5 Decisions Tom Fitzgerald Must Make After NHL Trade Deadline

Decision #1: Sign Jesper Bratt

Daily Faceoff kept putting out the rumor that Jesper Bratt was a name to watch today. It never made sense for the Devils to even fathom making a move like that. Who could even remotely give equal value for what Bratt is giving the team right now? Bratt has 60 points already this season. Nobody has had more than 50 points since Taylor Hall’s MVP season in 2017-18.

The Devils can’t just throw away these types of players. What would a team have to offer to get them Jesper Bratt? Unless it’s a young goalie who can fix this situation, trading him wasn’t going to ever be good for the future of the franchise. Bratt is going to be expensive, so maybe Fitzgerald was looking at his value because he is trying to find what other teams would value him at.

The Devils have limited cap space unlike most other years. They have a few contracts they’d rather not have, and while Subban’s $9 million comes off the books, it’s almost immediately replaced by Jack Hughes’ $8 million. The cap space explodes to $53 million in 2023-24, so this is a one-year issue even if the Devils pay Bratt a fortune.

We can’t see Bratt making more than Nico Hischier, who is making $7.25 million average annual value. Bratt is likely going to come in around $7 million, but how many years is Tom Fitzgerald willing to commit at a $7 million AAV? Will Fitzgerald try to minimize the risk for a player who has never played this well before, or will he commit the full eight years? That’s the real question.