Devils To Sign Connor Brown

After citing Sportsnet’s Gene Principe, Elliotte Friedman reports that the New Jersey Devils are finalizing a four-year, $12MM contract with free agent forward Connor Brown.

Brown will join the Devils after spending the last two seasons with the Edmonton Oilers. He joined the club on a one-year, league-minimum contract ahead of the 2023-24 season — seemingly intent on filling the role of bruiser rotated into Edmonton’s top-six. But his first year was marred by slow play, ending in Brown netting just 12 points, four penalty minutes, and a minus-eight through 71 games. He averaged under 13 minutes of ice time a game in that span. But despite the quiet year, Edmonton saw enough to re-sign Brown to a one-year, $1MM contract last summer, folding him back into a team that added multiple other supporting pieces. In a more assured role, Brown climbed back to the productivity that headlined his earlier career – ultimately finishing the season with 13 goals and 30 points in 82 games. He added an additional nine points in 20 playoff games.

While his surge back to the scoresheet is encouraging, Brown still fell well below his previous career-highs this year. He was once a hot depth scorer through four years with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and three years with the Ottawa Senators. Brown scored 20 goals and 36 points in his rookie season with Toronto in 2016-17. He continued to rival the 30-point mark through two additional full seasons in Toronto, before moving to Ottawa and discovering another layer to his scoring. His first season with the Senators featured 16 goals and 43 points in 71 games — a mark Brown emphasized with 21 goals and 35 points in 56 games of the shortened 2020-21 season. He capped off his time in Ottawa with 39 points in 64 games, seemingly setting up a strong ramp to his time in Edmonton.

Brown may not have discovered the same scoring with the Oilers, but he brings to New Jersey a veteran presence and hefty style that should slot into the team’s bottom-six. He’ll be an imposing role player, who could offer 15 or 20-goal upside with the right swing. His role should come alongside Dawson Mercer at the team’s third-line center role, though Brown will have to earn that spot over Nolan Foote, Nathan Legare, and Juho Lammikko.