Devils qualify nine players

The New Jersey Devils have announced that they've sent qualifying offers to nine of their restricted free agents.

From the Devils official website:

New Jersey presented qualifying offers to the following players today: Matt Corrente, Mark Fraser, Jeff Frazee, Maxim Noreau, Nathan Perkovich, Matt Taormina, Alexander Vasyunov, Steve Zalewski, Vladimir Zharkov.

The moves keep the above listed players as restricted free agents, meaning the Devils will have the right to match contract offers presented to the players by other teams during free agency. According to Tom Gulitti the players have to wait until July 1st before they can accept their offers, or they can hold out to negotiate a different contract.

Some interesting notes on the list of players qualified by the Devils: Zach Parise was not qualified because the team has already filed for team elected arbitration, meaning there was no need to qualify him. Also missing from the list of qualified players is defenseman Anssi Salmela, making him an unrestricted free agent come July 1st (the start of free agency).



From Tom Gulitti of Fire & Ice:

Salmela had one goal, six assists and a minus-11 defensive rating in 48 games with the Devils in 2010-11 after recovering from off-season surgery to repair a torn meniscus and a torn ACL in his right knee. A qualfiying offer would have required a 10 percent raise from his 2010-11 salary of $625,000 (or a one-year deal worth $687,500). Salmela also would have had the right to take the Devils to arbitration if the team had given him a qualifying offer (a right he likely would have utitlized) and this prevents him from doing that.

Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello conceded that was a factor in the decision not to give Salmela a qualifying offer.

Lamoriello said it was “an internal decision” not to qualify Salmela, but his career as a Devil “is not necessarily done.”

“We will continue to talk to him,” Lamoriello said.

So the lack of a qualifying offer for Salmela doesn't necessarily mean the end of his time in New Jersey, but after having been traded away from the Devils once already (only to be reacquired the next season) Salmela has to wonder if he really has a future with this organization.

Note: Don Ferlazzo is not an employee of the Albany Devils, nor is this blog sponsored or influenced by the organization in any way.