The New Jersey Devils should have absolutely no questions about the next move they should make heading into the 2026 offseason.
It goes almost without saying, at this point, that the Devils will need to make significant external additions to their roster this summer to start moving back towards Stanley Cup contention, but they will also need to keep some players of their own, too.
Atop that list is none other than rookie winger Arseny Gritsyuk, who only continues to get better in his first professional season in North America.
Gritsyuk, 25, is a pending restricted free agent, having played the season on the one-year, entry-level contract he signed with the Devils back on May 6, and he is, without a doubt, a keeper, and one due for a raise.
At the time of this writing, AFP Analytics lists two contract projections for Gritsyuk: a longer five-year term, and a two-year bridge. At five years, AFP projects the Devils to pay Gritsyuk $6.583 million a season, while the two-year bridge carries a much more modest $3.552 cap hit.
The Russian dynamo currently ranks 12th amongst NHL rookies in goals (12) and ninth amongst NHL rookies in points, though Gritsyuk has hardly played the featured role peers like Beckett Sennecke, Ivan Demidov, Fraser Minten, Ryan Leonard, Matthew Schaefer, and Ben Kindel have enjoyed.
That said, the NHL has had 40 rookies appear in 50 or more games this season, with a handful of others on their way. That says less about Gritsyuk and the struggling the Devils and more about this talented rookie class as a whole, especially Demidov, Schaefer, and Sennecke.
Even if Gritsyuk ends up being no more than a middle-six play driver for the Devils, which he has been for Cody Glass and the third line for much of the season, both of his contract projections would be bargains. After all, the Devils were giving Ondrej Palat $6 million to produce less, play in a larger role, and be much slower and less dynamic.
The Devils will also need to find solutions for fellow pending RFAs Simon Nemec and Paul Cotter, but Gritsyuk should be the top priority on that list, and especially so if Nemec holds out for a big payday.