Ken Daneyko and Mike Kelly sat at the desk at the NHL Network studio in Secaucus, New Jersey, believing Connor Brown was a perfect fit for the Edmonton Oilers when he signed as a free agent with the club in July 2023. 

"They are right there," Daneyko said of the Oilers. "Everything has to fall into place. Adding those subtle pieces like Connor Brown should help. Can they take that next jump? A lot of teams believe they can." 

Turns out the Oilers secured the right pieces to make the jump. 

During his tenure with Edmonton, Brown reached the Stanley Cup Final in consecutive seasons, both times falling short to the Florida Panthers. 

In the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, Brown, along with his linemates Mattias Janmark and Adam Henrique, were an effective third line. Throughout the 2023-24 postseason, the trio combined for 21 points, with nine of them earned in the Final against Florida. In addition to their contributions to the scoresheet, Brown and Janmark were assets on the penalty kill. 

One year later, in the same situation, Brown saw his ice time increase as he potted five goals in 20 postseason games. 

"Connor Brown is a really good two-way player, whether we put him out there as part of a shutdown line," Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch told NHL.com back in June. "His penalty kill skills are second-to-none. He is usually paired with (Mattias) Janmark, and the two of them we rely on quite a bit. But you see, during the playoffs, he has come up with some really big goals, especially early in our playoff run against L.A. (in the first round). He is a guy who can move up and down the lineup, especially right now (when) we are short on right wingers."

As a free agent, Brown left Edmonton and signed a four-year contract worth $12,000,000 to play for the New Jersey Devils on July 1. 

During his first media availability, the 31-year-old spoke to Devils reporters about his decision to sign with New Jersey. 

"It was a balancing act to narrow down the places I wanted to be," Brown explained. "I mean, ultimately, I would say the main factor is the skill of the team and the direction of the team. I think the team is in a position to get better and better over my term, and I anticipate some good playoff runs and things like that. There are other things that go into it. The East Coast is closer to our family. We got a little guy, so to be able to have family visit him a little bit easier and things like that."

On the ice, it is clear why the Devils made a pitch to Brown, and it goes beyond his playoff experience. 

New Jersey's depth, or lack thereof, was a glaring issue in both the regular season and Round 1 of the postseason against the Carolina Hurricanes. It was one area that general manager Tom Fitzgerald needed to address this summer. 

Many expect Brown to slide into the third line right-wing position to begin the season, slotting behind Jesper Bratt and Stefan Noesen.

NHL (@NHL) on XHow far will the @NJDevils go with this projected lineup? 🤔 Read more from @NHLdotcom ➡️ https://t.co/Ks3Zqblm6D

As a two-way winger, the foundation of Brown's game is penalty killing and being positionally sound.  

"I think as I have gotten older in my career, I think I really have a defined role," Brown said. "I imagine that (head coach) Sheldon Keefe will get me some D-zone starts and things like that. Penalty kills late in games, trying to close out games as well. Adding to that offense is really important, and making sure I am contributing." 

Depth Scoring at Even Strength 

Last season, he appeared in 82 games and earned 30 points (13 goals, 17 assists). It marked the fifth time in his career that he reached the 30-point mark. 

Scoring at even strength was something Fitzgerald focused on as he explained to the media on July 2. 

"The one thing we were looking for was 5-on-5 play," he explained. "When you look at the goal totals of Brown, the majority of (his) goals are at 5-on-5."

Connor Brown's fourth goal of these #StanleyCup Playoffs caps off a Game 1 win for the @EdmontonOilers! 🤩#NHLStats: https://t.co/diFqic26NUpic.twitter.com/Vecfi8vNEq

— NHL (@NHL) May 7, 2025

Out of his 13 goals in 2024-25, 12 were scored at even strength. To take it a step further, throughout his career, Brown has 107 goals, and 90 of them were scored at 5-on-5. 

Becoming An Asset In New Jersey 

There are specific roles that every successful hockey team needs in addition to star forwards like Jack Hughes and Bratt. 

Having Brown should help ease some of Nico Hischier's responsibilities, especially on the penalty kill, as he led all Devils forwards in shorthanded ice time last season. Taking some of the defensive assignments away from Hischier would benefit both the captain and the team. 

Fitzgerald acknowledges the versatility that the Toronto native brings to his lineup, already playing with superstar Connor McDavid.  

"Brown is a guy who can move around your lineup," Fitzgerald said. "He gives you speed and is a fantastic penalty killer. He is a guy that (Keefe) will use at the end of games as well." 

Another Perfect Fit?

If there is one takeaway from the 2025 Stanley Cup Final, it is that having a dominant third line matters. The Panthers' line of Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen, and Brad Marchand is a prime example. 

Brown has the tools to add a spark to a line that was virtually nonexistent for the Devils in Round 1 against the Hurricanes. His playoff experience and knowledge could be beneficial for players like Cody Glass and Paul Cotter, who got their first true taste of the playoffs this past April. 

With Brown preparing to start this chapter as a Devil, the same questions that Daneyko and Kelly had two years ago still apply. Will the addition of a subtle piece like Connor Brown help New Jersey? Can the Devils take that next jump? 

Time will eventually reveal how impactful Brown can be as the Devils must take the next step in becoming a contender for the Stanley Cup.

Make sure you bookmark THN's New Jersey Devils site for THN's latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more.

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Photo Credit: © Perry Nelson-Imagn Images

Retooling the defense has been a major focus for the Nashville Predators, but two defensemen's contracts have come under scrutiny. 

In an article published by The Athletic on Thursday, Dom Luszczyszyn ranked defensemen Brady Skjei and Nicolas Hague's contracts as the fourth and fifth worst contracts in the NHL.

Nashville was the only team in the article to have two contracts in the top 10 rankings. 

Skeji is in year two of a 7-year, $49 million contract, with an annual hit of $7 million. Hague signed a 4-year, $22 million contract, with an annual hit of $5.5 million in July. 

Luszczyszyn said that despite Skeji's acquisition during the 2024 free agency period looking like a "win," the defenseman had a "steep drop-off" in his first season with the Predators.

He scored 33 points in 82 games and had a plus/minus of -24. It was a 14-point drop-off and a plus/minus decrease of 40 from his previous season with the Carolina Hurricanes. 

Luszczyszyn noted that Nashville needs a strong No. 2/3 defenseman, but Skeji appears more suited to a fourth-line role. Considering his age and regression, the contract puts the Predators in a difficult spot. 

On the flip side, while Skjei has regressed, Hague has yet to prove that he is a No. 2/3 defenseman, which is the role Nashville is expecting him to take on.

Luszczyszyn claims that Hague's acquisition is based more on height and less on his on-ice play. Hague is 6 feet 6 inches.  

"It seems there’s a growing trend for teams to pay defensemen per inch rather than per win lately, and that’s how Hague was paid to be a No. 3 defenseman despite a career being a third-pair guy," Luszczyszyn wrote. 

During his six seasons with the Vegas Golden Knights, Hague did win a Stanley Cup in 2023, but he has not played in a top-four role nor had more than 17 points in a single season. This past season, he scored 12 points in 68 games and had a plus/minus of -2, the lowest among Vegas defensemen. 

Considering that General Manager Barry Trotz has historically gone after bigger and more physical defensemen, the Hague acquisition may be a swing and a miss. 

The Buffalo Sabres took care of their final unresolved contract situation of the summer, signing goalie Devon Levi to a two-year, $1.625 million deal ($812,500 AAV). The 23-year-old  was 2-7-0, with a 4.12 GAA and .872 save % in nine NHL games last season, but posted a very strong 25-13-4 record, 2.20 GAA, and .919 save % with AHL Rochester. 

The Dollard-Des-Ormeaux, Quebec native was originally a seventh-round pick of the Florida Panthers in 2020, but was acquired along with a first-round pick (Jiri Kulich) for Sam Reinhart in 2021. After winning consecutive Mike Richter Awards as the NCAA’s top goaltender at Northeastern, Levi signed with the Sabres and was 5-2-0 at the end of the 2022-23 season, which convinced GM Kevyn Adams and former head coach Don Granato that at 21, he could be the club’s future between the pipes. 

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After a slow start, the Sabres switched to Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen as their primary starter, and the young netminder was demoted to the Amerks, where he went 16-6-4, with a 2.42 GAA, and .927 save percentage. Luukkonen’s strong second half and new five-year contract seemed to signal that Levi was more on a devlopmental track, and when veteran James Reimer was reclaimed off of waivers, the youngster was once again sent to the AHL. 

The deal is one-way and at the NHL minimum $775,000 in year one and $850,000 in the second year. With the signing of veteran Alex Lyon to a two-year deal, it appears that Levi will begin next season in the AHL, sharing the goaltending duties with 20-year-old prospect Scott Ratzlaff. Expectations for Levi are still extremely high but his waiver exempt status this upcoming season makes it almost certain that his year will start in Rochester. 

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When Jason Spezza was named captain of the Ottawa Senators for the 2013–14 season, not many people saw it coming, at least not yet. Spezza was coming off the shortened NHL season in which he played just five regular-season games and three playoff games due to back problems, and Daniel Alfredsson was still widely respected as the club’s captain and longtime leader.

But Spezza recovered nicely, and Alfredsson left the team in free agency that summer, signing with the Detroit Red Wings. So, Spezza became Ottawa’s new captain.

At the time, no one realized it would be such a short tenure, just one season, before Spezza asked for a trade. If the Senators had known then what they know now, they might have given the captaincy to veteran Chris Phillips, the club’s all-time leader in games played.

From The Hockey News Archive, Ryan Kennedy wrote about Spezza shortly after he made his debut as the Senators’ captain in October 2013. – SW

Oct 28, 2013
Vol. 67, issue 07

A TEAM ON HIS BACK

Jason Spezza is healthy, and his timing is impeccable. Ottawa is hungry for a deep playoff run and needs a leader in the wake of Daniel Alfredsson’s departure

BY RYAN KENNEDY

THE OTTAWA SENATORS were full of miracles last season, starting with the young squad making the playoffs during a campaign in which their best player in each zone lost most of the 48-game season to injury. Goaltender Craig Anderson missed 18 games with a sprained ankle. Defenseman Erik Karlsson missed 31 with a sliced Achilles tendon, a year after winning the Norris Trophy. And center Jason Spezza was done after five games due to surgery on a herniated disc.

Now, with franchise face Daniel Alfredsson gone, Spezza will test his back literally and metaphorically as he dons the ‘C’ for the up-and-coming Senators. Spezza has battled back issues before, having surgery in 2006, but the ordeal he went through this time pushed him to the brink.

“The first time it happened I got by with cortisone shots for a while, because it was the Torino Olympics year and I wanted to be ready,” Spezza says. “I tried cortisone again this time and got no relief whatsoever.”

The latest flare-up actually dated back to the 2012 playoffs, when the Senators lost a hard-fought seven-game series to the top-seeded New York Rangers. “It was very manageable,” he says. “I played in Switzerland during the lockout and felt good starting the season after that. But by the third game in Florida, I couldn’t sit at the dinner table. It took over my life. I almost lost full function in my right leg. It went numb.”

Unlike in 2006, there was no delaying the surgery. Spezza went under the knife and didn’t return to duty until the second round of the playoffs, when Ottawa fell to Pittsburgh in five games. From February until late May, he sat in the press box, often with Karlsson and defenseman Jared Cowen, who was also out long-term with a hip injury. “It’s nerve-wracking when you want your team to win and you can’t do anything about it,” Spezza says. “It’s not something I want to make a habit of doing. You try to keep your mind sharp. It’s good to have conversations and bounce ideas off each other. Rehabbing is tough and long and not very rewarding sometimes.”

You’d think two incredible players watching from a bird’s eye view would have been helpful for coach Paul MacLean, but he notes that since Spezza and Karlsson think and play the game at such a high level, it’s not often that useful to the average player incapable of pulling off such feats. One player who did benefit, however, was center Kyle Turris. He was playing his first full season with Ottawa after a mid-year trade with Phoenix in late 2011 and had a fit of bad luck once Spezza was on the shelf, but the veteran was there for him. “There was a stretch where I went like, 20 games without a goal,” Turris says. “He’d come down after I had hit the post that night and say, ‘Turs, don’t worry. It’s coming.’ He’d text me on the road and was always so encouraging.”

Former Ottawa Senator Mark Stone Jokes That It Wasn't Always Easy Playing On Brady Tkachuk's LineVegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone will always have a soft spot for Ottawa. Six years after he was traded away by the Senators, Stone still spends most of his summers in the city. He has a boatload of friends here, and he’s pleased to see that the Senators—his former team—are playing so well again.

Turris and Spezza have a funny history. They met in 2008, when a teenaged Turris was invited to Canada’s camp for the World Championship in Quebec City and Halifax, and Spezza was his roommate. “I was a wide-eyed 18-year-old kid,” Turris says. “And he was a superstar. It was a lot of fun. We joke about it now.”

Fast-forward to last season and Turris was once again a new face, this time in the pros after several tumultuous seasons in Phoenix. Spezza was there for him this time, too. “He was awesome,” Turris says. “He made me feel like a part of the team right from the start. He’s such a good professional and respects everyone. So down-to-earth.”

MACLEAN HAD A LOT OF conversations about the captaincy before bestowing the honor on Spezza, particularly with GM Bryan Murray. There were certainly other options available: Chris Phillips, for instance, has been a Senator his entire 15-year career and stayed with the franchise through its recent rebuild even when he had a chance to leave for more competitive pastures. There’s also Karlsson, who, though he’s just 23, has already become an elite defenseman in the NHL and would fit into the recent trend of young stars (Jamie Benn in Dallas being the latest) earning the ‘C.’ “We felt Jason was at the point where he was ready to take his career in a new direction,” MacLean says. “It’s not so much about the amount of goals or points he scores as an individual, but how much success the team has as a whole.”

He’s become so entrenched in the NHL that it’s easy to forget Spezza was a headline-grabbing phenom back in the day. As a 15-year-old, he was allowed to head to the Ontario League a year early, suiting up for Brampton and scoring more than a point per game. He was essentially John Tavares before John Tavares. Though his first pro season was split between Ottawa and AHL Binghamton, it wasn’t long before Spezza was one of the most dangerous players in the NHL. “He came into the league highly touted and now he’s in a space where his responsibilities to the younger players have grown,” MacLean says. “He can now pass on what he has learned from the veterans before him.”

One of those veterans, of course, was Daniel Alfredsson. A Senator for 17 seasons and captain for 13, he had become virtually fused into the identity of the team. But when negotiations went bad on a new contract in the summer, ‘Alfie’ pulled up stakes for Detroit, where he believed he would have a better shot at that elusive Stanley Cup ring. In an age where nothing is secret for long, Spezza was one of the few who got the inside scoop from the man himself. “That was very stand-up of him,” Spezza says. “He wanted me to hear it from him and I’ve always respected him for that.”

The exit of Alfie actually represents one of Spezza’s first official tests as captain. It’s a given he’ll be asked about the move many times this year, especially when Detroit and Ottawa clash as new rivals in the Atlantic Division. Spezza, for his part, is unflappable on the subject. “It was talked about so much,” he says. “Since we’ve been at camp it hasn’t been discussed and it hasn’t had to be discussed. We’ve been preparing for life without him for a couple years now, we just didn’t know he’d be going to a different team.”

Alex Formenton's Lawyer: 'The Crown Attorney Knowingly Forged Ahead With A Hopeless Prosecution'Daniel Brown, the lawyer for former Ottawa Senator Alex Formenton, made a statement to the media this week after his client was found not guilty of sexual assault charges. Formenton and four other members of the 2018 Canadian World Junior Team were accused of sexual assault by a then 20-year-old woman in a London, Ontario hotel room.

The irony of Alfredsson’s defection is that if anything, the scrappy Senators will be tough outs in the post-season, especially with Spezza, Karlsson and Anderson at full strength. Bobby Ryan was acquired from Anaheim, bringing an upgrade at right wing from the aging Alfredsson, plus even the young kids got experience last season thanks to the team’s first-round upset of Montreal. Spezza watched that Habs series from the press box, but loved the way his mates shut down the middle of the ice on the speedy Canadiens and applied back pressure. The Sens got smacked by Pittsburgh in the second round, but Spezza sees that as the low tide mark, not the high. “We can be a hard team to play against,” he says. “But as we saw in the Pitts-burgh series, we need to take another step. Expectations have gone up.”

And once again the clock is ticking. Spezza has been to the Cup final once and it didn’t go the way he would have liked. That happened in 2007 when the Senators were destroyed by an Anaheim Ducks machine featuring three surefire Hall of Famers (Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne) and a cluster of up-and-coming stars, including Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. “Probably the best moment and the worst moment of my career,” Spezza says. “That was as good a team as I’ve ever played on and I still didn’t win.”

Though competitors always hold out hope, Spezza knew it was over midway through Game 5, an eventual 6-2 Ducks triumph to clinch the chalice. “The third period was a blur,” he says. “I’m sure everybody felt the same way.”

Of course, most of those players are gone from Ottawa now (Phillips and Chris Neil are the only other holdovers). The current edition of the squad has just a handful of players 30 or older and Spezza’s still just 30 himself. Which in another way makes him a strategic choice for captain – despite having more than 600 NHL games under his belt, he’s no greybeard. “I’m into house music and rap,” he says. “I’m still up on the music, I’m not stuck in the 90s or anything. I’m not crazy about the social media, but maybe I’m just stubborn.”

On the road, he’s not one to simply hole up in his room by himself, either. “He’s right in there and he’s one of the guys,” Turris says. “That’s why everyone respects him so much. He interacts with everybody from the rookies to the veterans.”

Even his coach has seen Spezza’s fun side, but the moustachioed bench boss also points to a studious part of the new captain’s personage that intrigued. “He is a relaxed guy and he likes to have fun, but he’s very serious about hockey,” MacLean says. “He’s a student of the game and a fan of the game. He knows all the trivia and he loves to do the research about the history.”

If Spezza wants to do some book learnin’ early on this season, maybe he can delve into the history of Canada’s Olympic hockey team and dark horses who made the final cut. It’s relevant since he was a surprise snub when the team’s orientation camp was held over the summer, meaning no ball hockey with Mike Babcock for the skilled Senator. Spezza was told by Canadian brass his missing nearly all of last season hurt his profile, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to book a Caribbean vacation during the Olympic break just yet. He’s going to work through the slight and try to prove his way onto the final roster.

“You have to use it as fuel,” he says. “I hoped they would look at my entire body of work instead of the fact that I missed most of last year. I’m definitely going to use it as motivation. I want to be in that upper echelon.”

And he can start by leading the Senators back up the standings. While MacLean may not be worried about individual numbers for his new on-ice general, Spezza did average more than a point per game in his last full campaign with Ottawa and now he’s got Ryan, one of the purest finishers in the league, running shotgun.

Turris has seen Spezza’s arsenal up close and personal and is still in awe. “A big thing is how strong he is and his ability to keep the puck under pressure,” he says. “He has smarts and he sees the game. The plays he makes are incredible.”

So it’s over the remparts once again for Spezza and now the team is his to lead into battle. There may have been some awshucks humility in him earlier in life, but now the veteran is focused. With the ‘C’ on his chest and passion to win in his heart, Spezza is embracing responsibility. “It’s something that can’t be taken lightly,” he says. “I’m looking forward to the challenge and honored to be given the opportunity.”

And given the pain he endured last season, it’s an opportunity he knows not to squander. 

By Ryan Kennedy
The Hockey News Archive
Image credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images

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