Major Checklist For New Jersey Devils Offseason
It’s that time of year again. The New Jersey Devils and the rest of the NHL have officially entered the offseason. While it is a bitter end to a tumultuous season in the Garden State, there is a lot of hope and potential with this team. However, none of that potential will be realized if management squanders this offseason.
Being the offseason kings is nothing new to the Devils. In 2019, they made a huge splash by taking franchise center Jack Hughes. Coupled with the trades for Nikita Gusev and more importantly P.K. Subban, the Devils were primed for a productive year. Sadly, the following season showed us no improvement, with the majority of the star players out with injury. On top of that, we saw disappointing seasons from Hughes, Gusev, and a laundry list of others.
Last season was in a similar vein, bringing in Dougie Hamilton, Tomas Tatar, and Jonathan Bernier. Just like in 2019-20, the 2021-2022 campaign also proved to be a disappointment. Unlike the 2020 season, last year showed real improvement in the 5v5 offense, a welcome sight to most fans. With that in mind, Tom Fitzgerald should go into these next couple of months with an improvement mindset, especially went it comes to goaltending, the power play, and wing depth.
Re-signing Bratt
There are some very important resigning the Devils need to make if they want to be competitive in the future.
The biggest and the most obvious one is Swedish winger Jesper Bratt. Bratt has always been a player that Devils fans loved, but did not have the production to garner attention from the rest of the league and national media. Last season, he changed all the narratives about him, scoring 73 points in 72 games while leading the Devils in points. While production in a contract year is always scary, it seems like this is the natural step in development for Bratt. New Jersey needs to retain him at all costs.
A contract of $6.85 mill AAV over 7 years seems like a decent compromise for both parties. While Fiala’s new deal of $7.875 mill AAV over 7 years may throw a wrench into the negotiations, Bratt’s desire to stay in Jersey may help out. Either way, this is a priority for the Devils.
Free Agent Signings
Even with Bratt signed, there are plenty of other needs for the Devils.
One obvious need is goaltending. Unlike free agencies of the past, there seem to be some viable goaltending options. One of the more popular ones, and a personal favorite, is St. Louis netminder Ville Husso. While Husso only has 57 games in the NHL, he had a .919 SV% during the regular season and had one of the best High Danger SV% in the league as well. When compared to other options like Jack Campbell and Marc-Andre Fleury, Husso seems to have the highest upside with carrying the most risk. It could be a very smart move for the Devils.
Another need for the Devils is size. Forward size is a clear issue and impacts the 5v5 offense as well as the power play. A guy like Mason Marchment or Ilya Mikheyev could add some valuable skill and size to the middle six. While both of these players are riding off of outlier production years, the risk-to-reward ratio should not be detrimental enough for the Devils to back out of interest.
The final core need is a depth, right-handed defenseman to replace P.K Subban. While this need could be taken care of in-house, the Devils should not bank on Reilly Walsh to be their guy. They need some security in their bottom pairing, much like Ben Lovejoy did in the past. One main target could be a fellow teammate and countryman Ilya Lyubushkin. While Lyubushkin may not provide much offense, he is a stout defender who has good skating ability. He could be the perfect defenseman to help Ty Smith with his game.
A change behind the Bench
The final main change comes on the bench. While Lindy Ruff looks set to return as Head Coach for the 2022-23 season, his assistants will be different from the previous year. Alain Nasserdine and Mark Recchi were both let go at the beginning of the offseason. While Recchi was justifiably fired after a poor coaching display on the power play, Nasreddine had a very serviceable if not very good PK.
To replace Recchi, the Devils have been linked with former Florida Panthers interim head coach Andrew Brunette, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. This could be an extremely smart move from Tom Fitzgerald, as he could fix some of the power play issues while having a head coach ready in waiting. Flordia had one of the league-best power plays, coming in at a 24.4% success rate. Florida also had one of the best offenses in the league. These two facts, coupled with Brunette’s nomination for the Jack Adams Award, could make the move a slam dunk.
Next. Shane Wright Looks More Realistic Every Day. dark
As for the PK assistant, there has not been much noise. One name that could make sense is former San Jose Sharks Assitant John Madden. Madden, of course, is a very familiar name to Devils fans, playing for the team from 1999-2009. He ran an extremely effective Penalty Kill in San Jose, and his links to the area could make him a natural fit in New Jersey. Outside of Madden, there are not too many options. Perhaps the Devils will make a hire from Utica, or another AHL team.