Parise: Larsson will help us

I hadn't planned on coming to the Draft, but the Devils just asked me to come. I hadn't planned on it; it was kind of a last minute thing. But I said, 'Absolutely.' And it was lots of fun.
 
Sitting at the Devils' table, I remembered back to my draft year, 2003, and you know how it is to be on the other side. It's nerve-wracking, for sure. You know what these kids are going though. It's exciting for them; you see how excited they are -- their family, their parents. It's a cool day for the kids getting drafted.
 
It seemed to me like they had a good idea who they were going to pick. I had no idea -- I had no input on the pick whatsoever. They all knew about it, they all knew who they wanted. I didn't know until right before they were going up. They didn't mention anything; they didn't give away any secrets. I found out later.
 
I talked to Adam for a little bit when he came to the table. He knows Mattias (Tedenby) and Jake (Josefson); he played with them before. Some familiar faces for him. He's excited. Looked like everyone at the table was pretty excited they got the guy they wanted.
 
Does he fill a need for us? I definitely think so. Anytime you can get a big, right-shot defenseman, it's always important. I personally haven't seen him play, but everyone around the table was talking and they were all excited that they were able to get the guy they wanted to get.
 
Listening to the scouts talk, you hear about how much they know about each player, how much knowledge the scouts have about each guy. They describe everything about the guys' games. It's cool to see it from that side and hear some of the discussions about different players and things like that. To be on that side, it's definitely a different perspective. It's neat to see.
 
You see they definitely put in a lot of time, they do their homework. They can tell you everything about every player -- how much help they are for an organization.
 
It's been great having the draft here. It's a great place. Fans love the game here. It's a great place to play hockey. I think, for me, just having it be local is kind of fun to come and watch.