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Devils Make More Deals on 1st Day of Free Agency

The Devils made some further moves on the July 1st opening of NHL free agency, all in-house re-signings.

First, they got Jon Merrill inked to a two-year contract with an average annual value of $1,137,000. He will make $1 million in 2016-17 and $1,275,000 in 2017-18. The 24-year-old defenseman was picked 38th overall in the second round of the 2010 Draft and has been in the New Jersey system since 2012-13. He has split time between the AHL Albany Devils and the NHL club, playing in 165 NHL games. In those games, he has 5 goals and 25 assists for 30 points and 64 penalty minutes. Last season, he played in 47 games with the big club and had a goal and 4 assists along with 28 penalty minutes.

The Devils also got Devante Smith-Pelly back in the fold for two years. The 24-year-old right winger’s contract will be worth an AAV of $1.3 million, giving him $1,250,000 in 2016-17 and $1,350,000 in 2017-18. Smith-Pelly, a native of Scarborough, Ontario, was acquired just before the trade deadline this past season for Stefan Matteau from the Montreal Canadiens. He finished 2015-16 with 14 goals, 11 assists and 25 points in 64 games split between Montreal and New Jersey. With the Devils, his stats break down as 8 goals and 5 assists for 13 points in 18 games. He was drafted 42nd overall in the second round by Anaheim in the 2010 Draft.

The third player the Devils locked up was Beau Bennett. He signs a one-year, one-way contract worth $725,000. He was acquired by the Devils at this year’s Draft for their third round pick (77th overall – Connor Hall) from Pittsburgh.

Some of the key subtractions for the Devils today include David Warsofsky going back to the Penguins and David Schlemko departing for the Hurricanes. Both are defensemen, somewhat depletes the Devils on the blueline man-power-wise, but with the addition of Ben Lovejoy and the expected extended role that Steve Santini and Damon Severson are going to be taking, they will not being taking too much of a hit there.

One disappointing miss on the Devils’ part is Kyle Okposo not coming here and instead signing with Buffalo. I am not sure how close Ray Shero was to getting Okposo to stay in the NYC area, or if they even talked to him, but he would have been an excellent fit for the Devils. Instead he will be a Sabre for the next six or so years.

Overall, though, a good week for the Devils.

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Jon Merrill Has Shoulder Surgery; Seinfeld Actor Receives Mask

Two pieces of interesting news from the Devils official website were posted today at devils.nhl.com.

Firstly, defenseman John Merrill had surgery on Monday that was successful. The surgery was to his injured right shoulder and Executive Vice President/General Manager Ray Shero had the following to say about it: “The procedure was performed at the Midtown Surgical Center in New York City by the club’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Jonathan L. Glashow. His expected recovery time is approximately four months.”

This recovery time should take Merrill up to training camp. He originally injured the shoulder in March and missed the remainder of the 2015-16 season.

In more uplifting news, there was a piece written by Eric Marin about actor Patrick Warburton, who played David Puddy on the TV sitcom Seinfeld, receiving his own replica of Scott Wedgewood’s goalie mask.

According to Marin, the mask was created by David Gunnarsson of DaveArt, who also created the original for Wedgewood. Marin mentions that Gunnarsson is a huge fan of Puddy.

The mask features Warburton, as Puddy, in the guise of “the Facepainter.” In this episode, Puddy, a Devils fan, goes to a Devils-Rangers playoff game at MSG with Jerry and the gang and with his face painted up in Devils colors. For the record, the Devils won that game, although Kramer is quick to note that the series was not over yet. Hilarity ensues as Puddy utters his famous catchphrase “You gotta support the team!” This catchphrase became a hashtag that Gunnarsson used in his Facebook post on the subject.

Puddy is arguably the world’s most famous fictional Devils fan and Wedgewood is a very real Seinfeld fan. Marin says that the 23-year-old Wedgewood became a fan of the show, which went off the air in 1998, when his older brother Mark got him into it. He has watched the entire run of 180 episodes since then.

Warburton, for his part, tweeted that “This is most awesome! Love it!” and, according to Marin, Warburton said “It will have a place of honor on my bar.”