Jesper Bratt agreed to a one-year, $5.45 million contract with the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday.
The 24-year-old forward, who was a restricted free agent and avoided a salary arbitration hearing scheduled for Wednesday, led the Devils last season in assists (47) and points (73) in 76 games, each an NHL career high. He also tied forward Jack Hughes for the team lead in goals (26), also a career high.
Bratt could become an RFA again at the end of this season.
Selected by the Devils in the sixth round (No. 162) of the 2016 NHL Draft, Bratt has 203 points (70 goals, 133 assists) in 307 regular-season games, and no points in one Stanley Cup Playoff game.
The Devils (27-46-9) finished seventh in the Metropolitan Division last season, missing the playoffs for the fourth straight season and for the ninth time in the past 10 seasons. So far this offseason, they have signed forwards Ondrej Palat (July 14) and defenseman Brendan Smith (July 13), and traded for goalie Vitek Vanecek (Washington Capitals, July 8), defenseman John Marino (Pittsburgh Penguins, July 16) and forward Erik Haula (Boston Bruins, July 13).
Forward Miles Wood agreed to a one-year, $3.2 million contract on Thursday. He was scheduled for a club-elected arbitration hearing on Saturday.
Andrew Brunette was also hired as an associate to coach Lindy Ruff on July 15. He finished second to Darryl Sutter of the Calgary Flames in voting for the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year with the Florida Panthers last season.
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