New Jersey Devils Should Sign Bobo Carpenter Immediately
By Nick Villano
The New Jersey Devils need more young talent to play in the NHL and AHL as the season comes to an end. Bobo Carpenter is a player they can sign for free, and he’s an immediate upgrade.
Back in the Summer of 2018, the New Jersey Devils were working out multiple unsigned prospects who were going back to their respective teams. One player of serious interest was Bobo Carpenter, who played with the Devils and New York Islanders before heading back to Boston University.
He was named the team captain this season, and dealt with a couple injury issues, but was fine for most of the season. The senior now looks to continue his career in the NHL, and the Devils should be very interested in signing him.
Carpenter has a family history with the Devils. Bobby Carpenter spent the last six seasons of his career playing at the Continental Airlines Arena, including winning the 1995 Stanley Cup. Bobo was very young when his father was still in the league, but the only team he could have seen his father play in person was the New Jersey Devils.
Carpenter scored 20 goals his junior season in just 40 games. The one major issue is no matter how well he played, he never saw a postseason in college. That’s obviously not all on him, but it would be nice to see what he did when the lights got a little brighter.
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Either way, he would be a very nice commodity to add to the Devils current crop of young forwards. He still needs some work before he’s truly NHL ready, but the Devils can promise him a true shot to make the roster. That’s something other teams can’t truly say. Plus, with such a young roster in both the AHL and NHL, it would not take much time for him to fit in. That might sound crazy when you’re talking about professional hockey players, but these players want to be happy in the locker room.
There’s no downside to signing Bobo Carpenter. He’s just 22 years old, and he’s going to keep getting better with the right coaching. He can come in and play in the top six on this AHL team immediately. He needs minutes to end the season so he can continue his progression before the offseason. This is a move Ray Shero should make, and soon.