UPDATE (4:05): Former Devil Eric Boulton, who was just bought out, has signed a one-year contract with the New York Islanders. I'm happy to see him land a contract. He did what he was paid to do in New Jersey last year.

UPDATE (11:26): It appears Parise, Salvador, Sykora, Ponikarovsky, Brodeur and Hedberg will all test free agency. If none of them re-sign, the Devils lose a top-4 defenseman, two third line wingers, both of their goaltenders and their Captain.

UPDATE (11:08): Parise will test free agency. The Devils are not "out" as per Bob McKenzie, but everyone else is "in".

UPDATE: (11:00): It appears as though Johan Hedberg will test free agency.

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Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian readers, and happy sit on your couch and pray day to all my readers who happen to be New Jersey Devils fans (most of them). There are a lot of moving parts today so I'm not going to do a huge writeup. I will update this blog all throughout the day so stay tuned.

Here are the latest rumors as well as some things to look for today.

- Lou Lamoriello met with Zach Parise last night and Parise will make a decision as to if he wants to re-sign now by 10 AM ET. Should Parise decide to head to the open market, it doesn't necessarily rule out a return. As a matter of fact, I almost expect Parise to listen to offers and I do think he'll re-sign.

For the record, 15+ teams are expected to make legitimate offers to Parise at 12 ET if he's available.

- I still expect Martin Brodeur to re-sign, but should he leave the Devils, as crazy as that sounds, the Devils could target Jonas Gustavsson and pair him with Johan Hedberg, who they still want back.

- I haven't contacted Hedberg's agent but my understanding is the Devils still want him back.

- In case you missed it, I contacted Alexei Ponikarovsky's agent, Rick Curran, yesterday and he told me that he hasn't heard from Lou Lamoriello regarding Ponikarovsky since draft weekend. Unless something changes quick, Ponikarovsky will become a free agent. Curran did not rule out the possibility of Ponikarovsky returning, though it seems unlikely.

- Petr Sykora still remains hopeful he can re-sign in New Jersey but it looks like he'll test free agency at this point. As I said, things can change quick but I don't see that happening in this case.

- Lastly, Bryce Salvador still wants to re-sign but I really don't see it. I think he'll test free agency and sign for 3+ million dollars elsewhere.

As I said, I'll be updating this blog all day. If/when Brodeur and/or Parise re-sign I may post a new blog but I'll likely just stick to this one.
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