New Jersey Devils: 3 Scenarios For Jesper Bratt Contract Negotiations

Grinding Towards Eight Years

There’s a chance that Bratt signs the maximum contract, but it will be for maximum money. Bratt is not going to sign the Jack Hughes contract. It will be close, but he’s not signing that contract specifically (eight years, $64 million). We assume the ask for an eight-year deal is around $9 million per season. Tom Fitzgerald is probably scoffing at that number. He probably wants it closer to $7 million. Bratt’s camp is scoffing at that number.

It will take days and weeks to get both sides to move an inch. There will be a million rumors. Elliotte Friedman will talk about it on 32 Thoughts. Dozens of Devils accounts will pretend to know something. In reality, Bratt’s camp and the Devils front office are probably inching towards something while both make progress with the swiftness of tectonic plates. However, nothing will come of it until the very last moments. That will likely come late in the game.

Last season, the Devils and Bratt agreed to push this negotiation one year by agreeing to a one-year deal before arbitration kicked in. Arbitration has been known to ruin relationships. It’s when a neutral arbitrator comes in and decides the contract for both sides. Once in arbitration, there is no “yes and no.” The decision is the decision.

An eight-year deal would come with everyone staring that in the face. Neither side wants to go to arbitration. If an eight-year deal is all that Fitzgerald wants to offer, then it will take a long time to get there. It will be painful, but in the end, it might be worth it. Bratt would be making closer to $8.5 million under these circumstances, but that could be a steal under a constantly rising salary cap.