Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello made his first pro roster move of the summer in signing defenseman Marek Zidlicky to a one-year contract extension.
The 37-year-old Czech blue liner was signed for $3 million, with potential to earn $4 million if he reaches his games played bonus. In other words, Zidlicky signed the exact same contract as he did when the two sides agreed to terms on a one-year deal last summer.
I think Lamoriello did very well on this extension. This is a very weak class for defensemen in unrestricted free agency, and Zidlicky would have been one of the top names available. Coming off a 12-goal campaign where he tallied 42 points, Zidlicky could have easily made more money had he tested the free agent market. I'm sure he was well aware of that, so credit to Lamoriello for keeping that number down.
Zidlicky is currently the team's best offensive defenseman in terms of moving the puck up ice and creating in the offensive zone, so I think bringing him back was a smart move. More so than anything else, he'll take some of the pressure off of the kids in terms of producing offense.
I think Eric Gelinas is their best weapon on the power play, but Zidlicky has more natural ability with the puck and that's beneficial to the team at evens.
After signing Zidlicky, the Devils now have seven defensemen signed for next season. They also have to ink Adam Larsson to a new deal, and he's no longer waiver exempt so barring a trade he'll be on the NHL roster this fall. The team still has a decision to make with Mark Fayne, who I think they'd be smart to try and retain.
New Jersey has $14 million in remaining cap space, a number that will jump up over $18 million if Anton Volchenkov is bought out, which I think is pretty realistic.
Back to Zidlicky, though, I think the Devils were smart to bring him back. Any time you can retain a 40+ point defenseman while paying him a base salary of $3 million I think you have to do it.
Now let's see how the rest of the defense core shapes up over the next few weeks.
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