Devils Sign Arron Asham
 

The Devils announced that they have signed forward Arron Asham to a new contract.

Asham, 29, is entering his ninth NHL season, having spent the last four with the New York Islanders. The 5-11, 210-lb. wing recorded 11 goals and 12 assists for 23 points in a career-high 80 games in 2006-07.

"Arron Asham is a veteran forward who brings a level of toughness, intensity, and feistiness to our lineup," said Devils' CEO/President/General Manager Lou Lamoriello.

Originally taken with Montreal's third-round pick, 71st overall, in the 1996 Entry Draft, Asham and a fifth-round selection were sent to New York in a 2002 trade for Mariusz Czerkawski.

The Portage La Prairie, Manitoba native went on to post career highs in 2002-03, with 15 goals and 19 assists for 34 points. In 421 career games with the Canadiens and Islanders, Asham has collected 58 goals and 67 assists for 125 points.

Asham played his junior hockey with the Red Deer (Alberta) Rebels of the Western Hockey League.

Awesome signing. Asham is one of the top middleweights in the NHL, so New Jersey added another solid fighter to a nice physical group that they already had. Now the Devils have Janssen, Asham, Rupp, Grand-Pierre, and Marshall all on the same team (or organization if one gets sent to the AHL). Granted, not all of them will be in the lineup every night, but chances are that the Devils will have at least one or two solid fighters playing night in and night out. They have a fairly tough team... no "super-heavyweight" or anything but plenty of guys that are willing and do pretty well in their fights.

well thats weird cuz Janssen and Asham have that rivalry thing going on wit both of them, but it will be nice to see them skate on the same line

awesome signing for the devils...the east is looking really tuff..the isles, rags, flyer, devil series are going to be awesome ..

Nice little pick up for the Devils here - I'm still surprised Asham went this long unsigned - he'd be a great fit on any team.

I love this signing. Now Arron Asham will have every excuse not to drop the gloves this season. That and it'll probably allow the Devils to scratch Cam on more occasions, thus giving us, the fight fans of the world, less chances to see someone who's always willing to scrap.

Nice job New Jersey....

This sucks, no more Janssen-Asham fights unless they fight in practice. Hopefully the 4th line of the Devils will look like this:

Asham-Rupp-Janssen

I can see it now...Janssen-Asham drop the gloves in the pre-game warm up...

I hope they play Clarkson instead of Rupp. Asham-Clarkson-Janssen would be a great crash-line.

You think asham will be on the 4th line with Cam?? If Asham puts up the numbers he's expected to put up, don't look for Cam to be skating with him anytime soon.

Excellent signing as Asham's style fits very nicely with the Devil's system.

You are the most miserable person by far on this site.

This is a good, but potentially troubling signing. The Devils only have 3 spots on the 4th line, and waaaaaay too many guys to fill them right now. Rupp, Asham, Janssen, Marshall, Clarkson. It is possible that Clarkson goes back to Lowell though, as the Devils don't usually keep their more skilled players on the 4th line just for the sake of having them in the NHL. Clarkson probably fits into the long term plans as a top two line forward, so it is possible he goes to Lowell after training camp. JLGP is a big long shot to make the team, and nobody knows if he'll play defense or forward anyway. If it comes down to having Asham or Janssen in the lineup, I'm sorry Aaron, love ya, but I want Janssen instead.

That's part of the problem. The only place to put Asham is the 4th line. The Devils top 3 lines are essentially written in stone. The only variables are which of the top 6 forwards will play on which line, the 3rd line isn't going to change anytime soon, so the 4th line is the only one with wiggle room. And like I said before, if it's a choice of Asham or Janssen, I want Janssen.

Why thank you.

Btw, good luck with Chris Simon. Bet it'll be yet another great year to be an Islanders fan this season. Oh wait, Yashin and Blake left. Nevermind....

Give me a list of the Devs projected 2-4 lines this year. I don't know how the Devils do things but with Asham's tenure with the Isles, he was usually a floater meaning he could be stuck on the 4th or 3rd line or be cycled throught lines 1, 2 and 3.

Should be an interesting training camp, I think Asham is a better fighter/player then Cam so I think Cam will be fighting for a job as I don't think they will dress both at the NHL level and I'm guessing Asham's contract is 1-way?