5 Jesper Bratt Contract Comparisons New Jersey Devils Should Use
The New Jersey Devils number one priority on their offseason checklist is to get Jesper Bratt signed to a contract extension. Who might be a good comp to use in negotiations?
Jesper Bratt’s last contract negotiation didn’t go well. Bratt was looking for a new deal from the New Jersey Devils, and he was willing to wait in Sweden until he got it. There was one major issue with that. We were in the middle of a pandemic, and Bratt likely didn’t realize just how long it would take him to come back to the United States once he came to an agreement.
Bratt signed his two-year, $5.5 million contract on January 10th. He wasn’t able to get into a game until January 28th, almost three weeks later. The pandemic made things complicated for the visa issues, something that also impacted Sami Vatanen’s availability. This season, it won’t get that far.
Bratt is arbitration-eligible, so the Devils and Bratt will go to a neutral party if they are unable to come to a deal themselves. There are a lot of issues the Devils and Bratt need to deal with this offseason. For one, the Devils don’t have a ton of cap space. They have plenty of cap space, don’t get us wrong, but their $23 million in space will fall once they sign everyone they need to. They have to fit Bratt, Miles Wood, Pavel Zacha, a replacement for P.K. Subban and Jimmy Vesey, and a hopeful upgrade in net with that $23 million. That quickly makes that money go much shorter than it looks on paper.
What could Jesper Bratt’s contract look like with the New Jersey Devils this offseason?
There have been plenty of contract negotiations that look similar to what Bratt’s will look like this season. We take the factors at hand (restricted free agent, around 22-24 years old, been in the NHL multiple years) to find a comparison for what Bratt could be looking to make this season.
Pavel Buchnevich – 4 years, $23.2 million
Our first example here is one that represents a short-term deal. We don’t see the Devils accepting anything less than a four-year deal for Bratt. He will want to do something like two years again, but the Devils aren’t going to give him unrestricted free agent years for free. So, this is the deal the St. Louis Blues gave to Pavel Buchnevich right after he was traded from the New York Rangers.
There are a few obvious differences here. For one, Buchnevich was with a brand new team who proved how much they wanted him. The New York Rangers refused to pay him what he’s worth with so many other contracts on the horizon and Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin on the books for significant prices.
Buchnevich is making an average of $5.8 million for the three seasons after this one. He has a limited no-move clause that kicks in after the first season. This gives him some control of where he goes next if the Blues decide it’s time to move him. This seems like something the Devils would be willing to give Bratt. They won’t want a full no-move clause if the contract isn’t working out, but they will give him some control of his next move.
This seems unlikely since both sides seem to want a long-term deal. That’s at least what it looks like publically. However, if Bratt does refuse to go long-term, then this is what he’s looking for in a deal. Buchnevich was coming off his best season with the Rangers, but he is a little bit older than Bratt. He’s now 26 years old while Bratt is 23. It still feels like the right contract if the Devils and Bratt can’t come to a more lucrative deal.
Kyle Connor – 7 years, $50 million
This one feels a little different as well, but it’s in the right ballpark. Kyle Connor is more of a heart-and-soul type player for the Winnipeg Jets while also contributing points on a nightly basis. Connor also signed this deal before the pandemic, coming to a deal that pays him just over $7.1 million per season. This was a time when teams thought the salary cap would constantly go up. Then, the revenue came to a halt and players are making up the difference now.
Luckily, it looks like salaries are going to go back to normal soon. The NHL says their cap could go up $1 million this offseason. This could get teams to negotiate like they did pre-pandemic. So, this deal is realistic.
The Jets signed Connor when he was 22 years old right after scoring 66 points in 82 games. This came right after his third season. Bratt is slightly older and has one more season than Connor. The difference between the two is that Bratt was a sixth-round pick in the NHL Draft, while Connor was a first-round pick who was always supposed to work out. That doesn’t really matter in this negotiation for the Devils, but it likely meant something for the Jets in their negotiation.
This would be a pricey deal for the Devils, as this is right around what Nico Hischier is going to make for the next few seasons. Although, we don’t think anyone would have a huge issue with the deal as long as Bratt continues to score close to a point-per-game pace. Even if he never actually hits that number again, getting at least a 70-point pace every year is more than worth the price of admission.
Andrei Svechnikov – 8 years, $62 million
This is the very peak of a possible deal for Jesper Bratt. Andrei Svechnikov was a superstar from the moment he hit the ice, and he deserves every penny of this deal. He’s one of the best young assets in the league, and it’s him versus Jack Hughes for the best player under the age of 22. In the entire league!
Svechnikov is better than Bratt. Let’s get that out of the way right now. No matter the underlying numbers, Svechnikov is a better bet over the next eight seasons than Bratt. He’s a guarantee to hit 65 points per season, and he will likely hit 75-80 for most of his career. Could Bratt do that? Yes, he can. Will he? He has to prove it beyond this season.
However, if Bratt’s agent is any good, he will come to the Devils with this deal and show the difference in their points, and he will ask for this price point. It comes out to $7.75 per season. That’s more than Hischier and just under Hughes as the top forward in terms of price point. Bratt has been just as good as Hischier this season, so it makes sense that he gets the next big deal.
It seems a little off for the Devils to sign this deal, but it’s possible if they are dead set on signing Bratt for the full eight years. The Devils want Bratt for as long as possible, and even if he signs this deal he will only be 31 years old when it ends.
Chris Kreider – 7 years, $45.5 million
There are obviously some incredible differences between this contract and the other contracts on the list. We even broke some rules to add this contract. The Rangers signed Kreider before he was set to become an unrestricted free agent. The Rangers signed him right before the NHL Trade Deadline when Kreider was one of the most popular names on the dirt sheets. Kreider could have gotten this deal anywhere, but he signed it with the Rangers to stay on Broadway.
Bratt has a lot less power in his situation. He can’t wait it out to see what his value really is. He has to sign with the Devils or sign an offer sheet which will cost his new team at least a first-round pick.
The similarities between the two deals are the Devils and Rangers were in similar positions. The Devils believe they are close to being a playoff contender. The Rangers felt like they were in need of a rebuild, but they never wanted it to last that long. This deal will pay Kreider much further into his older years than anything Bratt could sign would.
However, this is the exact deal that would likely make everyone happy. Bratt doesn’t sign for the maximum possible years, and he becomes an unrestricted free agent right when he turns 30. If he’s a superstar player at that point, he will sign another massive deal. The Devils don’t break the banks and they keep another contract below the highest possible value. Hischier, Hughes, and Bratt signed to deals for around $22 million over at least six years is ideal. This is the deal the Devils should push for.
Alex DeBrincat – 3 years, $19.2 million
Okay, we said the Devils won’t accept anything below four years, but anything is possible we suppose, so here’s the Alex DeBrincat deal. The Chicago Blackhawks signed DeBrincat when he was just 21 years old. He followed up a 28-goal rookie season with 41 in his second year. He was someone the Blackhawks took with their second-round pick, so he wasn’t supposed to be a superstar in their eyes. He build his legacy into that, and they made him prove himself with a new deal. This is going to really cost the Blackhawks in the long run.
The Devils and fans probably want to avoid this deal, but if the Devils aren’t willing to open their wallets, then Bratt might not give them another choice. This would be better than the one-year deal that would come from arbitration. The Devils want at least some length on the deal.
DeBrincat settled for $6.4 million because he is able to become a free agent again after next season. The Devils don’t want to deal with this again anytime soon, especially since this would be around the time they would have to pay Alexander Holtz, but it may be inevitable.
Next. 5 Prospects Who Fell Below Expectations For Devils. dark
All these deals seem to be around the same place in terms of the dollar amount. The Devils are going to pay Bratt somewhere between $5.8 and $7.75 million depending on the length of the deal. The longer the deal, the higher the AAV. Which deal would make you the happiest?