The New Jersey Devils are adding one of their top offensive prospects to the mix next season. According to a report from Daria Tuboltseva of RG Media, the Devils will sign Arseni Gritsyuk to a one-year, entry-level deal that will begin in the 2025-26 NHL season.
There has been much talk about what will happen with Gritsyuk once his KHL season is over. Remember, the Devils drafted him in the fifth round of the 2019 NHL Draft (129th overall), and he has been playing in the KHL in Russia for the last six seasons.
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This past season, he played in the KHL with SKA St. Petersburg and recorded 44 points (17 goals and 27 assists) in 49 regular-season games. It was a career high in points for Gritsyuk, and he was two goals off his career high of 19, which happened last year. In six playoff games, he had five points (one goal and four assists). A couple of years ago, with Avangard Omsk in the KHL, he had 10 points (six goals and four assists) in 13 playoff games.
Gritsyuk has an offensive upside. So many have been wondering when he was coming over. General Manager Tom Fitzgerald can finally stop being asked about him, as he was during his press conference on the NHL Trade Deadline, when he stated he was working on getting him over.
“That’s what we’re trying to do right now,” Fitzgerald told the media. “We’re trying to get him under contract right now. That’s the goal, to get him over here and give him a chance to show us what he can do.”
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Again, a lot has changed since March 7th. Did anyone see Ivan Demidov signing with the Montreal Canadiens? Nope. Alexander Nikishin is close to signing with the Carolina Hurricanes, as well. This opened the door for Gritsyuk, also of SKA St. Petersburg, to sign with the Devils. The path was there to get a deal done.
Despite some wanting the Devils to have Gritsyuk signed for the remainder of the season, the Devils are doing things the right way. If the Devils were to sign him to his ELC for this season, not only would there be a cap issue for this season, but Gritsyuk would also be a free agent on July 1st. This was a similar situation with Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders when he came over during the COVID Stanley Cup Playoff Bubble.
Sorokin signed his entry-level deal on July 13, 2020, but he was not allowed to play in the bubble on his ELC, so the following day, on July 14th, 2020, he signed a one-year contract extension. Had the Devils burned the first year of Gritsyuk’s deal this season, he would be eligible to be a free agent this summer, and Fitzgerald would have negotiated a new deal for him for next season.
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Unlike Demidov’s contract, which has a KHL clause, Arensi Gritsyuk will be eligible to play in the AHL. His deal with the Devils is a two-way deal. That means if Gritsyuk doesn’t make the team out of camps, he can go to the AHL and adapt to the North American game.
The Devils did the right thing by waiting until next season for his deal to kick in. Did anyone think Arseni Gritsyuk would help this team this season? There is no need to bring him in when the Devils are not ready to fully compete for a title.
