New Jersey Devils sign Thomas Hickey to PTO

The 33-year-old veteran spent most of 2021-22 in the AHL, where he played well.

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With training camps set to open league-wide next week, we have officially entered PTO season.

The first player to sign one with the New Jersey Devils is 33-year-old defenseman Thomas Hickey.

The veteran rearguard has spent his entire NHL career with the New York Islanders, with whom he only played two games last year (and five the season prior).

Instead, Hickey found himself dressing nightly in the AHL. He put up 18 points over 44 games split between Bridgeport and Ontario.

Those totals certainly won’t ‘wow’ anybody but that doesn’t necessarily mean Hickey was a run-of-the-mill player at that level.

His on-ice metrics were very good. At 5v5, Hickey was on for only 28 goals against over those 44 games. He posted a 57.6 Goals For%, which was 10.6% higher than his teams managed when he was not on the ice.