Assessing Every New Jersey Devils Free Agent Decision
Before we get started looking at the rest of the group, let’s wish Damon Severson well on his departure and good luck on his new team. The New Jersey Devils doing a sign and trade was surprising but getting a third-round pick for a guy who they were not going to sign was incredible. GM Tom Fitzgerald deserves a lot of credit. More than $6 million per season for a guy who was relegated to the third pairing would have been a bad play for the Devils.
This team has a lot of players to sign now that their window is finally opening to compete for the Stanley Cup. Let’s take a look at each free agent decision and how the Devils should act.
Nathan Bastian
Nathan Bastian put up decent numbers for only playing half the season and continued to be really solid in his depth role last season. It was a gift when the Seattle Kraken put him on waivers. He doesn’t need to play a ton at 5v5, but when he does, he brings energy every shift. If you can get a 25-30 point season out of a fourth liner, your team is showing great depth. On top of this, he was on the penalty kill while in the lineup. This was a big strength of this team this season.
Prediction: 2 years $1.2 million AAV
Jesper Boqvist
The up-and-down career of Jesper Boqvist finally got in a nearly full season in 2022-23. However, he still hasn’t carved out a definitive spot on the roster. He is clearly NHL ready and in the upcoming season, he should get a solidified spot on the fourth line next to Bastian and McLeod. He is a good skater and plays well enough to be a consistent member of this team.
Prediction:1 year $925k
Miles Wood
Miles Wood was once again the model for inconsistency. While he can be the fastest guy on the ice, can be the biggest hitter, and could be a 20-goal scorer, he almost looks like he lacks motivation sometimes. He has massive dry spells and doesn’t do anything else to help when he is off. Of course, we all know about the bad penalties. The guy has all the tools to be great, but his time has come to an end in Jersey.
Prediction: Let him walk
Michael McLeod
This season, Michael McLeod had a big point drought when Bastian went down but still managed some good fourth-line numbers, though it would have been nice to see a couple more goals. Outside this, he continued to be good on the penalty kill and showed that he is a beast specialist as the faceoff guy for the team. This in itself for a fourth-line guy is huge. Winning key faceoffs late in the game is massive.