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New Jersey Devils: Did Kevin Rooney Play Himself On Next Year’s Team?

By Nick Villano

BOSTON, MA - MARCH 02: New Jersey Devils center Kevin Rooney (58) skates in warm up before a game between the Boston Bruins and the New Jersey Devils on March 2, 2019, at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - MARCH 02: New Jersey Devils center Kevin Rooney (58) skates in warm up before a game between the Boston Bruins and the New Jersey Devils on March 2, 2019, at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The New Jersey Devils have been forced into a position where they have to play a majority of the AHL team on the NHL roster. In that time, Kevin Rooney stands out as a future member of the franchise.

Last offseason, Ray Shero made a very strange decision with the New Jersey Devils. Besides completely ignoring the free agent and trade market in an attempt to continue the momentum of a playoff berth, he made it a point to re-sign every restricted free agent. He gave some of them very interesting contracts, like giving Miles Wood a four-year deal, keeping Stefan Noesen‘s deal to one year, and paying Steve Santini $4.25 million over three seasons.

Still, the strangest of them all was the contract of Kevin Rooney. He was given a two-year deal that turns into a one-way deal in the second year. Seemed like a strange guarantee for a player who played a total of five games in the NHL. He wasn’t a highly touted prospect. He wasn’t the player who scored 30 goals at Providence.

Rooney was coming off a season where he scored 14 goals in the AHL. Again, this contract was just odd when it was signed. However, maybe Shero knew something we didn’t.

Rooney was straight up bad in his first call up with the Devils this season. He spent four games with the Devils in late October. On most nights, he was the worst player on the ice. It came to a nadir on November 1st, when he was given just 7:00 minutes of ice time against the Detroit Red Wings.

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He was sent back to Binhamton, where he was eventually named captain. He played fine while in the minors, but still nothing to go home to at the time. He scored just one goal in 38 contests. That’s not what you want to see from a player on a one-way contract next season.

Then, one by one players on the NHL roster started going down. In a few weeks, others were traded for assets. Thanks to this, Rooney has been a regular in the lineup since January 10th. That’s quite the sample size he’s working on, playing 28 games in the NHL.

He’s been, dare I say it, good in the NHL. He hasn’t been otherworldly, but Rooney has been an NHL-caliber player since his callup.

He’s scored four goals as a fourth-line center, on a team that is desperate for goals every night. I mean, the latest Devils lineup won’t have Taylor Hall, Kyle Palmieri, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Miles Wood (I would go on, but now I’m getting depressed).

Still, despite his decent play in the absence of others, and his one-way contract, he is in no way guaranteed a roster spot next season. There are too many variables, and not enough players on expiring contracts. What if the Devils have a chance at re-signing Brian Boyle? Should they decline to give Rooney a shot? There are also other free agents available on the market. If the Devils sign them, they start to take away some of the spots a player like Rooney could take. This isn’t even taking into account if Jesper Boqvist or this year’s first-round pick making the team.

Rooney has been playing well, and certainly helped his argument to make next year’s team. However, next year’s team has to fight for contention. That means no spot is guaranteed.

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