This afternoon, the New Jersey Devils announced that they have signed one of their two remaining restricted free agents who requested arbitration. No, not Jesper Bratt, who has until 9 am tomorrow to finish before there’s a hearing. the The Devils and Tyce Thompson have agreed to a two-year contract worth a total of $1.525 million. This means that Thompson will incur a salary cap of $762,500 when he is in the NHL.
According to the Devils’ own announcement, it’s a two-way deal for the first season of the deal. Thompson will be paid at the rate of $750,000 in salary when he is in the NHL and $175,000 in salary when he is in the AHL. In the second season of the contract, it becomes a one-way deal in which Thompson will be paid $775,000 regardless of whether he is a Devil or a Comet. According to the NHL CBA extension, the NHL minimum salary for 2022-23 is $750,000 and for 2023-24 it is $775,000. Thompson re-signed for the league minimum both years and the only increase in pay came from the contract that became a one-way deal in 2023-24.
I admit I would have been curious to see what an arbitration hearing on Thompson would look like. He has played all nine NHL games in his career. He has one assist and seven net shots. In 2021, he played seven games for New Jersey and 11 for Binghamton in a pandemic-shortened season. Last season, he only made two appearances in November and he then suffered an injury in that second game that required shoulder surgery. This caused the young forward to miss most of the season when he returned to the Utica Comets in April. He played in the playoffs for the Comets and finished the season. It’s still an open question about what Thompson can do in professional hockey. I’m not sure what he would bring up as comparable or evidence if a hearing were held on his scheduled date of August 11. He has yet to play anything close to a full season in professional hockey.
Clearly, the arbitration filing was to set a timetable for reaching an agreement. Mission accomplished. The deal was for the NHL minimum, though Thompson and his agent can feel good about securing a one-time salary in season two. This upcoming training camp and preseason will be crucial for Thompson to establish why he was on the sidelines of making the NHL right out of college in the first place. The emergence of Fabian Zetterlund last season, the retention of Jesper Boqvist and the possible arrival of Alex Holtz (among other comets such as Nolan Foote and Graeme Clarke) mean a place won’t necessarily be easy for Thompson to come by. Also, he’s 23 years old, so there may not be much room left for development in the game for him, though the lack of experience may mean he could flourish a bit later.
From the perspective of Tom Fitzgerald and his staff, this was a task that had to be done. He needed a new deal, it wasn’t going to cost much in terms of money or terms, and the only requirement was to do it before August 11. Check, check and check. If it works, then great; New Jersey gets at least one deep end on an NHL minimum salary. If not, you can work on perfecting your game with a full season at Utica. Thompson is not eligible for waivers for 2022-23 as long as he plays fewer than 63 NHL games. Which if he plays in that many games, then he’s probably too good to play in the AHL anyway. It is in 2023-24 that he would have to clear the waiver wire for any demotions.
To put it bluntly, Tyce Thompson still hasn’t done much to think he can be someone in the pro game. This signing really doesn’t deserve a celebration outside of Thompson and his people. There’s even less to criticize given that it’s a minimal NHL deal. It was something that had to be done and so it was.
Now, Fitzgerald, get Bratt to sign before 9 am ET tomorrow. And perhaps consider terms with Miles Wood before Aug. 6, unless the team really wants the arbitration hearing to go ahead. (Maybe they will, it’s team-chosen arbitration after all.) Once those are resolved and Zetterlund re-signs, the Devils’ offseason can focus on getting some players into a PTO and continuing to prepare for training camp next month.
Meanwhile, what do you think of this signing? Do you think Tyce Thompson will live up to this minimum NHL contract? Do you think we’ll see more of him in New Jersey or Utica in the next two seasons? Leave your answers and other thoughts about Thompson and his new contract in the comments. Thank you for reading.