The New Jersey Devils may be done adding via free agency for the offseason, but another NHL team might be eyeing one of these three former Devils to improve the squad.
On Friday, Matt Larkin of DailyFaceoff released his list of the top remaining NHL free agents, complete with his rankings of them prior to the start of free agency and where they fall now. Three former Devils find themselves sneaking in at the bottom of the group.
Leading the way is forward Nathan Bastian, 27, who just completed his fifth season with the Devils but will likely not be retained by New Jersey.
The 6-foot-4 Bastian slotted in 71st in Larkin's initial rankings and is now the 19th-best remaining player on the board.
Coming in just ahead of Bastian at 70th is former Devils defenseman Jon Merrill, who was one of three Minnesota Wild defensemen (Zach Bogosian, Brock Faber) to play 70 or more games last season. The 33-year-old will be looking for a new home this summer as the Wild, presumably, turn the keys over to rookie defenseman Zeev Buium next year.
The Devils could always use a veteran seventh defenseman on their roster, especially after the way things went last year, but it appears they're content rolling with Dennis Cholowski in that role for the time being.
Speaking of ex-Devils defensemen, grizzled vet Brendan Smith finds himself on Larkin's current board two spots below Bastian, despite being unranked initially. Smith, 36, spent the last season with the Dallas Stars after two years with the Devils, appearing in only 32 games under Pete DeBoer - his fewest in a season since 2012-13 (34 games).
The journeyman defenseman may not have much left to offer at this stage in his career, but the Devils know as well as any the kind of locker room presence he is and what his strengths and weaknesses are.
Like Merrill, Smith would be a decent bottom-of-the-roster option, and it's only been a year since he last played regularly in the NHL. Just keep him off a defense pairing with Luke Hughes.
All of these players should land league-minimum contracts or PTOs at some point in the near future, though the Devils should probably consider adding one of their former friends to the fold, even as nothing more than a training camp body.