Pesce Agrees to Terms with Devils on 6-Year Contract | RELEASE

The defenseman agrees to terms on a six-year contract worth $33,000,000 total and an AAV of $5.5 million

The New Jersey Devils announced today that the team has agreed to terms with unrestricted free agent defenseman Brett Pesce on a six-year contract worth $33,000,000 with an annual average value of $5,500,000. The contract breakdown is as follows: 2024-25: $7,000,000; 2025-26: $6,000,000; 2026-27: $6,000,000; 2027-28: $5,600,000; 2028-29: $4,200,000 & 2029-30: $4,200,000. The announcement was made by President/General Manager Tom Fitzgerald.

Pesce, 29, had played for the Carolina Hurricanes for the past nine NHL seasons and is coming off a season where he averaged 20:17 ATOI, with 13 points (3g-10a) in 70 regular-season games. The 6’3”, 205lbs. defenseman’s 113 blocks ranked second on Carolina in 2023-24, while his ATOI ranked fourth on the team. Pesce earned a career-high 25 assists and 30 points in 2022-23.

The righthanded shot made his NHL debut with Carolina on October 24, 2015, and has totaled 198 career points (39g-159a) in 627 contests. His 627 career games played rank third in Carolina’s franchise history among defensemen and Pesce’s career plus-92 plus/minus rating ranks second all-time for blueliners in Carolina’s franchise history. In 2018-19, the Tarrytown, New York native recorded a plus/minus rating of +35, which is tied for the highest plus/minus rating all-time that a Carolina defenseman earned in a single season.

Pesce has played in 57 career Stanley Cup Playoff games throughout five postseason appearances between 2018 and 2024. His 21 career postseason points (5g-16a) rank second all-time in Carolina’s history for defensemen, while his 57 contests rank fifth all-time for Hurricanes blueliners. Pesce helped Carolina advance to the Eastern Conference Finals in both 2019 and 2023 and logged a career-high six points (0g-6a) during the 2019 postseason.

Born on November 15, 1994, Carolina drafted Pesce in the third round, 66^th overall, in the 2013 NHL Draft. His 57 career playoff games, and 627 regular-season games, both rank fifth for all defensemen selected in the 2013 NHL Draft. Pesce was teammates with current Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton when both were playing for the Hurricanes between 2018 and 2022, and forward Erik Haula in 2019-20.

Pesce played three NCAA seasons at the University of New Hampshire (Hockey East) from 2012-13 to 2014-15. He tallied 43 career points (11g-32a) in 110 contests at UNH, and his 16 points (3g-13a) in 2014-15 ranked second for all UNH defensemen.

Pesce played youth hockey in New Jersey and skated for the North Jersey Avalanche at the triple AAA level (U14 & U16) from 2008-09 to 2010-11. He later played one season for the New Jersey Hitmen at the Junior level (EJHL) in 2011-12.