New Jersey Devils avoid arbitration with Miles Wood

The 26-year-old winger signed a one-year extension that will take him to UFA.

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New Jersey Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald has checked the last major item off his to-do list, signing RFA winger Miles Wood to a one-year contract extension worth $3.2 million.

The signing was made official just two days prior to Wood’s scheduled arbitration hearing, which was team-elected.

Despite the big gulf in dollars between New Jersey’s filing and Wood’s ask, I’m not the least bit surprised they settled in advance; nor that Wood’s camp was the one to move more heavily off their number.

Elliotte Friedman @FriedgeHNIC

Arbitration filings for Miles Wood (NJ): player is at $3.85M...team at $2.975M

As I mentioned after the Devils filed for arbitration, there’s a reason they did so. They had a really good case against Wood and his qualifying offer could’ve been cut by as much as 15% (taking him to $2.975M).

While I don’t think an arbitrator would’ve ruled that low, it’s entirely possible – if not likely – the number would’ve been below $3.2 million.

They say availability is the best ability and that’s not one that paints Wood in a positive light. He played only three games this past season and has appeared more than 68 times just once since entering the league full-time in 2016-17.