3. Erik Haula
Erik Haula’s tenure with the Devils is going to be remembered in every way.
The New Jersey Devils felt that they needed to move on from Pavel Zacha over the last summer. They traded him to the Boston Bruins in exchange for Erik Haula. For how much of a bust Zacha was for the Devils, he was that good for the Bruins this year.
He finally had his breakout season in terms of his offensive numbers. He even scored the two Bruins goals in their most recent 2-1 win over the Devils. It has been maddening to watch every part of the Zacha saga for the last handful of years.
Erik Haula has been decent for the Devils in 2022-23, but the Bruins got the best version of Zacha and then locked him up long-term. Now, Haula very well could leave the Devils following the season. As mentioned before with Tatar, it feels more likely that they bring in younger players.
They could very well decide to bring him back but he is an unrestricted free agent following the season, so there is a very good chance that this is it.
Miles Wood, Ryan Graves, and Jonathan Bernier are the other UFAs on the roster right now. Bernier is gone, as he has barely played with the team at all. Graves and Wood feel, although anything is possible, they are more likely to re-sign than anyone else on the list. We’ll see how it goes.