Just a day after signing John Quenneville to an entry-level contract GM Ray Shero has taken care of another bit of housekeeping.
This time it's defenseman Eric Gelinas who has put pen to paper on a contract. Gelinas' new deal will see him earn a little more than $1.5 million per season.
Two-year deal for NJ and Gelinas to avoid arb: 1.5/1.65
Gelinas, 24, scored six goals and registered 19 points in 61 games with the Devils last season. He will still be a restricted free agent when his contract expires.
I'll have more on this tomorrow but I think Shero did well here.
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New Jersey Devils defensemen Eric Gelinas and Adam Larsson recently filed for arbitration and their hearing dates are now set.
Gelinas is first up as his hearing has been schedule for July 21st in Toronto.
Some thoughts on the upcoming arbitration cases and some more Devils tidbits:
- Last summer 20 players filed for arbitration. Of those 20 only two players were not signed before their respective hearings. Arbitration can be a nasty process and cause bad blood between a team and player. That's obviously not the intention but when a player is trying to argue his value and his team's representatives are saying he's not worth what he's asking then things can get heated. That's why it's usually in the best interest of both the club and player to come to terms before the hearing.
With Gelinas' arbitration case scheduled a week from today it's probably a safe bet to assume he'll be signed within the next six days given how infrequently scheduled hearings are actually necessary.
- Sticking with arbitration, Larsson's hearing is schedule for July 29th. If history is any indication it's likely he'll put pen to paper on a new contract within the next two weeks.
- Over the last couple years the Devils have lacked two key things up front: speed and scoring ability. Anyone who has seen Pavel Zacha play knows he has both of those traits and he plans on putting them to good use when he makes it to the NHL.
While speaking with the media at development camp Zacha stressed that he wants to be a power forward who can score goals and mentioned Ryan Getzlaf and Eric Staal as two players who fit that mould.
The Devils would surely be thrilled if Zacha can develop into that type of player down the road as they haven't had anyone with Zacha's mix of size, speed and scoring ability in a long time.
I've mentioned several times that another year in Sarnia may be the best thing for Zacha. He'd be able to get a full season under his belt with a better supporting cast and the World Junior experience would be good for him, too.
In saying that the Devils are leaving the door open for him to make the team and I wouldn't be entirely surprised if he did when all is said and done.
- Many have asked me to handicap John Quenneville's chances of making the Devils this season. I'd say unlikely at best and think another year in junior would be best for his development. Let him play big minutes on a Brandon Wheat Kings expected to contend for a Memorial Cup and bring him in to fight for a spot in 2016.
New Jersey Devils Blogger • 
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