the Pens. Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa, Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp here.

Parise doesnt seem the type where wanting to be The Guy is a top priority. But whether or not thats the casehe definitely would be if he lands with Detroit (sans Nicklas Lidstrom) or Minnesota (as a returning hero in his home state). It doesnt seem like hes in play any further west.

Reporters half-jokingly whine about the wait, but Parisewhos also getting married sooncant be blamed for doing this. Its where hes playing for the rest of his career. But how about the rest of the free agent dominoes waiting to fall? As of late Monday afternoon, in tandem with Ryan Suter being in the same non-decision boat Matt Carle, Shane Doan, Alex Semin, Jaromir Jagr and Olli Jokinen sit and wait -- their phones a little less busy. Theyre probably even more antsy than the media and the fans.

I cannot see the Hawks landing both Parise and Suter - and this ever-growing middle-aged gut of mine still tells me we wont be having a Parise press conference at the United Center. But if we do, Stan Bowman would be forced to make other moves on what is already a very crowded roster.

Id imagine hed want to keep all that skill together, and if thats the caseanother forward or two down the depth chart could very well be shipped elsewhere. Or maybe hed swap a big gun with Parise on board to get another top-four defenseman or an upgrade in goal. Yet another possibility is making decisions on a couple of kids who have been groomed and would be candidates to otherwise stick on the roster. If he helps any defense-hungry teams who miss out on Suter and Carle, perhaps he finds takers on one or two of his own veteran defensemen.

There are dominoes league-wide waiting on this decision, and if Parise comes to Chicago, other roster dominoes would almost certainly have to fall.

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