New Jersey re-signs career Devil Patrik Elias; three years, $16.5 million

The New Jersey Devils have re-signed Patrik Elias.

The Devils' forward, who has been with the organization for 17 years, can now hit two decades with the club after agreeing to a three-year, $16.5 million pact.

The cap hit on the deal is $5.5 million per season.

"To Lou, all my teammates and Devils fans, I'm excited to sign a new contract and be back with New Jersey," said Elias in a statement. "This year marks my 17th year with the Devils and its very special to be a member of one organization for my entire career. We've shared some great moments together and I look forward to working with everyone to create new ones. Go Devils!"

Elias had 14 goals and 22 assists while playing all 48 games for New Jersey last season, so there's no doubt he can still produce at 37 years of age. He should be good for 20 goals next season and maybe 50 points.

That's a lot of money for that kind of production, and this is a lot of money for a 37-year-old, undoubtedly trending downward. It seems especially rich in context. Sure, he might have been able to get this on the open market (since GMs be crazy, yo), but you'd have thought Elias, of all people, would have been amenable to taking something of a hometown discount. On first glance, it sure looks like he didn't.

Good on the Devils for retaining Elias and allowing him to close out his incredible career where it began, but I'm not so sure it should have cost them $16.5 million to do it.

The Devils also announced Thursday that they had re-signed winger Danius Zubrus, also for three years, at $9.3 million. The cap hit there will be $3.1 million.

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