7 Free Agents New Jersey Devils Should Watch In Stanley Cup Playoffs
The New Jersey Devils are out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs again. It’s been a decade of dread. Every year, the Devils are on the outside looking in, so they might as well look at some of the players that could be future Devils.
The first round is the best time to really take in the best of the best in the NHL. We get to see the type of players who are making a special impact for their team. Playoff hockey brings out the best in some players and the worst in others. The pressure hits different, and it can be a great place to evaluate future stars.
It can also be a spot where we overreact. We can count so many times when a deep run turns into a bad contract. A lot of the time, it doesn’t happen with unrestricted free agents. Often times it happens with restricted free agents the team is keen on keeping long term. However, the Devils should still be careful.
Upcoming free agents the New Jersey Devils should focus on in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
That is especially true for the goalie. There are six starting goalies in the playoffs who are set to be unrestricted free agents (if you count Casey DeSmith and David Rittich). Think about what all six of these players can do. Even DeSmith and Rittich can make themselves a lot of money if they go on a miracle run. Should the Devils be the team that pays them?
Probably not, but there is one goalie who most Devils fans are going to give special attention to this postseason. He’s someone whose name has come up a lot because of his age and free agent status.
Ville Husso – St. Louis Blues
This is some Devils fans’ and analysts’ number one free agent target. Ville Husso was phenomenal in Game 1 against the Minnesota Wild, shutting them out. The Blues chose to start Husso over Jordan Binnington, their goalie who took them to the Stanley Cup Final and won back in 2019. Since then, he’s struggled to be the true number one he looked like that season. Now, Husso took some time to get up to speed, but now he looks great.
Husso is becoming a free agent after a very strange career. He’s 27 years old and just enjoyed his first actual season in the NHL. He played 40 games, which is much more than the 17 he played in the pandemic-shortened 2021 season. He was also ridiculously better. He had a .919 save percentage this season after an .893 save percentage last season.
So, what happened? He tells The Athletic that it took him a while to get comfortable last season because it had been a year since he was really on the ice. He changed the way he practiced, and that turned into big moments in games this season.
However, it has to be scary to give the money it will take to get Husso away from St. Louis and put all the Devils chips in Husso’s basket. He only has one good year in the NHL. He has four very inconsistent years in the AHL before it. It took Husso a long time to get to the NHL, but he’s hitting his stride at the perfect time, just in time to get to unrestricted free agency.
The Devils need to see what he does in the playoffs for the signing to make sense. He needs to prove his season isn’t a fluke. It will be hard to do that in one postseason run, but it would sure help.
Johnny Gaudreau – Calgary Flames
Johnny Gaudreau is the best free agent on the market this season, and every team is going to be watching what he does in the playoffs. Some might want to be convinced to spend big money on him. If the Devils want to be in the Johnny Gaudreau sweepstakes, they need to be willing to shell out a deal similar to what they spent on Dougie Hamilton, if not more.
One of the reasons Devils fans have always looked at Gaudreau is he’s from New Jersey. He was born in Salem, New Jersey, and he played high school hockey in Gloucester City. Obviously, this isn’t exactly Devils country. That is where you find one too many Philadelphia Flyers fans.
It’s not going to be a “dream come true” for Gaudreau to come play for the Devils as some might hope, but he might be looking at coming closer to home. The Flyers are no doubt going to be huge players for Gaudreau if the Flames don’t just take the plunge and hand him a blank check. It would be hard to let Gaudreau go, but the Flames might not have a choice with a $9 million qualifying offer coming for Matthew Tkachuk.
There’s not much the Devils can learn about Gaudreau they don’t already know, but it would be nice to get some confirmation on the process if the Devils are even considering the price it would take to get Johnny Hockey. He has a total of 30 playoff games under his belt coming into this postseason. If things go right, he can come close to doubling that. A big postseason run could get the Devils to think he is the final forward piece for this team.
Bryan Rust – Pittsburgh Penguins
Not all of the players the Devils will target are going to be superstars, but Bryan Rust is a really interesting player to target. He currently plays on the first line with Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel, one of the best pairs in the National Hockey League. That’s helped him put up 58 points in 60 games this season.
Rust proved he can keep up with a top-line on a top team, but he can make a name for himself in the playoffs this season. Rust is the type of player that can play the hero in the postseason, and then turn that into a big contract with a new team. Most teams understand it helps to play with Crosby and Guentzel, but it would also help to play with Jack Hughes or Jesper Bratt.
Rust might be the right player to add to the top six for the Devils. Most fans want someone like Gaudreau or a trade for Vladimir Tarasenko, but Rust might be the right move for the price.
Rust won’t come cheap, but he could still be the right move at the right time. He’s someone who has proven he can play on a top line, the Devils have similar players to Crosby and Guentzel on their top line, just much younger and without the pedigree, experience, and championships. If Rust can continue to contribute like he did when he was healthy this season, then it could be something the Devils really consider.
Jack Campbell – Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs looked phenomenal in their first playoff game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. They destroyed the defending champs to the tune of 5-0 in the home opener. Toronto is flying high, and they are hoping the demons of the first round have finally subsided. However, it is just the first game, but what a first game by Jack Campbell.
The Maple Leafs had major issues in net at times this year, but it seems like Campbell has figured it out. He returned from injury in April and put up a .915 save percentage. In October and November, Campbell was one of the best goalies in the NHL. Then, he fell off a cliff. Seeing him find his form again at the end of the season is incredibly important for him as the Leafs finally look to have a postseason run with this core now in their primes.
If Campbell actually makes the run, it’s hard to think the Leafs let him go, but we’ve come all this way and he doesn’t have a contract yet. The Leafs paid Petr Mrazek $11.4 million over three years, and he’s in the first year of that deal. The buyout is actually a really good option for the Leafs, saving them $2.76 million next season and $2.9 million in the year after. That seems like a likely option as the Leafs look to bring back Campbell.
However, if Campbell does go on a run, it could motivate the Devils to give him an offer he can’t refuse. If the Devils think he’s the answer, and all he costs is cap hit and money, then the Devils might be willing to break the bank after a big run.
Andre Burakovsky – Colorado Avalanche
The New Jersey Devils are still looking for the right middle-six forward. One player on the incredibly good Colorado Avalanche that gets basically no publicity for how he plays is Andre Burakovsky. That’s surprising since he had 60 points this season and 44 points in 53 games last year.
Burakovsky has been a very consistent player his entire career. He is a certified second-line winger, something the Devils could sorely use for Nico Hischier. Jack Hughes has mostly been able to make things work with whoever the Devils put next to him and Yegor Sharangovich, but Hischier has been great with Jesper Bratt and bad with most others. Sometimes Tomas Tatar works, but he would do better on a third line with fewer expectations.
Burakovsky was a player the Devils could have targeted when he became available in 2019. We wrote about it then, and we even suggested it could happen in the offseason last year. Burakovsky would be a great addition for the Devils now. He is only 27 years old. He is hitting his prime now, and he could be a 60-point player for the next five years.
This should be high on the Devils’ list of free agents to target, but during the playoffs, the Devils likely want to see him make a few smart plays that help the team in ways that don’t end up on a scoresheet. He brings a pedigree of winning, and he plays for the favorite to win the Stanley Cup this season. If he can win, it’s going to lead to a big payday, and the Devils might be first in line with the check.
Mason Marchment – Florida Panthers
Mason Marchment is such a strange player to evaluate, which is why the Devils will need the postseason to get acclimated to his style of play. Marchment could end up being a massive overpay in the offseason for one team, or he could go for a massive steal. There’s no telling how teams are going to evaluate him from now on.
Marchment had 47 points in 59 games this season. He never had more than 10 prior to this one. He’s 26 years old, and one might consider him an incredibly late bloomer. He didn’t play major junior hockey in Canada until he was 19 years old. He was given a shot with the Toronto Marlies, the Maple Leafs AHL affiliate. He eventually earned himself an NHL contract.
His journey eventually led to the Florida Panthers, when he was traded for Denis Malgin. He grew with the Panthers, and now he’s a big part of the team’s secondary scoring. The Panthers score at will, so it’s hard to tell if he’s someone who is scoring because of the team he’s on or because he’s grown as a player, but the playoffs will be a good chance to see how that works out.
This could be a steal if the Devils get in on a player who is on the cusp of hitting his stride. A lot of teams might be out on Marchment because of his lack of history, but the Devils should be in the market for taking chances at forward. Especially if they are able to trade one of Pavel Zacha, Tomas Tatar, or Andreas Johnsson, they could really afford to take a chance on Mason Marchment.
Nino Niederreiter – Carolina Hurricanes
Nino Niederreiter has seemed like a player the Devils would love for a long time. He is responsible in all zones, he provides the sneaky kind of offense the Devils desperately need, and he seems like the ultimate team player. Niederreiter is going to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the postseason, but the Carolina Hurricanes hope it can be a long run before it’s all over.
Niederreiter had 44 points in 75 games this season. His role isn’t exactly scoring points, but he does so much more than helps a team win. Those skills get exemplified in the playoffs, so this should be Niederreiter’s time to shine.
He needs to stand out in the Carolina Hurricanes lineup. He’s on a third line with Jordan Staal and Jesper Fast. He’s somehow only 29 years old despite playing 11 seasons in the NHL. Niederreiter feels like he’s been around forever. That experience will really help on a third line for the Devils that will need constant motivation.
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He’s one the Devils need to pay close attention to this offseason. If he’s able to push the Hurricanes to wins in the first few rounds, it shows he might be the right player to transition the Devils out of this rebuild and get ready for competitive hockey. If he can do that while still scoring 20 goals per season, then he might be the perfect forward addition to the Devils. He shouldn’t cost that much to bring in, either.