The New Jersey Devils, parent club of the AHL’s Lowell Devils, announced on Tuesday that they have signed four free agents: defensemen Mike Mottau, Tomas Harant and Johnny Oduya and forward Rod Pelley.
All four will attend New Jersey’s training camp in September. As per club policy, no further terms were disclosed.
Mottau, 28, is a three-time AHL All-Star (2001, 2002, 2006) who spent the 2005-06 season with the AHL’s Peoria Rivermen, scoring eight goals and adding 48 assists for 56 points in 76 games. A native of Quincy, Mass., Mottau has recorded 46 goals and 206 assists for 252 points in 420 career AHL games with Peoria, Worcester, Cincinnati, Saint John and Hartford.
A 1997 draft choice by the New York Rangers, Mottau has also appeared in 23 career NHL games with the Rangers and Calgary, registering three assists. He played four seasons at Boston College, winning the Hobey Baker Award in 2000 and helping the Eagles reach the Frozen Four three times.
Harant, 26, has spent his entire career in Europe and last season played with Ceske Budejovice in the Czech Republic, scoring two goals and seven assists while adding 90 penalty minutes in 45 contests. He also tallied four goals and two assists in ten playoff games. Harant was a member of Slovakia’s team at the 2006 World Championships.
The 6-foot-3, 200-pound backliner was selected by Nashville in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft.
Oduya, 24, played the 2005-06 season with Frolunda of the Swedish Elite League where he tallied eight goals and 11 assists along with 95 penalty minutes. He added one goal and two assists in 17 playoff games to help his club advance to the championship round.
The 6-foot, 200-pound defenseman from Stockholm, Sweden, was a 2001 draft choice by Washington.
Pelley, 21, is coming off a four-year collegiate career at Ohio State, where he registered 47 goals and 41 assists for 88 points and 160 penalty minutes in 165 career games.
In 2005-06, the native of Kitimat, B.C., picked up seven goals and seven assists for 14 points. As a junior in 2004-05, Pelley finished second on the Buckeyes in goals (22) and points (41) and was named a CCHA Second Team All-Star.
