*Photo from the Boston Globe*
No more bouncing around the league for this player. The New Jersey Devils and C/LW Erik Haula have agreed to a 3 year, $9.45 million contract, according to an announcement by the Devils on Friday.
Prior to the contract, Haula was a pending UFA on July 1. Now, he's in New Jersey for 3 more years. Last season with the Devils marked the 6th team Haula played for in the past 5 years. He played for the Vegas Golden Knights, Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, Nashville Predators, and the Boston Bruins before landing with the Devils.
Haula said of the multi year deal that "It was a huge deal to have security. We bounced around quite a bit and just to have the ability to be able to look into housing and get my family all set up and so we're really excited with how it all ended up and I'm just really excited to be back."
The contract for Haula carries an AAV of $3.15 million and has a $1 million signing bonus for the first two years of the deal. He has a full no trade clause for the first two years and a modified no trade clause for the final year, which is a 6 team no trade list.
In his first season with the Devils, Haula was a productive piece of the middle 6. He scored 14 goals and added 27 assists, averaging 16:38 of ice time per game while posting a +13 rating in 80 regular season games. He had 4 goals and two assists in 12 playoff games last season.
New Jersey GM Tom Fitzgerald said of extending Haula that "When I traded for Erik, we talked about how he was the type of player that we needed to help us continue to move the group forward. He played key minutes in all situations throughout the season, power play, penalty kill, taking faceoffs, and provided leadership for our team. At the end of the season, he told me how much he wanted to be a part of what we are building here in New Jersey, and I'm glad we could quickly get a deal done that gives him a place to lay down roots with his family."
During the Devils postseason run, Haula was the 4th most used forward by head coach Lindy Ruff, averaging 17:35 of ice time in the playoffs, where the Devils were eliminated by the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round.
Over his career, Haula has played for 7 teams over 10 seasons in the NHL. In that time, he has 126 goals and 155 assists, posting a +55 rating while averaging 14:35 of ice time per game in 614 regular season games. He has 16 goals and 20 assists in 73 career playoff games, split over 9 years.
Haula said of staying with the Devils that "A big part is I always talk about wanting to win. I think that we have a group that is just only going to get better and that's always exciting. I always talk about just having a chance to compete for a Cup, and I think this is this is a place where I'm going to have an opportunity to do that for multiple years to come and really excited just the direction of the team and where we're headed."
With Haula, Jesper Bratt, and Damon Severson re-signed this offseason, the Devils now have 7 pending RFA's and 3 pending UFA's when free agency opens on July 1.
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