Right now, the New Jersey Devils are entrenched in contract negotiations with the future of their blue line, Luke Hughes. Of course, that is going to be top of mind of the Devils right now, but we can’t help but think they’ll also be paying attention to two other contract negotiations happening in the NHL.
Every NHL team is paying attention to the Connor McDavid negotiations. He’s going to surpass his teammate, Leon Draisaitl. The German superstar has a cap hit of $14 million per season, and he’s making $16.5 million in actual cash. McDavid is going to fly past those numbers (in some seasons on the cash front). McDavid’s negotiation isn’t as important to the Devils because nobody on their team is able to ask for a maximum contract now or even in the next few years. Maybe Quinn Hughes asks for something nutty, but even he won’t come close to McDavid.
The negotiation that is of true interest to the Devils is Kirill Kaprizov.
The rumors surrounding Kaprizov is that he wants his own insane contract. It sounds like Minnesota is going to pay him around $15 million per season. Many are very surprised at this.
Kaprizov is never considered the best player in the league. He’s not in the conversations with McDavid, Draisaitl, Auston Matthews, Matthew Tkachuk, or Nathan MacKinnon. He’s on that next tier down. We see guys like Jack Hughes, Brayden Point, and Mitch Marner. Marner just signed a contract with the Vegas Golden Knights that pays him $12 million per season over the full eight-year term.
Now, Kaprizov is looking for $3 million more than Marner. That might seem excessive, which is why the Devils are paying attention to this.
See, the Devils have a negotiation coming up that’s just as important as the Luke Hughes negotiation. Nico Hischier’s seven-year extension, which he signed back when Ray Shero was GM ends in two seasons. On July 1st, he’s eligible to sign another big contract. His last deal paid him $7.25 million per season on average.
He’s going to get a significant raise on his next contract. Not only has Hischier largely outplayed his contract, especially over the past three seasons, but the salary cap has gone up more than anyone has anticipated when Hischier signed the deal.
However, do we really think Hischier is going to push for a deal worth $15 million? This would make life really hard for Tom Fitzgerald, who is also trying to make the money work for Quinn Hughes in that same offseason.
What contract will Nico Hischier ask for next season?
Right now, nobody is putting Kaprizov and Hischier in the same tier, but they aren’t as far off as many think. Kaprizov is better offensively, scoring at a 100+ point pace every season.
The Athletic did a tier list prior to last season. They had Kaprizov in Tier 2, distinction for a franchise player. In fact, they had him in 2A with the likes of Sidney Crosby and Igor Shesterkin. Hischier was placed in Tier 2, as well, but he was in 2C. He was joined by Charlie McAvoy, William Nylander, and Jason Robertson.
Again, this was before last season. Hischier had a fantastic year and really stepped up offensively. Meanwhile, Kaprizov missed half of last season, but he’s still looking for this groundbreaking contract.
We don’t think Hischier is going to ask for $15 million, but Kaprizov’s contract getting into that level will force the Devils to live with the fact that a $9 million deal isn’t even in the ballpark. To be fair, they probably get a little leverage in the fact that this is the last time they can give him an eight-year deal, and Hischier gets paid past his prime with New Jersey. However, that’s only going to go so far.
Suppose we were to predict what would happen. In that case, we think the Devils would start negotiations at $9 million, Hischier’s agent, Allain Roy, would present $13 million, and they would settle at $11 million per season. It’s the perfect win-win scenario.
Now, if Kaprizov comes in at $12 million, matching Marner’s contract, it might change the precedent, and Hischier might be looking at slightly less. There’s no indication that’s going to happen, though.