The New Jersey Devils announced a new deal for defenseman Steve Santini. He was surprisingly given a three-year deal after a disappointing 2017-18 campaign.
Re-signing prospects is always hard in hockey. A team tries not to overpay for something they haven’t seen, but at the same time the team doesn’t want to lose a major asset. That was the situation the New Jersey Devils found themselves with Steve Santini.
Santini was back and forth last season. He had a great start. One that made some feel that he could be the answer to what was a horrid defense. Prior to the Sami Vatanen trade, he was seeing more than 20 minutes per game.
However, something went wrong and he literally forgot how to play defense. Obviously, that’s overreacting, but he wasn’t very good in December and January.
He was so bad that the Devils sent him down to the minors. He was alright with the Binghamton Devils, but never good enough to get a call up back onto the main roster.
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Either way, there were flashes of defensive greatness. That’s why the Devils gave Santini a three-year deal paying him $1.4 million against the salary cap. He will get $1.1 million next season, then will get raises over the next two seasons. The kicker, they are all one-way deals.
That shows the Devils are putting their chips on the Santini basket. They believe he is ready to become an NHL player starting now. They believe in him to become a proper NHL player, even at just 23 years old.
This isn’t even a bad contract. Let’s say he completely flops and provides nothing to the NHL team. Then, the Devils are only on the hook for $1.4 million on a salary cap that keeps going up.
On the other hand, the Devils have Santini signed for three seasons, and still have control of him once his contract ends. Santini will still be restricted at the end of this three year deal, meaning if he lives up to the talent level the Devils don’t have to worry about losing him. Just look at what GM Ray Shero has to say about his young defender.
"“He provides size and a physical element that complements our existing defensive group moving forward.”"
Quick and too the point. That’s just like Santini’s game on the blue line.
This is a good signing in the long run. If he finds a way to find the magic he had at the beginning of last season, this Devils defense could be sneaky good. He provides a physical presence the team is missing on defense. Sami Vatanen and Will Butcher are the top players on the blue line, but they aren’t putting fear into anyone’s heart. Santini can do just that. As far as most three-year deals go, this one’s pretty darn good.