The New Jersey Devils announced today that the team has re-signed restricted free-agent forward Arseny Gritsyuk to a three-year contract worth $9,750,000 total, with an annual average value (AAV) of $3,250,000. The contract breakdown is as follows: 2026-27: $2,250,000, 2027-28: $2,750,000 & 2028-29: $4,750,000. The announcement was made by General Manager Sunny Mehta.
Gritsyuk, 25, completed his rookie season with the Devils, tallying 31 points (13g-18a) in 66 regular-season games. The 6’0”, 195lbs. forward made his NHL debut in the team’s regular-season opener against Carolina on Oct. 9, 2025, and became the first player in franchise history to wear number 81. Gritsyuk recorded his first career NHL point in the team’s second game of the 2025-26 season, which was a multi-assist effort at Tampa Bay on Oct. 11. He went on to score his first NHL goal on Oct. 22, which was against Minnesota at Prudential Center. Gritsyuk’s 149 shots on goal ranked sixth among all NHL rookie skaters in 2025-26, while his 31 points ranked 13th. His six multi-point games ranked in the top 10 for all NHL rookies.
Before arriving in the NHL, Gritsyuk played parts of five seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) from 2020-21 to 2024-25. He played for Avangard Omsk between 2020 and 2022 before joining St. Petersburg for two seasons. In 2024-25, his final season with St. Petersburg, he recorded 44 points (17g-27a) in 49 regular-season games. The forward’s point, goal and assist totals all ranked in the top five for St. Petersburg skaters in 2024-25. Gritsyuk also collected five points (1g-4a) in six playoff games with St. Petersburg, which tied him for first on the team. In 2023-24 with St. Petersburg, Gritsyuk posted a career-high 19 goals.
Over the course of his tenure in the KHL, he earned 152 career points (68g-84a) in 216 career regular-season contests, and his 44 points in 2024-25 were his career high. Gritsyuk played in 16 playoff games with St. Petersburg and recorded 11 points (5g-6a).
The left-handed shot logged his KHL debut with Avangard in 2020-21 and played in 117 career regular-season games with the club before joining St. Petersburg. He appeared in three different postseasons with Avangard and was a member of the 2020-21 team that won the Gagarin Cup. In 2021-22, Gritsyuk earned the KHL Aleksei Cherepanov Award, which is awarded to the league’s best rookie player.
Born on March 15, 2001, in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, the Devils selected Gritsyuk in the fifth round, 129th overall, in the 2019 NHL Draft. He represented Russia at the International Ice Hockey Federation’s (IIHF) 2019 U-18 World Junior Championship (WJC), 2021 World Junior Championship, and the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. He helped Russia win silver medals at the 2019 U-18 WJC and at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.
