Kelvin?
Jersey seems like an odd choice given their winger depth.
I get that they may have been the only team that offered him a PTO but I'm not seeing the upside for him.
I really believed in Labanc when he was getting 40-50 points. Was that a mirage, or did he fall off a cliff?
I remember this guy doing that 1M 1 year deal, betting on himself (maybe helped out the team too), after he got 56 points. Pressure seems to have ruined him. Sharks still gave him a fat deal anyway and he just kept struggling.
I still chuckle that a few impatient Devils fans in the summer of 2019 were advocating an offer sheet on Labanc (and giving up an unprotected 1st). I guess they'll get the Labanc experience for a couple preseason games.
No one was doing that, we were suggesting that NJ could offer sheet him at a far lower amount and SJ would struggle to match based on their cap at the time. Exactly what St. Louis just did to Edmonton.
That was before the wink-wink contract. It pissed me off that the hockey press didn’t call that out for what it was.
Devils will have 2-3 games at the end of the pre-season schedule played purely by prospects, minor leaguers and guys on PTO's since they open the season in Prague.
The regular season opener is on Friday, October 4th. Devils have pre-season games that week on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Depending on when the main squad takes off for Prague, there will be more opportunity than usual for guys like Lebanc to get a lot of playing time against probably close to opening night rosters on the other squads.