New Jersey Devils: Bobo Carpenter Deserves A Contract
By Nick Villano
The New Jersey Devils have very recent success with college free agents after Will Butcher became an outside Calder Trophy candidate last season. This season, they should look at a forward who’s already used to being a Devils prospect.
Current Boston University standout Bobo Carpenter is really making the rounds this offseason. He started off by suiting up in orange and blue to test his skills against the New York Islanders best prospects. Then a few weeks later, he took a ferry to New Jersey to hang out with the best young players in the New Jersey Devils system.
Carpenter was quite good in his time with the Devils, no matter how short. The son of former Devils player Bobby Carpenter, Bobo is exactly the kind of player Ray Shero likes. He plays with a toughness, but still has a ton of skill. He skates North to South, but has a nose for the net. His forecheck is very good for his age, and he loves playing in the dirty areas to pick up goals.
His numbers aren’t eye popping, but they are good. He scored 20 goals last season with Boston, and is expected to play captain there this season. Everything about Carpenter is on the up and up.
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It’s hard to explain why Carpenter went undrafted back in 2014. Maybe it’s because he was committing to college, and teams know they have to wait years before they’re under control, but that hasn’t stopped other teams in the past. Looking back at his draft profile, the only knock on him is he seemed disinterested in the lack of competition in high school hockey. Still, he was ranked as the 119th prospect in the draft, yet he went undrafted and unsigned.
The Devils should change that right now. Carpenter probably needs one more season of low-level hockey before he’s ready to score on the professional level, but Shero should burn one year of his contract to make Carpenter Devils property this year. Shero made a similar decision when he signed Joey Anderson to a throw-away year in order to get him under contract.
It would be full circle for the life of Bobo Carpenter. From a kid who used to take Martin Brodeur‘s limo to the Stanley Cup Finals, to an up-and-coming player in the Devils system. It only makes sense for the Devils to sign Carpenter for the future.