McAmmond’s Numbers: In 62 games played this season, McAmmond scored 8 times and assisted on 9 other goals. He scored once on the the power play, assisted on another and tallied two GWG’s for NJ. Against the Flyers, he failed to find the scoresheet.
My Thoughts: The signing of Dean McAmmond on October 20th was a little surprising but we never really thought he’d make it out of Lowell. After the Devils suffered numerous injuries, the Devils and McAmmond agreed to a two-way contract that would find McAmmond up in the NHL for the remainder of the season. Early on in the season, the Devils 4th line was at best, pathetic. Once McAmmond came to the Devils, the 4th line had its moments. There were various points during the season that McAmmond would score a critical goal that would seem to light a fire under the rest of the team. For instance, most Devils fans can recall the Feb 5th game against the Toronto Maple Leafs that saw the Leafs up 3-1 with only a few minutes to play and McAmmond took a pass from Zharkov and beat Gustovson glove side, which seem to wake up the Devils who would go on to stick 2 more goals in the net in the next 3 mins and shock the Leafs. The question I always had about McAmmond was whether or not he could do these things when it really mattered. As I pointed out above, he went pointless in the series against the Flyers so the answer to my question was no.
McAmmond’s Future: He’s an UFA on July 1st and really not much of a value to this team. Sure, he made the 4th line a little more reliable once he got here but honestly I would rather see some young guys from Lowell get a chance rather than bringing him back. He’s 37 which means he’s not quite done yet but the window of oppurtunity is probably closing on him rather quickly. I have a hunch he might try to return to the Senators for one year before calling it quits.
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