The New Jersey Devils announced (Twitter link) that they have signed 2016 third round pick (80th overall) Brandon Gignac to a three year, entry-level contract. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Gignac is off to a strong start this season with Shawinigan of the QMJHL, scoring five goals while adding 11 assists in 14 games. The 19 year old will remain with his junior team and since it’s highly unlikely that he will play in more than nine games with the Devils this season (the only way he can be brought up is via an emergency recall), his contract won’t officially kick in this season and will instead slide a year.
He’s also set to represent Team QMJHL next week in the Canada-Russia series, a primer for next month’s World Junior Hockey Championships.
Elsewhere around the league:
- In his sixth year at the professional level, Edmonton right winger Tyler Pitlick is making his case to stick around, writes Dan Barnes of the Edmonton Sun. Through 15 games this season, the 25 year old has five goals, more than he had in his previous NHL stints combined and has moved off of the fourth line. The team hasn’t given him the green light to move out of the hotel and look for a more permanent residence just yet though: “I think they just want to see if I can keep it up. A lot of guys come in here and have a good first 10 games and then it starts to drop off. I think they want to see if I can hold it consistently.”
- New Jersey left winger Mike Cammalleri will miss his second straight game tonight due to personal reasons, notes Andrew Gross of Fire and Ice. Head coach John Hynes told reporters that he’s not sure how long Cammalleri will be away from the team.
- Arizona defenseman Michael Stone is expected to return to the lineup tonight after missing the last six games with an upper body injury, writes Sarah McLellan of the Arizona Republic. This already marks the second time this year that Stone is coming back from an injury after he missed time early on as he finished recovering from knee surgery. Stone has three assists in four games this season but as a pending UFA, it’s safe to say that this hasn’t been the start to the season that he was hoping for so far.