1.) Nico Sturm, San Jose Sharks
Of every other center on this list, Sharks center Nico Sturm fits what the Devils need to a tee. He's big, he's physical, he's excellent at faceoffs, he can score a little bit, and he's elite defensively. If the Devils are to add a bottom-six forward of any kind, Sturm must be the No. 1 priority.
Sturm, briefly a teammate of star Devils winger Timo Meier, has won no fewer than 55% of his faceoffs since joining the Sharks in 2022. The 29-year-old scored a career-high 14 goals, 12 assists, and 26 points with the Sharks in the 2022-23 season, but as the team has gotten worse, so has Sturm's offensive output. He won't have that problem in New Jersey.
Sturm currently has two goals, two assists, and four points in 13 games with San Jose, but he's averaging a career-low 10:11 of ice time on a Sharks team prioritizing its young players. Once a Stanley Cup champion with Colorado in 2022, Sturm knows what it takes to win a championship. It was Sturm's Avalanche that defeated Devils forward Ondrej Palat in the Final that year, though Palat has a few Cups of his own.
It would be hard to find a better, more underappreciated bottom-six center than the undrafted Sturm. At 6-foot-3, he has the requisite size needed to bolster an average New Jersey Devils bottom-six that just lost the 6-foot-4 Bastian. The Devils can work out who moves to left wing and whatnot later, as Sturm should clearly be at the top of their wish list.