5 Under The Radar Players The New Jersey Devils Should Pursue In The Offseason
The New Jersey Devils‘ playoff chances have long been gone, and many Devils fans have focused their attention on the upcoming NHL draft and free agency. Changes are inevitably coming for the team once again, as the Devils will have draft picks and cap space at their disposal, along with a new general manager who will look to make a splash.
Fans will clamor for some big unrestricted free agents who may be available; such as defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, Torey Krug, Jake Muzzin, and Tyson Barrie, goaltenders Braden Holtby, Jacob Markstrom and Jaroslav Halak, and forwards Mike Hoffman, Evgenii Dadonov and Chris Kreider.
While those players would make the Devils a better team, making big splashes in free agency is not the recipe for success, especially when the team is not one player away from being contenders. Let’s take a look at some under the radar free agents and trade candidates the Devils should strongly consider taking a chance on.
Kevin LaBanc
Kevin LaBanc is a pending restricted free agent for the San Jose Sharks, and will look for a bump in pay from a team that will have limited cap space available. LaBanc fits in perfectly with the young core and direction the Devils are going in. Overlooked on a Sharks team deep with talent, the 24 year old is an extremely talented winger.
LaBanc possesses a great shot and would compliment Nico Hischier or Jack Hughes perfectly. A native of Brooklyn, New York, LaBanc could ultimately benefit from a change of scenery with a more solidified role in the top six. If 2021 unrestricted free agent to be Kyle Palmieri were to get traded or leave via free agency, LaBanc would be the ideal replacement, as he will be a future 25-30 goal scorer in this league.
Tyler Toffoli
Tyler Toffoli is a soon to be unrestricted free agent who would bring a secondary scoring touch to New Jersey. The Los Angeles Kings forward found early career success with a 30-goal campaign and was an integral part in L.A.’s second Stanley Cup championship over the New York Rangers.
In what has been a down year for the Kings, and Toffoli himself. He could still crack the 20-goal plateau. The knock on Toffoli is that he is a streaky goal scorer; however he is a talent oozing with skill. He probably will not score 30 goals again, that was a situation where everything fell right into place. However, playing in a fast, uptempo system which caters to his skill set, he could be a consistent 20-25 goal scorer. The risk may be worth the price tag of over five million for the soon to be 28-year-old sniper.
Thomas Greiss
Thomas Greiss is the ideal fit in a 1A/1B goaltending tandom in the new NHL. He has been very good for the New York Islanders, and would certainly take the pressure off of Mackenzie Blackwood.
Blackwood is presumably the starter for the forseeable future, but the Devils need to sure up their goaltending for the 30-35 games that Blackwood is not starting. He can’t play every game, and as we saw on Tuesday night when he takes a break it can’t go off the rails.
Greiss has averaged a.916 save percentage and a 2.72 goals against average over his last five seasons on the Island. While Greiss is not a sexy name, he should come at a reasonable term and cap hit at age 34. He’s been great as the second options for the Islanders, so he wouldn’t even need to go far to play at the Prudential Center.
Robin Lehner
By now, everyone should be made aware of Robin Lehner’s story. He has been openly candid about his struggles with addiction, anxiety and depression. He had a breakout season with the New York Islanders in 2018-19, highlighted by winning the Bill Masterson Trophy; which is handed out to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. He also was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy.
While failing to earn a long-term contract with the Islanders, or anyone for that matter, he signed a one year prove it contract with the Chicago Blackhawks. He has done more than just prove it at this point, putting up very good numbers in spite of playing in front of a defense as bad as New Jersey’s. He should earn a nice contract this off-season in which he deserves. Blackwood and Lehner would be a phenomenal one-two punch in net for the Devils.
Vince Dunn
Acquiring defenseman Vince Dunn may be a long shot, but the St. Louis Blues will have some difficult decisions to make this off-season. Their forwards are under contract account for almost 40 million against the cap, will need to open up their wallets if they wish to retain captain Alex Pietriangelo and looming large is re-signing Stanley Cup hero Jordan Binnington before he becomes an unrestricted free agent following the 2020-21 season. Binnington will be in line for a hefty raise of his 4.4 million, and could almost double his salary. Unfortunately for the Blues, they cannot keep everyone. Dunn is also a restricted free agent, who will look to get a raise from his 722,500 salary.
This is where the Devils could take advantage of a salary cap strapped team. Dunn is a young, promising left handed blueliner who is a smooth skater, savvy offensively and has very good underlying metric numbers. He has the highest corsi for percentage on a very good Blues team. He would be a welcome addition to a Devils defense that lacks his kind of offensive upside. If the Devils were to facilitate a trade, they could possibly entice the Blues by taking on another player with a high cap hit such as Alexander Steen, who has one year left on his contract for 5.75 million.
As the Devils inch closer to the off-season, it will be fun to debate who the Devils should go after in free agency and through trades. The Devils should strongly adding Kevin LaBanc, Tyler Toffoli, Robin Lehner, Thomas Greiss and Vince Dunn.