The New Jersey Devils announced today that the team has signed forward Riley Tufte to a one-year, one-way contract worth $850,000. The announcement was made by General Manager Sunny Mehta and Devils’ Assistant General Manager/Utica Comets General Manager Braden Birch.
Tufte, 28, has played the past two seasons in the Bruins organization. He spent most of the year with the Bruins’ American Hockey League affiliate in Providence, scoring 56 points (32g-24a) with 71 penalty minutes and a +28 plus/minus rating in 64 games. The 6’6”, 245lbs. winger finished fourth in the AHL in goals and 10th in plus/minus. He also skated in four games up with Boston, scoring one goal.
He has skated in 28 career NHL regular-season games over five seasons, scoring three goals and one assist for four points. The left-handed shot made his NHL debut with the Dallas Stars on November 13, 2021, against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Tufte has skated in 395 career AHL games with the Colorado Eagles, Texas Stars, and Providence tallying 111 goals and 111 assists for 222 points with a plus-63 rating. In 24 career Calder Cup Playoff games, he has scored five goals and six assists for 11 points and 16 penalty minutes. He was named to the 2023-24 AHL All-Star Game (Pacific).
The Coon Rapids, Minnesota native was originally selected by Dallas in the first round (25th overall) of the 2016 NHL Draft. Before his professional career, Tufte played three seasons in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the University of Minnesota-Duluth from 2016-17 to 2018-19. He was a member of the Bulldogs’ back-to-back National Championship squads. He recorded 64 points (34g-30a) in 121 collegiate contests.
Born on April 10, 1998, he represented Team USA at the International Ice Hockey Federation’s 2018 World Junior Championship (WJC) winning a bronze medal.
