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New Jersey Devils Final Free Agency Primer: Expect the Unexpected

By Tyler Kelley

ST. PAUL, MN - MARCH 11: Jared Spurgeon #46 of the Minnesota Wild and Joonas Donskoi #27 of the San Jose Sharks battle for the puck as Eric Staal #12 of the Minnesota Wild and Gustav Nyquist #14 of the San Jose Sharks look on during a game at Xcel Energy Center on March 11, 2019 in St. Paul, Minnesota.(Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images)
ST. PAUL, MN - MARCH 11: Jared Spurgeon #46 of the Minnesota Wild and Joonas Donskoi #27 of the San Jose Sharks battle for the puck as Eric Staal #12 of the Minnesota Wild and Gustav Nyquist #14 of the San Jose Sharks look on during a game at Xcel Energy Center on March 11, 2019 in St. Paul, Minnesota.(Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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The New Jersey Devils have already landed two major pieces for the 2019-20 season without losing a rostered NHL player in Jack Hughes and P.K. Subban.  The free agency period truly kicks off July 1st at noon, although players and teams have been able to talk for a while.

After drafting Hughes and acquiring Subban, the Devils have checked two major blocks in the need column, but there are still some that need to be addressed.

A quick scan of the roster shows a few holes; a top/six forward, a top-nine forward, and top-four left-handed defenseman.

Jesper Bratt provides flexibility in the top six as he can play either wing and had some success on Hischier’s right wing.  Palmieri is locked in as a RW and Hall and is locked in a the 1LW.  Fortunately for the Devils this free agent class is much deeper than last years and there is the potential to find some value.

Targets:

Gustav Nyquist

Nyquist is 29 and projects to earn a six-year deal with an AAV of $5.65m from Evolving Hockey.  Nyquist is a skilled winger who provides similar flexibility to Bratt as he can play either side.  The term that will likely be attached to this deal is a bit of a concern given his age, but there’s no doubt Nyquist would contribute for this Devils team immediately.

If the Devils could get the term on this deal down by adding some money it may make sense.

Richard Panik

Panik is a severely underrated player likely because his scoring totals won’t blow anyone away.  He like both Nyquist and Bratt provides flexibility as he can play either the left or right side and has a nice edge to his game.  What Panik lacks on special teams, he more than makes up for at 5v5.

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Panik is 28 and projects to earn a four-year deal with an AAV around $4.7m.  In this situation there’s no issue with the term, but I’d still like if the Devils could bring that AAV down a little.  Something closer to 4×4.25 would make Panik a solid addition.

Panik is truly a discount Nyquist and would be a great budget fit for the Devils.

Joonas Donskoi

I’ve been screaming about Donskoi this entire offseason, and he would be a great addition for the Devils.  The 27 year old is looking for a bigger role and projects to earn a three-year contract at $2.7 million per season. Given the league wide interest, I’d bump that number up to $3m+ easily and there’s still a fit there for the Devils. Again, Donskoi’s numbers may not jump off the paper, but he’s great in transition and great defensively.  He would be the perfect RW for a Coleman-Zajac-Donskoi 3rd line that could be heavily utilized in tough defensive situations.

That’s what John Hynes’ dreams are made of folks.

Players to Avoid

Tyler Myers and Wayne Simmonds

I don’t feel a need to expand on either much further as I’ve addressed them previously in my article about free agency value but I’ll address them again quickly.

Myers is going to get paid far more than he’s worth because he’s tall.  That’s it.  He isn’t good offensively, he’s terrible defensively, but he’s tall.

Simmonds has been a solid contributor most of his career but he’s hit a pretty serious wall and is on a steep decline.  Rumors are that he’s looking for term and this looks like its going to turn into James Neal 2.0.

What to Expect:

The unexpected.

Playing around on Capfriendly and looking at looming extensions for Taylor Hall and Nico Hischier shows if the Devils make major moves this offseason beyond adding PK the cap will get tight next year.

Miles Wood is making a lot of money for someone who likely won’t carve out more than a 4th-line role.  Pavel Zacha hasn’t been extended yet, and he will, but depending on the price it may be too much for a 4th liner and PK specialist.

Michael McLeod hasn’t found his way onto the NHL roster and the center depth on this team has gotten a lot deeper.

Could the Devils work with a team like Vegas to take on Clarkson’s contract and someone like Nikita Gusev, Jonathan Marchessault, or Reilly Smith? It’s entirely possible.

At this point, I’d expect Miles Wood gets moved at some point within the next year to open up some cap space and Sami Vatanen may not be safe either.

The addition of PK Subban turns the Devils right side into a major strength.  While Sami Vatanen can play the left side I wouldn’t be surprised if, with his contract expiring next year, he’s shopped in an attempt to acquire a cost-controlled forward via trade.

Ray Shero does a great job of keeping the Devils moves under wrap so the key moving forward is to continue to expect the unexpected.

Thank you to Evolving Wild for the contract projections and the wide range of data they provide to help with player evaluation.

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