New Jersey Devils: 5 Right Wings To Target In Free Agency
Finding a right winger will be difficult for the New Jersey Devils this offseason.
Right wing is not a position with a lot of options in this year’s free agency. To give you a clue as to who’s the best available, the three highest-paid upcoming free agents are Ryan Callahan, Nathan Hornton, and David Clarkson. None of them played a single game of hockey in a long, long time. That’s bad news for the New Jersey Devils because they could use some more talent on the right side.
As currently constructed, the Devils have Kyle Palmieri as the lockdown, first-line right wing. Joey Anderson, who is built like a perfect third-line forward, was forced to play on the second line at the end of the season. Nikita Gusev spent some time at right wing, and that was a plus for the position, but it would be ideal to keep him at left wing. The fourth line would always change but finished with Janne Kuokkanen, who the Devils just acquired in the Sami Vatanen trade.
The Devils don’t have many options coming in the prospect pool, either. There’s Nathan Bastian, Nick Merkley, and Nikita Popugaev who naturally play that position. There are a ton of options at left wing, including recently acquired Nolan Foote, Mikhail Maltsev, Graeme Clarke, Aarne Talvitie, Fabian Zetterlund, Marian Studenic, and older prospects like Brett Seney. The pool is just much deeper, which means there’s a higher likelihood that someone will come out of it.
That means, despite the much weaker pool for players, the Devils might feel the need to spend big money in free agency on the few available options. These five players could be a fit for the Devils at their weakest forward position.
Evgenii Dadonov
This is the most obvious player on the list and the one we want the most possible on any list we do for free agency. The Florida Panthers’ right winger is one of the more underrated players in the league. Dadonov put together three amazing seasons since coming over from Russia. He peaked in 2018-19 with 70 points and ended this season with 47 in 69 games. He’s a lock for 50 points in a healthy season, but he already proved he could do 70.
The Devils desperately need finishers on this team. They have plenty of people who can set others up, as well as a lot of center prospects who do the same. What they need in free agency is to find a goal scorer. Dadonov has at least 25 goals in each of his three seasons.
The Devils already have Nikita Gusev on the team, who played with Dadonov on SKA St. Petersburg in 2017. They were top scorers on one of the top teams in Russia. Now, the Devils hope they can replicate their production while wearing red and black. Honestly, if the Devils sign Dadonov to a long-term deal, it could help the Devils re-sign Gusev to longer than his current deal, which only has one more year left on it.
This would be the perfect move for the Devils. Dadonov is a scorer who also helps make their other Russian scorer happy. It’s hard to tell what Gusev thinks of the Devils after he was jerked around the lineup, benched for a few weeks, and endured a lot of losing and two different head coaches. Maybe adding another Russian who he can build chemistry with off the ice. This just makes sense on just about every front, and honestly, it feels like it could actually happen. The Devils have the money to sign Dadonov that a lot of teams won’t, and they have the spot available in the top six.
Tyler Toffoli
If the Devils strike out on Dadonov, Tyler Toffoli would be an interesting backup option. He can score, but not nearly at the rate of Dadonov. The real problem with Toffoli is his major inconsistency.
For years, Toffoli seemed like he was the next great player for the Los Angeles Kings. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, he turned 28 years old without ever hitting 60 points in a season. He has just one 30-goal season that came four years ago. We hear his name and think he made more contributions to that team because we’ve been hearing about him for so long.
Toffoli is still a good player, but at 28 years old he is what he is. Maybe he could one day hit the 60-point plateau, but beyond that would be a little too ambitious to expect. That doesn’t mean he’s not worth pursuing this offseason, especially with such a weak class of right wings.
Toffoli would immediately slot behind Kyle Palmieri on the Devils. Unlike Dadonov, he might not be the best player to pair with Jack Hughes and might be better suited with Travis Zajac. Hughes needs a player who can consistently score, and moving Nikita Gusev to Hughes’ wing. Of course, if the team is spending money on a free agent they ideally want them in the top six, but keeping a really good top nine might be more important in today’s NHL.
Toffoli is definitely better than some of the options the Devils have right now. His value is in a weird place, and it’s hard to figure out what he’s going to make this offseason. The Devils have the money to spend, but shouldn’t break the bank on this player.
Corey Perry
Corey Perry is nowhere near the player he was in his prime, but with the Devils having so many young wingers on the roster it could be good to bring one of the bigger names in recent history. Perry was not very good with the Dallas Stars this season, putting up just 21 points in 57 games. Obviously, the Stars were hoping for more production after putting him on a good team. Now, his best moment in a Stars uniform is when he was forced to take a long walk of shame during the Winter Classic.
Perry is 35 years old, and it looks like his production fell off the map entirely. It all depends on what Perry is willing to take in the offseason. Is he willing to take a $1 million deal? Then, the Devils could put him on the fourth line and pair him with Michael McLeod or Nick Merkley to build them up on the ice.
He could eventually play himself up to the middle six, but we definitely shouldn’t expect that off the bat. Perry was bad for Dallas, and he really needs to show something during this return to play playoff format to keep his career going.
Perry is just an option to give a shot. He might even have to accept a PTO from a team. Either way, we think the Devils would be smart to give Perry that one last shot to make something of the end of his career.
Jesper Fast
Things really fall off from here, but Jesper Fast is an intriguing option at right wing. Devils fans know him well from his time on the New York Rangers. He was decent for the first few years with the team. However, his production always seems to be spotty at best. Fast was given a chance to play some of his time on the same line as Artemi Panarin, who only put up MVP-like numbers this season. Fast only has 29 points this season.
Fast plays based on his momentum. There are games where he will have a goal and two assists, but then he’ll go five games where he doesn’t show up at all. Fast is still just 28 years old, but we don’t expect him to do much more than he has so far. That’s what’s important here for the Devils as they get into the doldrums of free agency. These expectations need to be low, as the contracts must also be.
He could eat minutes, going for a career high this season of 16:36 per game. Fast can help his team in other ways besides scoring. He makes the smart play to keep the puck in the offensive zone. There’s no ego to Fast’s game, which is a positive.
Fast would be a disappointment if the Devils don’t get anyone else at the position, but at the right price it might be a nice little move. Obviously, a lot of people will just point to the Devils trying to take the extras from the Rangers, but Fast would absolutely play a role on this team moving forward.
Conor Sheary
This one is really interesting. Conor Sheary is currently playing on the top line for the Pittsburgh Penguins with Sidney Crosby. The Penguins have always put interesting players on that line because Crosby is so good he can elevate anyone. Why would the Penguins put their best wingers with their best center when that center can make lesser wingers great?
Anyway, Sheary had a really good start to his career with the Penguins, scoring 58 points in his first full season. He was traded in the 2018 offseason because the Penguins needed salary cap relief and felt like they couldn’t afford to keep Sheary. He went to the Buffalo Sabres and he just wasn’t very good there. The Penguins traded back for him this season near the NHL Trade Deadline, and he looked a lot better.
After taking a few games to get back into the groove of things, he was really good in March. He had four points in five games. Sheary was learning how to take advantage of the space Crosby gives a line. He was open a lot more. His linemates were open a lot more. Then, Crosby himself would get open despite the plan being completely about stopping him. So basically, one or two players would get lost in Crosby, and he would lose them making them useless. It’s great for the Pens.
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So, why should the Devils go after a player who only excelled with one of the best players on the planet? Again, expectations. If you bring in Sheary on a decent deal to play a middle-six role, then he can absolutely give the Devils a certain value on that contract. He proved he can finish with the right facilitator at center. Jack Hughes has already been a great facilitator who just needs a player who can be in the right place at the right time and make the right shot. Sheary can be that player.