New Jersey Devils: Drew Stafford Signing Not As Bad As It Sounds
By Nick Villano
The New Jersey Devils were forced to sign Drew Stafford to a one-year deal after Jesper Bratt went out with a broken jaw. He’s not ideal for this lineup, but this isn’t a terrible signing.
It may look like a reaction move by the New Jersey Devils on Friday morning, but this was likely something that was in the works. The Devils announced the team signed Drew Stafford to a one year deal for $810,000. Most fans were not thrilled with the appeal of another Stafford year, but he has a completely different role this season.
He came into the season as a possibility for the second line last season. Before Jesper Bratt took off, putting Kyle Palmieri down, Stafford was considered an option next to Pavel Zacha or Adam Henrique. He eventually found himself on the third and fourth line, but he was given plenty of power play time.
That’s just not the case for Stafford this year. His role is to be a locker room leader, to show the young players how they need to practice, to lead by example and to play a game here or there when an injury happens. Not even a long-term injury, but something for a few days until Nick Lappin can join the group.
Stafford scored just eight goals with seven assists. Those aren’t the kinds of numbers that warrant a return from a veteran on a young team. However, John Hynes really liked what he got from this locker room last season. A lot of the character guys, Jimmy Hayes, Brian Gibbons and Patrick Maroon, are on different teams now. The team still has Brian Boyle and Travis Zajac as the veteran forwards, but it’s nice to have a guy who can be in the owner’s box for 30 games in a row and immediately produce.
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Nobody is thrilled with this signing. The good news is it seems like the Devils will use Jesper Bratt’s injury to put newly acquired Jean-Sebastien Dea in the lineup. He’s been chomping at the bit to get onto an NHL team, and he was good in the preseason for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Meanwhile, Stafford is where we expect him to be, in the owner’s box. He will sit next to Eric Gryba and Steve Santini.
If the Devils need to play Stafford, hopefully he can find some of the magic he had with Winnipeg in 2016. He’s still only 32 years old (for another week), he shouldn’t have fallen off this much of a cliff so fast, right?
Either way, he needs to be decent and this will be a good signing. Get 10 goals and 10 assists in 40 games and everyone will be thrilled.