The New Jersey Devils may have a chance to get one of the monster free agents coming this offseason, but there are a couple players we’re not talking about that they should target.
This is a monster free agent class that we haven’t seen in a long, long time. Even with players like Mark Stone, Drew Doughty and Oliver Ekman-Larsson signing with their current teams, there’s still an abundance of game changing players teams can get for just money. There’s Erik Karlsson, Artemi Panarin, Jeff Skinner, Sergei Bobrovsky, Matt Duchene, Jordan Eberle, and the list actually goes on. Usually, Eberle would be the prize of free agency and a team would spend an arm and a leg, but with so many players in free agency he’s far down the list.
With so many amazing players on the market, the New Jersey Devils could be able to target one or two of these under-the-radar free agents. These aren’t to the level of PTO players (we’ll do something like that further into the offseason), this is more like players that will get paid decently, but nowhere near the top of the free agency class.
Brian Boyle
We’ll start with the obvious one. The New Jersey Devils should absolutely try and bring Brian Boyle back this offseason. He was an amazing player to have on this team. We’ve chronicled his journey through cancer all the way to remission.
Then, the Devils were forced to break fans hearts by trading him at the trade deadline. They did get a 2nd-round pick for his services now and in the playoffs, but we sure do miss him.
We miss him so much, the Devils need to go get him once he becomes available. The Devils were playing him more at left wing on the fourth line this season, which seemed like a natural transition for the next few years. The Devils have fourth-line centers in Kevin Rooney, Mike McLeod and Marian Studenic that will have that position for a long time, so getting Boyle used to playing on the wing seemed like a move for the future despite him still being a very good faceoff man.
Boyle will come at a very reasonable price. He signed with the Devils for a two-year, $5.1 million contract. Even if the Devils raise that to a full $3 million per season, it will be well worth it.