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Parise’s dad clarifies statement after saying son would “fit right in” with Rangers

parisegetty

James

In an interview with Arthur Staple of Newsday J.P. Parise, the father of Devils star Zach Parise, had this to say about Rangers coach John Tortorella, who Zach played under during the 2010 Winter Olympics.

“Zach likes Torts a lot,” J.P. said at the time. “Zach knows how to work, he doesn’t shy away from the discipline part of it. He’d fit right in there.”

The younger Parise is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent after the playoffs, so that statement was interpreted by some as an indication that Parise might sign with the Rangers in the off-season. Shocker, I know.

In response to that, J.P. issued the following statement:

“I have to say I was extremely disappointed in how my comments were portrayed in today’s newspaper article. I would never speak for Zach under any circumstance. He has not talked to me about anything other than the playoffs and we have not discussed anything but the playoffs and that is 100 percent where his focus is right now and I have absolutely no intentions to distract and get things away from his focus right now.”

Zach apparently didn’t realize his father had done an interview with Newsday until Tom Gulitti of The Bergen Record told him.

“I’m not going to touch that,” Zach said. That’s probably a smart move.