5 Free Agents New Jersey Devils Should Still Consider
By Nick Villano
The New Jersey Devils have been pretty quiet since free agency started. They traded for Colin Miller to fill their open right defenseman slot left by Damon Severson. Luke Hughes takes the spot opened up after Ryan Graves left for Pittsburgh. Tyler Toffoli is the Devils big outside move of the offseason, adding the scoring winger for Yegor Sharangovich and a third-round pick.
The Devils don’t have a ton of openings in the lineup. After the Devils sign Kevin Bahl, they will have three open spots on the roster. Theoretically, the Devils could fill those spots with Simon Nemec, Alex Holtz, and Nolan Foote. However, the Devils are a team hoping to push for a championship. They may want another veteran to fill out the roster.
The Devils avoided the first two days of free agency completely. All they did was sign some AHL players. The market was interesting. Some might say the Devils avoided some bad deals, but they also missed out on some interesting ones. They can make moves as the deals progress, finding some deals now that the big money and big years have been given out.
Jonathan Toews
This would be a fun signing if it’s possible. Jonathan Toews was dealing with a lot this season, but he made it back to play his final games with the Chicago Blackhawks. He had 31 points in 53 games, which was much better than he did the previous season. Toews is no longer a star, but he could do well on this Devils team. He still has enough skill to keep up with a great set of wingers.
The Devils have four centers on paper in Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Erik Haula, and Michael McLeod. However, they might want to deploy Hughes with Haula like they did last season. Or, they could try that same strategy with Toews and Hughes. Imagine a line of Hughes-Toews-Timo Meier? Toews needs to show he can keep up, but if he could, it would work well.
Toews won 63 percent of his faceoffs last season. No matter what fell off in terms of offense, his faceoff skill is getting better every year. The Devils prioritize that, and Toews would be a really good complimentary piece on any line.