As the New Jersey Devils have productively progressed forward in their offseason, moving Damon Severson off the books for a 3rd round pick, and getting Jesper Bratt locked in for eight years. The next agenda item is the contract extension for Timo Meier. All the talk and speculation of Meier’s attempt to get an eight-year deal somewhere between 8.5-10M per will be worth every penny.
Over one NHL Draft ago, Devils fans wanted Fitzgerald for Kevin Fiala, and he signed for similar money to what Jesper Bratt is making now. Alex DeBrincat was moved to Ottawa and looking for a big payday. However, with Timo Meier being moved for a good chunk of Devils assets prior to the NHL trade deadline, Fitzgerald knew what he was doing going after a prime-time RFA.
The New Jersey Devils after a scrappy win versus the Calgary Flames that was a slight kink in their win streak was that the New Jersey Devils needed a physical, burly, intimidating, goal-scoring, dirty area sasquatch of a forward in their lineup besides Nathan Bastian. Tom Fitzgerald acquiring Timo Meier for players not named Simon Nemec, Alex Holtz, Kevin Bahl, etc. was a major win for this organization.
Full trade now official. #NJDevils receive:
— James Nichols (@JamesNicholsNHL) February 27, 2023
Timo Meier (50% retained salary)
Scott Harrington#SJSharks receive:
Fabian Zetterlund
Andreas Johnsson
Nikita Ohotiuk
Shakir Mukhamadullin
2023 1st rounder
Conditional 2024 1st
New Jersey had plenty of offense and some really good defense, but they needed that difference maker. Timo made his presence felt the moment he put on the Devils uniform in Arizona, and scoring was too good to be true like a Disney movie. Meier scoring against the Rangers on a power play at the Prudential Center displayed how much fans and Devils management wanted the Swiss winger here.
Timo Meier scores his first goal as a @NJDevils against goaltender Connor Ingram @ArizonaCoyotes 3/6/23 @MullettArena. 👹🇨🇭🏒🥅 #NewJersey #njd #devilshockey #TimoMeier #unclepuckershow #unpuckers #njdevils pic.twitter.com/Z9RDB8efY4
— The Uncle Puckers NJ Devils Podcast (@uncle_puckers) June 17, 2023
His presence was physically occurring against the New York Rangers in the first round, and he was robbed too many times but was a major pest in Shesterkin’s side. He played another dimension in keeping the Rangers’ defense a bit off their game in the series and helped weaken them to increase the Devils’ offense’s chance for striking.
As Timo progressed in the 2nd round versus Carolina, he highlighted why going forward. He’s going to make this core in New Jersey far more difficult to play against. With the outdoor game versus the Flyers, Timo Meier will be one of many key players besides Luke and Jack Hughes on full display on live TV being marketed on one of the year’s biggest games.
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The Devils are piecing together not just a very strong regular season team, but a team that will be systematically structured to play a trifecta of physical offense, physical defense, and clutch offense around their reliable young goaltenders.