The New Jersey Devils announced Friday that the club has signed center Xavier Parent to a one-year, entry-level contract to begin in the 2025-26 season.

Through 44 games this season with the Utica Comets, the Devils’ top minor-league affiliate, Parent has scored 11 goals and added 15 assists for 26 points coupled with 39 penalty minutes and a minus-one rating. In all, through three seasons with the Comets, Parent has totaled 29 goals and 48 assists for 77 points in 129 contests. Parent’s pro experience also counts a single season with the ECHL’s Adirondack Thunder where in 50 games he notched 23 goals and 28 assists for 51 points alongside 46 penalty minutes and a plus-five rating.

A 23-year-old native of Laval, Que., Parent is a QMJHL graduate whose junior career spanned five seasons with the Halifax Mooseheads and Sherbrooke Phoenix from 2017-22. In his final junior season, Parent put together a dominant offensive performance as he tallied 106 points counting 51 goals and 55 assists through 65 showings to earn a spot on the QMJHL’s Second All-Star Team. Through 244 regular-season appearances in the junior ranks, Parent totaled 102 goals and 113 assists for 215 points. Parent was also a near point-per-game player in the postseason as he collected 19 goals and 24 assists for 43 points through 46 playoff games.

Parent has also seen success in international competition highlighted by a gold medal win at the 2018 Hlinka Gretzky Cup where through five showings he scored twice and added an assist for three points. Additionally, Parent took home silver with Canada Red at the 2017 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge as he headlined the squad with seven points counting four goals and three assists through six games.

For the Devils, on the season the club sits 36-25-6 to hold down third place in the Metropolitan Division with 78 points.