Nunavut’s hockey star keeps his job with the New Jersey Devils

Nunavut’s hockey star Jordin Tootoo had good reason to smile, May 9, after signing a one-year contract with the New Jersey Devils (PHOTO COURTESY NJ DEVILS/FACEBOOK)

Nunavut’s one and only professional hockey star, Jordin Tootoo, will continue his career with the New Jersey Devils for another season.

Sports news media in Canada and the United States reported May 9 that Tootoo, who just finished his first full season with the Devils, signed on with the team for the 2015-16 season, after receiving an offer from team president Lou Lamoriello.

The 32-year-old forward’s one-year contract with the National Hockey League team amounts to $825,000, according to a report from the Canadian French-language television network, TVA Sports.

The news website, NJ.com, reported that the one-year offer came from Lamoriello when he was still the team’s general manager, before May 4.

“That was something that was worked on a lot earlier,” Lamoriello told reporter Rich Chere of Advance Media for NJ.com.

“It was up to the player to make a decision.”

Tootoo signed the offer May 9. The contract is a clear improvement to his $550,000 one-year deal for this past season, which the Devils offered after he made the team in a professional try-out.

Nunavut’s star player stated on Twitter, May 9, that he was “looking forward to putting on” the Devils jersey again, and thanked Devils fans for their support.

Tootoo’s eleventh full season in the NHL was marked by a slow start, with little playing time.

That changed when Lamoriello, as general manager, dismissed head coach Peter DeBoer midway through the season and went behind the bench himself, heading up coaching duties with co-coaches Adam Oates and Scott Stevens.

Shortly after the change, Tootoo’s playing time went up, and so did his contribution to the team. The right-winger played 65 games in 2014-2015, and finished the season with 10 goals and five assists — most of them posted under Lamoriello’s tenure behind the bench.

Nunavut’s favourite pro hockey player also proved to be a favourite among members of the New Jersey chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, who selected him as this past season’s nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy.

The award goes to the NHL player who “best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey,” the NHL states on its website.

Although Tootoo did not make the finalists’ list for the award, his nomination in New Jersey is the second of his career.

His first was in 2012, when Tootoo was a member of the Nashville Predators.