New Jersey Devils: Hopes For NHL Free Agency Day
The New Jersey Devils and the rest of the NHL are now on free agent watch. Every team will look to bolster up their rosters without hurting the future.
July 1st is an extremely important day for the entire National Hockey League and the New Jersey Devils are no different. All 31 teams will look to free agency to make themselves better for next season and beyond. It is a dangerous game and can hurt you in the future, but the teams that manage free agency the best are the ones that are the best off.
The Devils have been linked to a couple of really good players since the end of the season. They have already gotten much better as a team since the draft in adding number-one overall pick Jack Hughes and trading for superstar defenseman P.K. Subban. This team might be pretty good next year and some of these moves might have a lot to do with that.
So what do I hope for in this years addition of free agency? I hope Ray Shero is slightly more active than he was last year. Unless it was a fair deal for a guy like Artemi Panarin or an offer sheet for one of the elite RFA’s like Mitch Marner or Sebastian Aho, I would be completely okay with not as much action. Free agents are dangerous and can really hurt you.
If they spent a lot on free agents over the 2018 period, they would not have won the lottery or had the room to add a contract like Subban’s. They also have Taylor Hall and Nico Hischier to worry about here soon, not to mention contracts like those of Jesper Bratt and Will Butcher. These might be guys they want to pay and some more handsomely than others.
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I am by no means saying that they should do absolutely nothing. They would be really smart to add another winger to bolster up the middle six and possibly some more help on the back end. This type of player might cost a lot and that is okay, but the term is the most worrisome. The worst possible thing that could happen is the Devils needing to pay a guy 6+ million to be a traffic cone in 2022-23. That is how you get into cap trouble. Looking at you, Minnesota Wild fans.
This has already been a great offseason for the New Jersey Devils so they don’t need to go and ruin it in free agency. If Panarin wanted to come to the Devils on the right contract I am all for it, but he should not be the highest paid player in the NHL. Same goes for Mitch Marner, who would need to be offer sheeted and not only is he not worth 12+ million, he isn’t worth four first round picks either. This is a process and the Devils have been really good at sticking to that process.
If they want to sign a winger like Joonas Donskoi or Gustav Nyquist that would be awesome, as long as the term isn’t to ridiculous. Either way, I have a feeling the Devils will be a better hockey team after today than they were a a few days ago.
Related Story. NJD Free Agent Primer. light
The best possible news we could receive on Monday would be a long term contract extension for Taylor Hall. He is officially eligible to sign one and it would be a sigh of relief for Devils fans all across the world. He has been their best player for three years and emerged as a superstar in this league and will be compensated as such. Buckle up, Devils fans!