New Jersey Devils: 3 Restricted Free Agents Worth The Price
By Nick Villano
The Carolina Hurricanes shocked the NHL landscape on Saturday when they announced an offer sheet for Montreal Canadiens center Jesperi Kotkaniemi. They are giving him a one-year deal worth $6.1 million. The troll jobs that the Hurricanes sent after the offer sheet are great. There were multiple tweets referencing the offer sheet the Canadiens sent to Sebastian Aho back in 2019. The Hurricanes and Canadiens have had a pseudo rivalry ever since even though they’ve barely played each other.
While this gave the hockey world something to talk about on Saturday night after a few weeks with no news, it got us thinking about the New Jersey Devils. They are making huge moves this offseason in an effort to put themselves into playoff contention. They are far from a guarantee to make the postseason next season, so more moves might be necessary.
Offer sheets usually don’t happen because of the compensation involved (and the pettiness that will come after them, apparently). Anything over $4.1 million involves a team’s 2021 1st-round pick. And restricted free agent deals usually can only go to five years since anything over that makes the compensation go up dramatically.
The Devils have all of their draft picks outside of the 5th-round choice in 2022. None of the compensation packages involved a 5th-round pick, so the Devils could make an offer to anyone. Obviously, the Devils don’t necessarily want to lose a 2022 1st-round pick, but with a deep prospect pool that seems to be working out better than we could have hoped. When people are doubting Alexander Holtz because of how well Dawson Mercer played, it’s a good thing. Years of being bad and selling at the trade deadline now put the Devils in a really good position.
Some actually don’t think Kotkaniemi is worth the contract he was given along with the picks it will take to acquire him. Giving him $6.1 million this year on top of a $6.1 million qualifying offer he’ll be eligible for next season is a very risky contract. On top of that, the Hurricanes have to give the Canadiens a 1st-round and 3rd-round pick. Who would the Devils actually want to put all this effort into? There are some interesting options.