Braden Birch has a lot of important jobs, but one stands above the rest for the New Jersey Devils

The New Jersey Devils announced their first hire of the Sunny Mehta era. After letting Dan MacKinnon and Chuck Fletcher go, they needed to hire at least one new executive to act as assistant GM. Fletcher’s role was more of an advisor, so he doesn’t technically need to be replaced. However, MacKinnon had a big job with the organization, so that needed to be filled.

On Monday, the Devils announced that they are hiring Braden Birch, a former executive in the Florida Panthers organization. He was their Director of Salary Cap Management, which is something the Devils sorely need. Their salary cap is in hell, and even with the recent rise in cap space, this team has less than $12 million in space with Simon Nemec and Arseny Gristyuk still to sign. 

However, the salary cap will not be Birch’s most important job. No, it will be cleaning up the mess MacKinnon left behind. 

The Utica Comets missed the playoffs barely this past season, failing on the final day of the season when the Rochester Americans won on the final day of the season, pushing them one point ahead of the Devils’ AHL affiliate. 

This is the third season in a row the Comets missed the playoffs. Remember that magical start the Comets had where they won a ridiculous amount of games to kick off the season? That was five seasons ago, and they lost in the first round of the playoffs that season. 

Utica Comets get a new general manager

Since the Devils took over as affiliates, the Comets have never won a playoff series that wasn’t a preliminary round. They’ve missed the postseason more than they’ve made it. Worst of all, the players aren’t developing down there. We’ve seen many outright failures, like former first-round picks Alexander Holtz and Chase Stillman, but we’ve also seen some players who look worse in the minors than they do on the Devils, like Lenni Hameenaho and Seamus Casey.

The Comets have an uphill battle towards prosperity. They haven’t removed the interim tag from head coach Ryan Parent. He’s been under that tag for two seasons. There’s a decision there that appears to be falling onto the lap of Birch. 

They also need to seriously upgrade the roster, both for the Devils and for the health of the Comets. Their center depth is devastating. Matyas Melovsky is their most hopeful center prospect, and that’s a long shot. The Devils ignored the cneter position for years because of the presence of Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier. That was obviously a mistake. 

Birch comes in with a ton of work to do to get this Comets team in the right place. He is their general manager, so he should have a lot of ability to make it work. However, without real experience making those decisions, we’ll see how it all works out. 

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