5 big-money free agents that might be worth the price for New Jersey Devils

Tyler Toffoli
Current Team: Winnipeg Jets

We’ve already covered the Tyler Toffoli target this offseason. He’s someone we know the Devils are going to be keen on signing. Tom Fitzgerald tried to make the deal work before the trade deadline, but it didn’t happen and he was forced to accept a less-than-exciting offer to send him to Winnipeg. He ended up sending half of the deal to the Canadiens to get Jake Allen as a stopgap goalie target. 

On July 1st, Fitzgerald will see if he can overcome those issues that stopped an original Toffoli deal in the first place. It sounds like term was the issue, and the market will rectify that one way or another. Either another team will cough up four years or more, or the Devils will likely bring Toffoli back into the fold.

There are legitimate issues with re-signing Toffoli. His speed on paper shouldn’t fit with the Devils. We’ve seen him on multiple occasions fail to convert a breakaway because he was caught from behind. That’s Jack Hughes and Co. setting up those breakaways. Then, there’s the fact he’s on the wrong side of 30. That’s always a risk when giving a player a long-term deal.

Yet, despite that, Toffoli fit really well with the Devils last season. He was the team leader in goals until he was traded. He was someone the Devils could count on, especially in the good times. Next season, we expect many more good times than we saw last season. He shouldn’t be at the top of the list of targets, but he should definitely be an option.