5 Contracts New Jersey Devils Can Use In Jack Hughes Negotiations

Claude Giroux: 3 years, $3.75 million

This isn’t Claude Giroux’s current deal, but this is the deal Claude Giroux signed in 2011. The three-year deal was well below market value for a player who just put up 76 points in the regular season and 12 points in 11 playoff games, but this was a different point in the salary cap. The cap was sitting at $64.3 million that season. That was about 5.8% of the salary cap at the time.

That would equate to about $4.72 million now. That would be a very fine deal for all sides, but it would at least be a decent deal. The deal also has the same feature where the last year of the deal is much more expensive so the qualifying offer goes up. Although, instead of $10 million, this one was just $5 million, or $6.3 million prorated to this season. $6.3 million is an awesome qualifying offer for everyone involved.

Giroux was in a very similar position as the Devils expect Hughes to be right now. He was on a budding franchise that was looking to be contenders for years to come. They actually put together a really good team in 2011-12, the year after the contract. That is until they ran into the Devils.

Giroux eventually signed an eight-year deal worth north of $66 million. This is the kind of deal a player hopes to get when he signs a bridge deal. Very often, these bridge deals work out in spades for the team. For a player like Hughes, it could work out for both sides.