Devante Smith-Pelly Re-Upped for 2 Years

Stop me if you've heard this one before....  Bob Murray has signed an RFA to a short term, one way contract with a minor raise from his Entry Level salary.  First it was Sami Vatanen, then Jakob Silfverberg (who actually didn't get a raise at all, by accepting his qualifying offer a month later) and today it's Devante Smith-Pelly.

The Overtime hero of Game 6 versus Dallas in the first round of the playoffs last year agreed to a two year, one way contract worth $1.6 million (salary per Lance Pugmire of the LA Times) an annual cap hit of only $800,000.  Just like the Vatanen and Silfverberg contracts it's a bargain now, but if things go well it could cost the team in the long run.

For DSP, his best bet is to go to the net and Ryan Getzlaf will "make him rich." Of course that's if he gets the chance to play significant minutes on the top line, which remains to be seen while Dany Heatley, Kyle Palmieri and a number of others probably want a say in that as well.  But once again, it's a good problem to have.  Competition for roster spots and for bigger contracts in the future from the up and coming players in the organization are good motivational tactics for a team that is just entering a window to really go for it.

This contract pretty much ties up all the loose ends of the Ducks' roster this season, even if the knot holding the defense together might not be the tightest.  Other than Clayton Stoner, this summer has been pretty decent for Murray between the awesome Kesler deal and three RFA resignings with something to prove, even the Heatley contract can be justified as a very low risk.  So with players reporting on Thursday and hitting the ice on Friday, the season is just about ready to start.

Then again, it's still another seven to eight months before the Ducks can really prove anything, but that's for another post, another day.