The New Jersey Devils have announced they’ve re-signed defenseman Marek Zidlicky.
No further details were provided by the team, but it is a one-year, $4 million deal, according to CBC’s Elliotte Friedman.
Zidlicky is 37 years old, but he might have been able to get more had he held out until July 1 when he would have become an unrestricted free agent.
He’s coming off a strong campaign where he scored 12 goals and 42 points in 81 games while logging 21:38 minutes per contest. He led the team in power-play points (18), but the offensive defenseman was seldom used to kill penalties.
New Jersey now has five defensemen inked to one-way contracts, not including 22-year-old Jonathon Merrill, who is likely to get a spot on the team’s 2014-15 roster. That makes things that much harder for 21-year-old defenseman Adam Larsson after he spent a good chunk of the 2013-14 campaign in the minors.
Larsson is scheduled to become a restricted free agent this summer.
Update: More on the $4 million salary breakdown, per ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun...Should add on Zidlicky deal: while it’s $3 M in base salary, he can earn another $1 M in games played bonus if he plays 25 games.
— Pierre LeBrun (@Real_ESPNLeBrun) June 3, 2014Follow @RyanDadoun