Thomas Hickey signs a PTO with Islanders rival

The New Jersey Devils have signed veteran defenseman Thomas Hickey to a professional tryout (PTO) contract.

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The 33 year old blue liner has played just seven NHL games over the past two seasons, playing mostly in the AHL with the New York Islanders' affiliate Bridgeport Sound Tigers. He'll get a chance at resurrected his NHL career with the Devils however, as their defensive corps is pretty top heavy. Sure, they have Dougie Hamilton playing big minutes, but after him they mostly employ a platoon of guys including Damon Severson, Ryan Graves, Jonas Siegenthaler and newcomer John Marino. If nothing else Hickey should provide some competition in training camp for rookie and 2nd overall selection Simon Nemec.