An early look at next year

Created by: KDev

Team: 2024-25 New Jersey Devils

Initial Creation Date: Jul. 9, 2023

Published: Jul. 9, 2023

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Legend

Left Handed

Original Team

Waivers Exempt

Right Handed

Position

Trade Clause

Max Perf. Bonus

Expiry Status

Term Remaining

McDavid, Connor

$12,500,000 ( Performance Bonus

$250,000)

NMC

UFA - 5

Description

Devils are in a great spot. Not only with their cap but because they don’t really need to go after expensive UFAs anymore. They may not even need to resign Toffoli if Clarke looks ready for a full time spot (as well as Holtz). This could be the year where they try and move on from VV and really make a play for a top goalie. Minnie and Nashville come to mind since they have 2 top goalie prospects as well as 2 solid starters.

They do need to start going all in come this year though because their bargain contracts will soon be up. Mercer in 2024 whom they can definitely afford a long term extension, Luke Hughes the year after. Nemec the year after that and Hischiers extension the year after that. Luckily the team did well to stagger these contracts and avoid giving out some really bad contracts. Let’s hope they can get over the finish line eventually.

The only thing I see them doing is addressing the goaltending. I think VV is a serviceable goalie in the reg season, but I do not trust him in the playoffs.

The team is up against the cap again after the Mercer, Toffoli and Gus extensions which may make the Luke extension next year tight, but assuming the cap will continue to increase handsomely I don’t think it’ll be to big of an obstacle because their options. Ie. moving Palat

Free Agent Signings

RFA	YEARS	CAP HIT
Clarke, Graeme	2	$925,000
Bahl, Kevin	2	$925,000
Daws, Nico	1	$900,000
Foote, Nolan	2	$975,000
McLeod, Michael	4	$2,000,000
Mercer, Dawson	8	$6,750,000
Schmid, Akira	2	$2,200,000
Gustavsson, Filip	5	$5,000,000

UFA		YEARS	CAP HIT
Toffoli, Tyler		3	$5,000,000
Goligoski, Alex		1	$800,000

Trades

NJD

Gustavsson, Filip [RFA Rights]

Additional Details:

They believe Wallstedt will be ready soon and move Gustavsson while his value is high.

I imagine they may give him a 1 year deal this year too preserve his RFA rights (I believe a 1 year keeps him as an RFA but I could be wrong there)

The main piece back is Holtz who has a pretty decent year and can ideally replace Zuccarello in the top 6
VV comes to make cap work as well as give a reasonable starter while Wallstedt makes the jump to the NHL

MIN

Holtz, Alexander
Vanecek, Vitek
2025 4th round pick (NJD)

Additional Details:

Vitek has a fine year but again he doesn’t show he has it in he playoffs. This is the one part of the lineup that needs an upgrade. Devils target Gus to tandem with Schmid.
Devils move on from Holtz after he had a decent season but knowing they have Clarke to replace him and can resign Toffoli

This trade is also assuming Gus had another really great year

Recapture Fees

Ilya Kovalchuk: $250,000

Draft	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7
2024
2025
2026

ROSTER

LONG-TERM OUTLOOK

EMBED

TEXT-EMBED

ROSTER SIZE	SALARY CAP	CAP HIT	OVERAGES	BONUSES	CAP SPACE
23	$88,500,000	$89,295,563	$1,538,897	$5,100,000	-$795,563

Left Wing	Centre	Right Wing
Meier, Timo $8,800,000$8,800,000 LW, RW NMC UFA - 7	Hughes, Jack $8,000,000$8,000,000 C UFA - 6	Mercer, Dawson $6,750,000$6,750,000 RW, C RFA
Bratt, Jesper $7,875,000$7,875,000 RW, LW NMC UFA - 7	Hischier, Nico $7,250,000$7,250,000 C M-NTC UFA - 3	Toffoli, Tyler $5,000,000$5,000,000 RW, LW UFA
Palat, Ondrej $6,000,000$6,000,000 LW, RW NMC UFA - 3	Haula, Erik $3,150,000$3,150,000 C, LW NTC UFA - 2	Clarke, Graeme $925,000$925,000 RW, C RFA
Foote, Nolan $975,000$975,000 LW RFA	McLeod, Michael $2,000,000$2,000,000 C RFA	Bastian, Nathan $1,350,000$1,350,000 RW UFA - 1

Left Defense	Right Defense	Goaltender
Siegenthaler, Jonas $3,400,000$3,400,000 LD M-NTC UFA - 4	Hamilton, Dougie $9,000,000$9,000,000 RD NMC UFA - 4	Gustavsson, Filip $5,000,000$5,000,000 G UFA - 2
Hughes, Luke $925,000$925,000 ($1,850,000$2M) LD/RD RFA - 1	Marino, John $4,400,000$4,400,000 RD M-NTC UFA - 3	Schmid, Akira $2,200,000$2,200,000 G RFA
Bahl, Kevin $925,000$925,000 LD RFA - 1	Nemec, Simon $918,333$918,333 ($3,250,000$3M) RD RFA - 2

Scratches	Injured Reserve (IR)	Long Term IR (LTIR)
Lazar, Curtis $1,000,000$1,000,000 RW, C UFA - 1
Stillman, Chase $863,333$863,333 RW RFA - 2
Goligoski, Alex $800,000$800,000 LD/RD UFA

Top Comments

Jul. 9, 2023 at 10:57 a.m.

xercuses

Xercuses

Joined: Jun. 2021

Posts: 13,506

Likes: 3,616

They don’t go after expensive UFAs anymore
Hamilton: Am I a joke to you
Also palat?

Jul. 9, 2023 at 10:59 a.m.

HeadHighSauce

Dougie HIMilton

Joined: Sep. 2020

Posts: 3,071

Likes: 1,628

that's quite the price to pay for Gus. He had an incredible season but his sample size is pretty small and he was pretty terrible last year.

Very risky at this price, imo

e: whoops just saw the "another great year" comment

Jul. 9, 2023 at 12:41 p.m.

FireShero

Joined: Jan. 2018

Posts: 979

Likes: 243

Just sign Mercer to a 3-year bridge deal, same with Nemec and Hughes. Haula expires in 3, Palat/ Marino in 4, and Hamilton/ Siegenthaler in 5. Ideally they want to stay and sign for less, retire, and/or the Devils have the new Mercer/ Hughes/ Nemec waiting in the wings.

Jul. 9, 2023 at 2:13 p.m.

Lightman13

Patient gm

Joined: Aug. 2020

Posts: 1,864

Likes: 992

Quoting: HeadHighSauce

I think a big piece of Gus’s success last year stems from being behind a wild team that’s tight defensively. Makes a huge difference going from Ottawa with no defense to the wild with solid. He’ll be calm and reliable behind a food defensive team like the wild or Boston, but a team that’s all offense - like Edmonton - would make him look awful.

Jul. 9, 2023 at 7:16 p.m.

KDev

Joined: Jun. 2022

Posts: 1,266

Likes: 689

Quoting: xercuses

They don’t go after expensive UFAs anymore
Hamilton: Am I a joke to you
Also palat?

You mean 2 players that were already signed? This is about the future.

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