New Jersey Devils: 5 Players Where Anything Could Happen

The New Jersey Devils have a lot of negotiations that can go one of two ways. Miles Wood will either get a contract offer or go away in free agency. The Devils will either find the money for Ryan Graves, or someone could sign him to a big deal. Jesper Bratt is either going to sign long term, or the Devils are going to force him to face arbitration.

However, there are quite a few negotiations that could go in a number of different directions. Some are prospects who might not have a bonafide spot on the NHL roster. Others are NHL players who could go in multiple different routes with their negotiations. Let’s start with one that is going to be a grind.

Michael McLeod

Did you expect to see Timo Meier? His negotiation is a little more straight forward. However, we have no idea what is going to happen with the Michael McLeod negotiations. For a large portion of the season, it seemed like there was a real chance that McLeod wouldn’t even be qualified. The Hockey Canada investigation aside (which, obviously, would make things very simple), what the Devils expect to do with a 26-point center is beyond us.

Then, McLeod was a beast in the playoffs. He had two goals and six points in 12 games. Lindy Ruff trusted him in big moments, and he was a catalyst in solidifying the penalty kill after a horrid start. He even scored two shorthanded goals.

McLeod was a momentum machine in the playoffs, and that is important moving forward. So, what happens now? McLeod was a league-minimum player in the regular season. Could he push himself to a $2 million or even $3 million contract? It would floor us, but it could definitely happen. Teams often overreact to playoff performances.