New Jersey Devils re-sign Steven Santini to 3 year deal
The New Jersey Devils will be keeping defenseman Steven Santini around for the next three years. His deal is worth $4.25 million over three years, good for a $1.416 million annual cap hit.
The New Jersey Devils have been suspiciously quiet this offseason. Instead of adding to their roster via trades and free agency, they’ve elected to improve from within their organization, banking on their young players improving. One of those players is defenseman Steven Santini.
On Tuesday, August 14, the Devils announced they agreed to a three-year extension with the restricted free agent. This contract is worth $4.25 million in total, which gives him an annual cap hit of $1.416 million. Santini will be paid $1.1 million in 2018-19, $1.5 million in 2019-20, and $1.65 million in 2020-21.
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The Devils are taking a chance on the 23-year-old defenseman. Santini has played parts of three seasons with the team, but has been unable to earn consistent playing time. The right-handed defenseman will likely compete for playing time with fellow blueliners Ben Lovejoy and Mirco Mueller.
Through his NHL career, he has played in 75 games. Santini has 17 points in his career, posting a career-high of 10 last year in 36 games. Last season, he averaged over 20 minutes of playing time per game. However, Santini posted poor possession stats, which is a bit alarming.
Though it’s worth noting his numbers improved away from Andy Greene, that doesn’t change the fact that everyone who he played with had better possession numbers without him on the ice. Santini was solid on the penalty kill, so at least he has that going for him.
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The Devils need him to take a huge step forward next season. Santini should be fine in a third pairing role, but because of their lack of offseason moves, they’ll need guys to improve and be solid.
He could get an early look on the second line, hopefully with someone like Will Butcher who can move the puck. However, the duo didn’t do too well last season in limited playing time.
Santini hasn’t put up impressive numbers, so naturally, his contract isn’t worth that much. The Devils need defensive depth though and his contract is hardly prohibitive. Unless Santini is able to take his game to the next level, it looks like he’ll be a third pairing defenseman at best.