New Jersey Devils: 5 Players Who Can Sign PTO Contracts
With taxi squads, PTO contracts could be important for the Devils.
There are some subtle changes to how the NHL is going to work this season. Obviously, the two biggest changes come with a shortened season (56 games) and a change in divisions (the New Jersey Devils will play in the East Division, switching out Carolina Hurricanes and Columbus Blue Jackets for Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres). They will only face their divisional opponents until the playoffs.
One of the other changes includes the addition of a taxi squad. It’s basically four to six players who will spend the season away from the team so they have quick players to grab in case there’s an injury or an outbreak on the team. This will allow the Devils and the rest of the NHL to avoid canceled games as much as possible. There isn’t a lot of leeway in the schedule.
To start the season, the taxi squads could have AHL players, but eventually, their season is going to start. That’s why the Devils might look to get low-level veterans on bottom basement contracts to fill such a taxi squad.
The Devils also have three open spots among the forwards and an open spot for a 23rd player. That could be either a defenseman or a forward that would sit on most nights. Usually, teams like putting veterans in those spots since they understand the business side of hockey a little more. They are usually ready to jump in at any time.
These five players aren’t going to knock anyone’s socks off, but they were at one time really good options. Maybe they still have a little bit of magic left. The Devils turned PTOs for Lee Stempniak and PA Parenteau into draft picks at the trade deadline. They also signed former stars like Scott Gomez and Petr Sykora, who ended up having nice final runs with their former team. Who could make a really good PTO candidate for the Devils this season?
Justin Abdelkader
Again, these aren’t players we *hope* make the New Jersey Devils. These are players the Devils take a complete flier on in hopes they can either fill in on the 23-man roster or hold down the taxi squad for the entire season. That being said, Justin Abdelkader would be a really nice option.
He was bought out by the Detroit Red Wings this offseason. He still had three years left paying him $4.25 million each year. He clearly wasn’t worth what he was getting, and the front office in Detroit wanted a reset for their salary cap. His cap hit will live there for the next six years.
He had a 23 and 19-goal season before signing that big contract. Then, his production plummeted. In the four years since signing the deal, he has a total of 26 goals. That includes zero goals last season. Was it the pressure of signing that deal? At 33 years old, will he play like a different winger now that the pressure of the contract is gone?
Abdelkader clearly lost something. A lot of these players lose it mentally and they can’t get it back. The Devils have to ask if Abdelkader is that kind of player. It’s clear he will never be a 20-goal scorer again, but if he can score 10 again it’s a win. Those are the types of PTO contracts that go down as major wins.
Karl Alzner
Karl Alzner is another player who was bought out this offseason. Alzner was terrible after signing with the Montreal Canadiens in free agency. The whole time he spent there was tumultuous. He was eventually sent down to the minors after being placed on waivers. It sounds like the Cory Schneider story without the good times at the beginning of his run.
He’s only 32 years old, and the defenseman market is getting pretty thin. After Sami Vatanen and Travis Hamonic, things drop off considerably. The Devils would be smart to take a shot on a guy who they can literally say goodbye to for free if he doesn’t work out.
It’s yet to be seen if Alzner is even playing this season. He sat out of the NHL restart and never brought himself into the bubble with the Canadiens. It might be because of how the season went, but we won’t speculate the decisions players make on their health. He could be looking to sit out again.
The Devils aren’t set on defense. That much is obvious. Even with the additions of Ryan Murray, Dmitry Kulikov, and the eventual debut of Ty Smith, the Devils are still weak on the blue line. The Alzner that played last year won’t help that, but if the player that was very good in Washington is still in there somewhere, it’s well worth a shot.
Slater Koekkoek
Maybe Slater Koekkoek is good enough to sign with a team outright, but it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of smoke around his name right now. The former Chicago Blackhawks and Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman has looked good at times, but he still makes those crucial mistakes. He’s still a former 10th-overall pick, so the talent is there. He’s also just 26 years old, which makes him one of the youngest players on this list.
This would be the best signing on this list. Koekkoek still has a chance to be a good NHL player. He had a really good run at the end of last season after he was paired with Olli Maatta. Still, the Blackhawks decided not to sign him to a qualifying offer. Now that free agency hasn’t worked in his favor, he might be forced to accept what he can get.
If the Devils signed him to a contract outright, it wouldn’t even be that bad. He’s worth a shot on the blue line with the talent the Devils currently have. Who knows? The Devils could get lucky and he’s a perfect pair with P.K. Subban. Either way, signing him to a PTO would be a no training for this franchise. He’s shown an ability to at least be competent recently. The Devils could always use competent.
Vladimir Sobotka
Vladimir Sobotka has been playing in the Swiss National League and the Czech league so far this season. This is a player that was once part of a package that got Ryan O’Reilly. The Buffalo Sabres are a mess, but that’s not the point right now. Sobotka was an NHL-caliber player with the Blues. He went to the Sabres and something was clearly wrong.
We’ve seen players go to teams and it not work before. Sobotka might still be the player who scored 11 goals with the Blues just two seasons ago.
He’s already 33 years old, and he’s had a lot of experience all over the world. He might not want to come back to the United States to play in a strange NHL season just to be on a taxi squad when he can play actual minutes in the Czech league. However, it has to pay better in the NHL than anywhere else, even if he’s sitting for every game.
Sobotka would be a nice player to have around to fill those fourth-line roles when the Devils lose someone. The Sabres were pairing him with Jeff Skinner at times. That’s not him. He needs to have a small role that allows him to thrive in small segments. The Devils have that role open, and they can use it on the taxi squad as well.
Michael Grabner
Okay, okay, stop booing. This isn’t that bad. Michael Grabner had one of the worst runs we’ve ever seen a player have after the Devils traded for him at the 2018 trade deadline. It obviously ended atrociously, he didn’t even play every playoff game for the Devils, and he eventually left in free agency. The Devils wasted a 2nd-round pick and Yegor Rykov to bring him in. It made it even worse that this was the first trade the Devils ever made with the New York Rangers.
Grabner was also bought out this offseason by the Arizona Coyotes. He signed for three years there after his disastrous Devils’ stint. His time there was not great. He had nine goals in his first season there and eight goals last season. Sure, those are not good numbers, but Grabner is still a really good penalty killer.
If the Devils can put a guy with Grabner’s speed and penalty-killing ability on the taxi squad or even as a healthy scratch, it gives them very important forward depth. Sure, it would be nice to put a Janne Kuokkanen type there, but maybe the Devils want to give him more playing time.
Next. 5 Devils That Should Be On The Taxi Squad. dark
Grabner can still contribute to an NHL team. He just doesn’t deserve a guaranteed contract just yet.