Per The Fourth Period’s James Nichols, center Michael McLeod is heading back to the New Jersey Devils on a one-year contract worth $1.4MM.
As fellow Devils fourth-liner Nathan Bastian also re-signed today, meaning even if Miles Wood ends up departing to another club New Jersey will have most of their fan-favorite depth line locked in for next season.
McLeod secures a nice pay raise for himself over the $975k he earned last season, and that’s a solid reward after what was a strong season for the 25-year-old 2016 first-round pick. Not much of a goal scorer, McLeod only potted four during the regular season but did manage to score half that total in 12 playoff games.
He finished with 26 points in the regular-season, a career-high, though he showed the most value on the penalty-kill and in his defensive game. The Devils may have preferred to lock McLeod up for a longer term, but at the very least this deal returns their 4C to their club at an affordable cost.
McLeod was a key piece to a Devils crash-and-bang fourth-line that would spread chaos whenever it hit the ice, and if the team is interested in maintaining that type of line keeping McLeod at an affordable cost was crucial. With this deal, they’ve done exactly that, while McLeod has set himself up for an even bigger pay raise in a year’s time if he can manage to show a little bit more of an offensive game.
An important signing even if it flies under the radar. Every team needs a few guys like this that can bring some energy to the ice when the rest of the team is slogging thru the last game of a 3 game road trip or the second of a back to back series.