Many teams that are in the hunt for Zach Parise are also trying to land Ryan Suter. (Photo: John Russell/NHLI)

The hockey world still is waiting for Zach Parise and Ryan Suter to decide their futures. Could the suspense come to an end Tuesday?

After spending two days huddled with his agents in their office in Mississauga, Ont., Parise and his fiancé were scheduled to fly back to Minnesota. Prior to taking off, Parise told NHL.com via text that he still isn't sure when he will have a decision, but "we are taking our time and making sure we cover all the angles."

Parise, who reportedly is mulling contract offers from New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Minnesota and Chicago, also told NHL.com via text Monday night that while his "agents have done a great job of showing me all of the information," the process of sifting through the contract offers and making a decision on his future has been "very crazy and stressful."

Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, the two gems of this year's free-agent market, remain available with the signing period now in its second day.

Each player fielded offers from several teams after the market opened at noon ET on July 1. Neither player, though, is in a rush to make a decision despite the lucrative, long-term nature of the deals.

Parise has been huddling with his agent, Wade Arnott, in Mississauga, Ont., while Suter is staying in touch with his agent, Minnesota-based Neil Sheehy, from his farm in Wisconsin. Both could make their final decisions Monday.

Parise met with reporters early Monday evening and said he would not be rushing into any decision.

Zach Parise is not ready to make a decision on his future and he is not putting a deadline on when he will make any decisions.

Parise told reporters Monday outside of his agent's offices in Mississauga, Ont., that he is going to take time to discuss his options with his family before making a decision. He said the New Jersey Devils remain in the mix for his services, but refused to divulge the other teams on his list. It is believed Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Detroit, Philadelphia and Chicago are on that list, but nothing has been confirmed by Parise or his agent.

"We have thoroughly deliberated every option with Zach," Wade Arnott, Parise's agent, wrote in an e-mail to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. "He wishes to take some time to step back and review all with his fiance and his family. We could be drawing closer to a decision."

That decision could come as soon as Monday night, or possibly not for another few days. Parise insisted he's in no rush to make that choice.

Jiri Hudler signed a four-year, $16-million contract Monday with the Calgary Flames.

The 28-year-old center had 25 goals and 25 assists last season and has 58 goals over the past three seasons with the Detroit Red Wings. The native of Olomouc, Czech Republic was drafted in the second round of the 2002 Draft by the Red Wings and had spent his entire career with that organization.

Few general managers had to adjust their free agency strategy the way Anaheim's Bob Murray did in the weeks leading up to Sunday.

Murray had a potential cornerstone defenseman in Justin Schultz, a can't-miss kid that was drafted by the Ducks in 2008. But Schultz used a loophole to become a free agent, four years after that draft, and signed with the Edmonton Oilers this week.

Murray voiced his displeasure at the Schultz situation in a conference call Sunday night, but he also was satisfied at his attempt to re-build a defense that also lost the aging but offensively gifted Lubomir Visnovsky in a salary-dump trade and saw gritty Sheldon Brookbank sign with the Chicago Blackhawks when free agency opened.

Sheldon Souray, who turns 36 on July 13, signed a three-year deal worth $11 million, while Bryan Allen signed a three-year deal worth $10.5 million. Murray didn't have reservations giving three years to Souray, who will make $4 million in 2012-13.

Jason Garrison loves going home to Vancouver every summer.

It will be even nicer not having to leave in the fall.

The Vancouver Canucks brought the late-blooming, hard-shooting defenseman home with a six-year, $27.6-million contract as the opening day of free agency wound down Sunday evening. That means Garrison no longer has to worry about making his annual cross-continent flight back to Florida, where he had 16 goals and 17 assists in 77 games for the Panthers last season.

"From traveling from the furthest point you can in the League, to not traveling at all," Garrison told NHL.com over the phone from Chicago, where he spent day at his agent's office fielding offers. "I'm very excited to stay home and play in front of my friends and family in my hometown. Growing up, every kid dreamed of playing for the Canucks, and I was like everybody else."

BROSSARD, Que. -- The priorities for new general manager Marc Bergevin and new coach Michel Therrien to make the Montreal Canadiens a playoff team again came into focus on the first day of free agency Sunday.

Bergevin added some serious grit to his forward group by signing Brandon Prust and Colby Armstrong and brought back an old friend of Therrien's by signing defenseman Francis Bouillon from the Nashville Predators.

All three players are reputed for their abilities to finish their checks and being extremely difficult to play against, something Prust says was a priority for the new men in charge in Montreal.

"It's good for a team's identity to have a bit of team toughness," Prust told reporters in a conference call. "When other teams come into our building, they need to know they're going to be in for a long night."

Prust, 28, signed a four-year deal worth $10 million after excelling last season as a key penalty killer and physical, checking forward with the New York Rangers. That is a considerable raise from the $800,000 Prust earned the last two years with the Rangers.

The Ottawa Senators lost a few pieces to their surprising playoff club of this past season, but general manager Bryan Murray wasted little time replacing those pieces on the opening day of unrestricted free agency Sunday.

Mike Lundin

Defense - OTT

GOALS: 0 | ASST: 2 | PTS: 2
SOG: 9 | +/-: -1

Murray had a busy day Sunday, signing defenseman Mike Lundin and forward Guillaume Latendresse and trading restricted free agent forward Nick Foligno to the Columbus Blue Jackets for stay at home defenseman Mike Methot.

Those additions will help offset the free agent losses of defensemen Filip Kuba and Matt Carkner and center Zenon Konopka.

But Murray said the player he was really hoping would be coming from Columbus, star forward Rick Nash, will not be going to Ottawa in the near future.

The Nashville Predators still don't know where they stand with unrestricted free agent defenseman Ryan Suter one day into free agency. General manager David Poile plans to change that quickly.

"It's a nervous time for our franchise because we've really got all of our eggs in this particular position, in his basket right now," Poile said Sunday.

Poile added that it is time for him to make a firm, competitive, lucrative, long-term contract offer to Suter with the hope that he gets a quick answer so the Predators can determine how they're going to map out the rest of their offseason. Poile said he hadn't yet made an offer "in totality of dollars" to Suter because his camp, including agent Neil Sheehy, had not asked for one.

However, Poile knows that is the next step in his courtship of the player that has spent his entire seven-year career in Nashville after the Predators made him the No. 7 pick in the 2003 NHL Draft.