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Devils forward Damien Brunner will face the Flyers tonight in Philadelphia.

(Saed Hindash/The Star-Ledger)

The Devils today signed Swiss forward Damien Brunner to a two-year, $5 million contract.

Brunner, 27, had been in training camp on a tryout but he impressed general manager Lou Lamoriello and coach Pete DeBoer enough to merit being signed.

"He came to camp without a contract and showed us what he can do," Lamoriello said.

In two preseason games, Brunner has two points (no goals, two assists) and is minus-2. He will play tonight against the Flyers in Philadelphia.

"I'm real happy we managed to make the deal a little bit earlier than maybe Oct. 1. Now it's a little bit easier for me to focus on the start of the season," Brunner said. "It makes everything easier. I'm looking forward to getting my own apartment. I'm really excited about being a Devil. Now (I can) stick around."

He said he was confident he could earn a spot with thew Devils.

"I think you have to be confident, otherwise it makes no sense. There is no point in coming over to try. I believed I could come over, prove myself and get a contract," Brunner said. "That's what happened and I'm really happy about it. I think both sides are happy about it."

The Devils wanted to sign him early in the summer.

"I think they pretty much knew what they get with me," Brunner said. "It was about them seeing how I react when I came to this organization. How I would be around the guys. Everything turned out really well.The guys welcomed me. They made me feel like I was one of them from day one, so obviously it made it easy for me to make a good impression."

Lamoriello said: "We were very interested in him early in the summer. And then we thought he'd be going somewhere else. When that didn't work out he came to camp without a contract and certainly earned where he's at. He showed us what he can do firsthand."

The Devils now have a glut of forwards in training camp.

"We certainly have a little work to do," Lamoriello noted. "It's a good problem to have. Right now we have everybody close to healthy."

Mattias Tedenby (lower body) and Andrei Loktionov (lower body) both skated on their own today.