What An Eight-Year Deal For Timo Meier Means For New Jersey Devils

The New Jersey Devils just inked winger Jesper Bratt for $63 million over eight years. The Devils already have Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier locked in long-term (with Hughes locked in for seven more years). John Marino, Dougie Hamilton, and Jonas Siegenthaler are locked in for between four and five more years. Once the Devils get Timo Meier to sign on the line, they’ll have a nice window to make playoff pushes with this core. There is currently $26.4 million dollars in cap space to use, according to Cap Friendly.

The cap space will decrease due to reinvestment into certain key guys, including Meier. Don’t be surprised if guys like Nathan Bastian and Timo Meier become a big physical threat in the regular season and add timely and clutch scoring. Having a player of Meier’s caliber for a full season makes the Devils a playoff contender. Fitzgerald and Co. traded away a first-round pick in this year’s NHL Draft to San Jose, along with prospects Nikita Okhotiuk, Shakir Mukhamadullin and Fabian Zetterlund to get Meier. On top of that, the Sharks will get a 2024 pick, as well. This is a big investment into the player, and hearing he wants to sign long term is huge.

Having Meier along with Bratt adds a very special dynamic in guys that can theoretically hit 30-40 goals every season. There will be a lot of line chemistry being pieced together by Lindy Ruff trying to get the most out of this young Devils team. Having veteran players that know what it takes to win on and off the ice playing with a younger core across the lineup helps this teamwork more as a collective.

Guys like Meier bring that will to win, and score, and bring a lot of attitude to the Devils lineup. Teams will have to take the Devils more seriously because of their makeup. It impacts everything for the Devils and their opponents. It potentially forces Fitzgerald to rethink playing other young gun players like Simon Nemec and Luke Hughes.

Those young defensemen will be RFAs eventually. However, these youngsters are gonna want to be part of winning in the regular season and going deep into the playoffs.

Meier’s contract will come at a hefty price long term, but it’s an investment that’ll be a win win for the organization and the player. It will be a few seasons with fewer high-profile players on the Devils roster that’ll need extensions. We expect the salary cap will go up, and those other cap hits will look a bit deflated. Eventually, with a good amount of cap space, the Devils can extend goalie Akira Schmid longer term, and re-evaluate Vitek Vanecek with Nico Daws, and Tyler Brennan in the AHL.