Jesper Bratt has signed a new contract with the New Jersey Devils.

Bratt Pack is to blame for this

This is not the kind of player you bridge.
Woof that is going to bite NJ in the ass

Edit: just to be clear, I think that this is a bad contract as a result and voted no

meh

It's difficult to overemphasize just how different the team results are for the devils in his minutes vs not in his minutes.

Kind of wild how much Bratt means to the Devils offensive game

Likely will be traded next season.

JBITBPITNHL

Hmmm. To me this guy just became huge trade bait.

Palat > Bratt is a choice

We shall see. He just had a career year and must have wanted to be paid at term for a big chunk more. My guess is 8+ mil mark as a ppg winger.

He went from

His first 5 seasons were 0.47, 0.65, 0.53, 0.65 ppg. Then he jumped last year to 0.96 ppg.

So they want him to prove that was skill and development.

That being said you're right there is risk. Not a bridge, but marners camp offered the leafs 9 mil*8 years before his contract year. As we know when he then had 94 pts, he ended up with about 10.5 mil *6 years.

So they're gambling alright

Holy ****

The contract itself is fine.

But we are going to regret not offering him a long-term deal ($6.5 million to $7.25 million).
This does allow him to prove up his ability.
But will also make him more expensive next year to lock up long-term ($7.25 million to $8 million)
And, based on track record of recent Arb filers, about half stay with team after 2-years.

definetely a gamble on the devils part not to secure him long term in the 5-6 mil range. if he regresses you're only looking at saving yourself 500k, if he repeats his previous season than that's gonna be 8 million and over.

They were apparently offered a deal similar to Nico's and rejected it

Precisely. It's not a bad contract (and it's definitely very good value for a player of Bratt's caliber), but if he does wind up having another PPG pace season, he's going to need to get PAID (at least $7.5 million AAV, for at least 7 years). Fitzgerald has to know that.

I believe Nico's contract (7 x $7.25m) was Bratt's ask.
Devils offer was $6.5m...maybe it had gone up. That was around the draft.

Yeah this aint great

Reminds me of the Fiala deal that in the end got him traded

Wonder if the same thing happens as if NJ didnt want to commit to Bratt long term that might not sit well with him

Splitting the difference between the two arb submissions here would have arrived at an AAV of $5.325 million. https://t.co/92WgDkdY1g

— Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) August 3, 2022

And he got $5.45, so they basically split the difference.

good to know we're still tanking

I never understand why people always vote these kind of deals as good. The 1 year Fiala deal was majority good. The 1 year Reinhart deal was majority good. The Buchnevich deal was majority good. These kind of deals really mess with the player-organization relationship. It's not good at all.

Fiala 2021 and Bratt 2022

Similarities

1. Fiala: Team filing: $4m, Player filing: $6.25m, (eventual deal: 1 year x $5.1 million)
2. Bratt: Team filing: $4.15m, Player filing: $6.5m, (eventual deal: 1 year x $5.45 million)


Differences:

1. Cap situation is very different as Minnesota just bought out Parise and Suter. Devils have an estimate $20 million coming off books next year.

2. Minnesota was coming off a season where they had 3rd oldest lineup, Devils are coming off a season where they had youngest roster.

3. Bratt is a bit ahead of Fiala at similar points in their careers. Side-by-side below. But Bratt appears 2-years ahead of Fiala, so NJD should be more willing to make the long-term investment at an earlier point in their careers. Its just going to be more expensive next year.

If anything Minnesota's reluctance is more justified. NJD should have had more incentive to lock up Bratt and didn't.


----

Through D+4 season
Fiala: 140 GP, 35g, 30a, 65pts (0.46 ppg)
Bratt: 185 GP, 37g, 63a, 100pts (0.54 ppg)

Through D+5 season
Fiala: 223 GP, 48g, 56a, 104pts (0.47 ppg)
Bratt: 231 GP, 44g, 86a, 130pts (0.56 ppg)

Through D+6 season
Fiala: 287 GP, 71g, 87a, 158pts (0.55 ppg)
Bratt: 307 GP, 70g, 133a, 203pts (0.66 ppg)

Through D+7 season
Fiala: 337 GP, 91g, 107a, 198pts (0.59 ppg)
Bratt: [2022-23 season]

Through D+8 season
Fiala: 419 GP, 124g, 159a, 283pts (0.68 ppg)
Bratt [2023-24 season]

Tough for 1 year - should've looked to avoid arbitration and just sign at 6x6 or something similar.

High likelihood of putting up another solid year as he grows with the team.

Still RFA at the end of the deal. Allows NJ to reassess as they have a handful of pieces expiring too.

Good deal but Devils going to need to do this again next year which is the biggest concern

I think they made a good bet, worst case they have to pay him his actual value if he happens to do this again, but scoring was way up all over the league. what might happen is he regresses back to his .6 points a game and they can sign him cheaper than they would have this season. its a gamble but i think a good one.

Because all they look at is the AAV relative to points. This contract is definitely not good for the Devils.