Utica Comets Sign Devils Prospect Charlie Leddy to AHL Contract

New Jersey drafted Charlie Leddy in 2022 because of a plus-33 rating he posted across 55 games in the U.S. National Team Development Program without scoring a single goal. Four years later, the Devils are paying to find out whether those defensive instincts translate at the professional level.

The Utica Comets signed the 22-year-old right-shot defenseman to an AHL contract for the remainder of the 2025-26 season, with Leddy arriving in Utica after completing his senior year at Quinnipiac. The signing lands against a specific organizational backdrop: Utica sits at 25-30-5-5 with 60 points and is on a four-game point streak, one point ahead of Belleville in the North Division chase, while the Devils face an Aug. 15 NHL entry-level signing deadline before his rights lapse entirely. The contract is less about adding a playoff difference-maker and more about opening an evaluation window the Devils cannot afford to miss.

Leddy, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound shutdown specialist from Fairfield, Connecticut, built his entire college reputation on defensive structure. In his USNTDP draft year he contributed 17 assists and that plus-33 rating across 55 games without putting a puck in the net. From there, he spent two seasons at Boston College, totaling 15 points in 72 games, before transferring to Quinnipiac, where he immediately claimed a starting role. In his first year as a Bobcat, Leddy appeared in 37 of 38 contests and finished with 11 points. This past season he wore an assistant captaincy alongside captain Victor Czerneckianair and posted a plus-13 through 12 games, a Quinnipiac Division I record for defensemen that also led the ECAC at the time. Quinnipiac reached the NCAA Regional Final before falling to North Dakota, giving Leddy three conference regular season titles across his college career.

For head coach Ryan Parent, the addition provides a right-shot pairing option on a blue line managing late-season attrition. Leddy's game is built on conservative puck movement and defensive-zone positioning rather than offense, so his minutes will come killing penalties and protecting leads rather than generating power-play chances. His right-shot profile adds flexibility to Utica's pairing configuration at a moment when the roster cannot absorb more wear on its right-side defenders.

Whether Leddy makes his professional debut before the Comets close the regular season against Belleville, the Toronto Marlies, and Syracuse over the next 10 days remains uncertain. What is certain is the organizational calculation driving the contract. The Devils have watched four years of college data on a defenseman whose shutdown identity translated across the Hockey East, the ECAC, and an NCAA deep run. What they do not yet have is a single professional rep.

Before August, they will.