The New Jersey Devils announced today that the team signed defenseman Calen Addison to a one-year, two-way contract worth $775,000 at the NHL level and $325,000 ($400,000 guaranteed) at the American Hockey League (AHL) level. The announcement was made by President/General Manager Tom Fitzgerald and Devils’ Assistant General Manager/Utica Comets General Manager Dan MacKinnon.
Addison, 25, has spent parts of the last six seasons at both the American Hockey League (AHL) and NHL levels since 2018-19. The 5’11”, 195lbs. blueliner played in 49 games in the AHL with Henderson last season and then 13 games with Springfield. Addison totaled 36 points (5g-31a) in his 62 games played in the AHL last season.
The Pittsburgh Penguins selected Addison in the second round, 53rd overall, in the 2018 NHL Draft. The righthanded shot made his professional debut with Pittsburgh’s AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in 2018-19, and was later traded with Alex Galchenyuk, plus a conditional first-round draft pick to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Jason Zucker on February 10, 2020. Addison logged his NHL debut with Minnesota on February 16, 2021, at Los Angeles.
Addison spent the next three seasons from 2021-22 to 2022-23 with the Minnesota organization, suiting up both in the NHL and AHL. He played in 92 career regular-season games with the Wild and 74 games with the club’s AHL affiliate in Iowa. He was named to the 2020-21 AHL All-Rookie Team
and was an AHL All-Star after leading all Iowa blueliners with 22 points (6g-16a) in 31 games. On Oct. 17, 2022, Addison recorded three assists in a game against the Colorado Avalanche, which tied a Minnesota franchise record for the most assists earned by a rookie defenseman in a single game.
The San Jose Sharks acquired Addison via trade in November of 2023, and he played in a career-high 60 games in the NHL with the Sharks during the 2023-24 campaign. Overall, the Brandon, Manitoba native has recorded 50 career points (6g-44a) in 152 games at the NHL level and has earned 94 career points (18g-76a) in 139 AHL contests.
Born on April 11, 2000, Addison played four seasons in the Western Hockey League (WHL) with Lethbridge from 2015-16 to 2018-19. He led all Lethbridge defenseman with 65 points in consecutive seasons from 2017-18 to 2018-19. He represented Canada at the International Ice Hockey Federation’s (IIHF) World Junior Championship (WJC) in 2020 and helped Canada win a gold medal. Addison also led all defensemen from the 2020 WJC with eight assists.
