This offseason will be an interesting, and hopefully, a busy one for the New Jersey Devils and General Manager Ray Shero. This offseason will have one of the deepest unrestricted free agent classes in a long time. However, the restricted free agent class may be the strongest one in history and can change the course of the NHL for years to come.
The Devils have six picks in the first three rounds of the 2019 NHL Draft, meaning they can both add immediate difference makers and strengthen the prospect pipeline for years to come. Next year, the Devils own their own 1st, 2nd, and 3rd-round picks which can be used to signing a Restricted Free Agent to an offer sheet in the range of approximately $6.1 million to $8.2 million. One player who fits into this range and on the Devils roster is a Swiss-born left-winger, Timo Meier.
The San Jose Sharks are currently in an interesting place with their salary cap. According to CapFriendly, the Sharks will have about $27 million in cap space with only 14 players on their roster. Their unrestricted free agents include Erik Karlsson, Joe Pavelski, Gustav Nyquist, Joonas Donskoi and “Jumbo” Joe Thornton. That is an extremely long and talented list where some players need to re-sign in order to keep the Sharks competitive. There is absolutely no way they can re-sign most of these players and their restricted free agents. This is where the Devils come in.
Offer Sheets have not been utilized much since they were introduced. Some believe it’s for general managers to continue to have good relations and due to the high draft pick compensation necessary. This is a situation where the Devils should use the offer sheet.
Timo Meier is truly a jack of all trades. His playing time has increased by 2 minutes year over year, and his numbers show why. In his first season in the NHL when he played 34 games, he averaged 0.18 PPG. In his second, it increased to 0.44 and this past year, jumped to 0.88 PPG. These increases speak for themselves.
Now for those that prefer the advanced analytics, we’ll be taking a look at Meier’s first two full seasons in the NHL. In year one, he had a Corsi% of 52.6 and a Relative Corsi% of 2.2, meaning his team controlled the possession when he was on the ice compared to when he was off it. This past season, his Corsi% jumped to 56%, a big increase and one of the highest in the league, especially for someone so young. His Relative Corsi% of 2.1 was an insignificant decrease which has to do more with the team performing better overall compared to the season prior.
Back to where the Devils come in. They need talent as Taylor Hall said, but not just any talent. They need young, speedy, and physical players who can keep with the fast pace of the Devils. That describes Timo Meier in a nutshell. He would fit in perfectly with Nico Hischier as two of the top Swiss players in the league who both play a two-way game with elite offensive potential.
Meier is an extremely talented player who fits into the Devils timeline perfectly and would be an immediate upgrade to the winger position. It will be hard for San Jose to let him go, but with the right offer sheet, the Devils may just be able to pry him away for much less than Mitch Marner or Brayden Point would cost (including the draft pick compensation difference). Timo Meier can be a difference-maker for the Devils for years to come.