New Jersey Devils Sign AHL Veteran Kevin Rooney To Two-Year Deal
By Nick Villano
The New Jersey Devils continue to bolster their AHL team with the signing of Kevin Rooney. He’s a good depth guy that signed an interesting contract.
The New Jersey Devils signed one of Binghamton’s better forwards, bringing Kevin Rooney back on a two-year deal. The length of the deal makes sense. He’s a 25 year old depth guy who has some upside to be a bottom six player at the next level. Might as well give him two years to hone his skills and try to make the big leagues.
The surprising part of this deal is Ray Shero bet on Rooney being an NHL player full time a season from now.
Shero signed Rooney to a two-way deal for next season, paying him $100,000 in the AHL and $700,000 in the NHL. That deal makes perfect sense, and it right on par with other players in his shoes. In the second year of the deal, this now shifts to a one-way deal.
For those who don’t know the difference, that means the Devils pay Rooney $700,000 no matter where he’s playing. He also has certain restrictions about being called up and down between the AHL and NHL.
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Rooney scored 14 goals with 20 assists in 71 games with Bingo. He played one game in New Jersey last season, and five games overall. He’s yet to record a point in any of those games.
Rooney definitely grew as a hockey player last year. He added 13 points to his total and played with much better hockey sense. He did spend way too much time in the penalty box (63 PIMs), but that could just be a fluke based on his history.
Rooney needs to show something this season to make Shero look good with this signing. It seems like a stretch to say he’s a guaranteed NHL’er, especially with players like Michael McLeod, John Quenneville, Nick Lappin and Nathan Bastian waiting in the wings of Binghamton. However, Rooney was waiting for something in his contract before he re-signed. This could have been a deal breaker, and forced Shero’s hand. Now, he must show he’s worthy of gaining that one-way contract.