The New Jersey Devils announced on Thursdays that Jesper Bratt is signed for eight years for a total of $63 million. Tom Fitzgerald was able to sign Bratt for less than $8 million a year, and now he’s dealing with the Timo Meier contract negotiation. Reports say he decided to go to arbitration with Meier, which could bring his contract down to $8.5 million.
Let’s say those are the deals for Bratt and Meier. That would leave the Devils with just under $18 million. The Devils have to fill nine roster spots with that $18 million. That’s pretty simple math. They have around $2 million per player to spend. They do have some low-money free agents they could re-sign (Yegor Sharangovich, Kevin Bahl, Nathan Bastian), but there is money to spend on one medium-sized free agent.
Should the Devils just automatically spend to the cap? If they do, they can sign one good free agent, likely at the forward position. However, one bad signing could really hurt their chance at producing a long-term winner. So, with that said, here are some free agents they need to avoid at all costs.
Frederik Andersen
On Thursday morning, we released our choices for the free-agent goalies to target. Obviously, Frederik Andersen was not on the list. If he was, nobody would see him here. Andersen is the man responsible for ending the Devils’ season. The Carolina Hurricanes ended this magical Devils run, and Andersen was in net.
Andersen is looking to get one more payday. Great. We’re happy for him. Do not let it be the Devils who gives it to him. He will turn 34 years old before the start of next season. He probably wants at least a three-year deal. Obviously, he will advocate for staying in Carolina, but Andersen will likely go to the highest bidder. It cannot be the Devils. He’s already shown signs of injury, which will only worsen with age.