Former Ottawa Senators’ player Bobby Butler signs with New Jersey Devils of NHL
Bobby Butler, an undrafted player who was signed by Ottawa Senators previously, has now signed with New Jersey Devils in the National Hockey League (NHL). Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed by anyone as per team’s policy.
25-year-old Butler, who had his contract bought out by Ottawa Senators after spending two seasons with them, has been signed in a two-way deal. The announcement came from Chief Executive Officer/General Manager/President of New Jersey Devils, Lou Lamoriello.
Lamoriello, who would turn 70 in two months, defended Butler and talked about his goal scoring when he was new at Ottawa. In his opinion it was Senators’ coaching change that brought his bad patch as he said,
“There’s no question he was goal scorer in college and certainly in the first (36) games in Ottawa his first year. He showed he can score and then for whatever reason, and these things happen when there’s a coaching change, he didn’t get as much as ice time
—not through anyone’s fault”.
Providence, Rhode Island native also talked about being familiar with his new player as he added,
“He also played in Binghamton for Kurt Klienendorst when they won the Calder Cup, so we know a lot about him there and also his college coach. I had at Providence. So, we know enough about him”.
Born in Marlborough, Massachusetts, Butler started his career in 2006-2007 season with University of New Hampshire in Hockey East. He played there for four seasons, before he signed a contract with Ottawa Senators in March 2010.
The right handed forward made his debut in 2009-2010 season and played just two games in that season, before attending a development camp in off-season and then heading to Binghamton Senators, Ottawa’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliates.
The 6-foot-0, 189 pounder made an impact very quickly at AHL with 22 goals, 11 assists, 33 total points in 47 games, resulting in him earning a call from Ottawa in NHL. His performance in NHL was also prominent as he played 36 games and scored 10 goals,
11 assists for total of 21 points.
Ottawa responded by giving him an extension of two years but Butler replied by playing a pathetic season in which he scored just 16 points, 6 assists and 10 goals in 56 games, resulting in Senators buying out his contract.
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