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[New Jersey Devils]

Devils Free Agency Targets: Centers

John Tavares and Sam Bennett are the two top UFA centers available this summer | Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images

The Devils need to add another center. The good news is that there are several available. The bad news is that its not a deep market and they don’t have a lot of flexibility with which to add one.

After looking at the New Jersey Devils own free agents over the last few weeks, the time has come to take a look around the league and see who else will become available.

Including the recently signed Arseni Gritsyuk, as well as an otherwise waste of a roster spot in Kurtis MacDermid, the Devils have 11 forwards under contract for next season that will presumably be on the NHL roster. Judging from that, it doesn’t sound like the Devils have much work to do upfront, but when one considers that they might move on from Erik Haula, Ondrej Palat, and others, the Devils actually have plenty of work to do as they try to add more speed and skill upfront, as well as assemble a functional bottom six.

My colleagues will cover the other positions and free agents in the coming days and weeks, but today, we will start with arguably the most important skater position on the ice and take a look at centers.

The Devils have two excellent centers in Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes. But we have seen their center depth be tested in recent years between Hughes’s shoulder injuries, Erik Haula’s decline, and the team never bothering to replace Michael McLeod. This has forced Nico Hischier into carrying a heavy workload where he plays in all situations and takes every key faceoff, and while Hischier is more than capable, you’d like for the Devils to get him a little help to take some of those responsibilities off of his plate. Cody Glass might have been a decent add in-season to be a potential bottom six center option, but I’m sure he was far from being Tom Fitzgerald’s first choice either. Even if Glass returns next year, the Devils need more.

Center is a hard position to find quality options, and its not a coincidence or an accident that the teams remaining in the playoffs are deep down the middle. Anton Lundell would be a burgeoning 1C or 2C on most teams but he’s Florida’s 3C due to their depth. Dallas has an embarrassment of riches down the middle to the point where one of the top UFA centers hitting the market this summer is actually playing LW for them. Carolina is deep enough where their centers behind Sebastian Aho are more or less interchangeable depending upon the matchup. It’s also not a coincidence that all of the recent Stanley Cup champions have been deep down the middle, whether its Vegas, Tampa, or Colorado. Having quality center play is critical to having a quality third or fourth line, and that is critical to having success.

The good news for the Devils is that there’s several good options this year in the UFA market. The bad news is that those options will dry up quickly (if they all even make it to July 1) and for a team with a limited amount of cap space, spending most of it to address one need when you have several isn’t a great plan. But we’re going to take a look at who is available anyways and determine whether or not they might make sense for a Devils team that really needs more quality forwards if they hope to take that next step as a franchise. We’ll take a look at Top Six options as well as Bottom Six options. I’ll also provide the AFP Analytics contract projections to get a sense of what a deal for each player might look like.

John Tavares​

It wasn’t too long ago that John wrote about how the Devils should consider pursuing John Tavares when he hit free agency way back in 2018.

Tavares leaving the Islanders to head to the Devils was never a realistic possibility though at the time, as New Jersey didn’t make his short list of teams he was considering, and the Devils certainly weren’t the team represented on his bedsheets as a young boy in Canada. Tavares wanted to be a Maple Leaf. The Maple Leafs wanted him. And hence, Tavares became a Leaf and got to live his boyhood dream.

But was it everything Tavares dreamed of?

Sure, Tavares got to spend seven years playing for what is essentially his hometown team. He was highly productive with 493 points in 515 games. He showed he has plenty left in the tank with 38 goals and 36 assists this past season. He’s a faceoff winning machine that is getting better as he gets older. And until this past season, he served as the captain of the Maple Leafs before passing that torch to Auston Matthews.

Unfortunately, Tavares has also become one of the faces of the postseason failures of the Maple Leafs “Core Four”. Fairly or unfairly, he alongside Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and Mitch Marner have to bear the brunt of those critiques as the leaders of the team. And while Tavares’s postseason numbers as a whole look ok this past season, two goals in seven games against Florida en route to a series loss (and zero over the final four games) will get you criticized.

I say all that to say, has Toronto been everything Tavares wanted? After seven years of playing in that pressure cooker, has he had his fill? And do the Leafs even want him back?

I don’t really care about the Leafs perspective of all of this, and judging from Tavares’s comments on breakup day, it sounds like he’s open to running it back in Toronto anyways, so everything I just wrote might be moot. It wouldn’t surprise me at the end of the day if he agreed to an extension to stay. But when you’re this close to free agency and the emotional highs and lows of the season wear off once you’re several weeks removed from elimination, you’d also be wise to at least see what else is out there and see what your options are.

I have no doubt that there will be demand for the services of one John Tavares. Even if you think his run as the Leafs captain is ultimately a stain on his record, PPG-caliber centers don’t grow on trees. There’s not a lot of hockey players who have scored 500+ goals in NHL history, but Tavares will likely be the next to join that club. He clearly has something left in the tank.

AFP Analytics Projection: 3 years, $7.939M AAV

Why he could work: This is one of those situations where I would be very curious what Sheldon Keefe thinks of the player.

Obviously, there is a connection there as Keefe was the head coach throughout much of Tavares’ tenure in Toronto. And while I think Tavares is enough of a pro to not let comments from Keefe about a lack of accountability bother him, it is one of those situations where I do wonder if after having a front row seat for years if Keefe wants back in the Tavares business. Still, Keefe is very familiar with Tavares. Keefe and Tavares had a lot of regular season success together. And the Devils still have to navigate an 82-game regular season. Perhaps if they navigate the regular season better, they might avoid a playoff date with Carolina one of these years.

There are very few Top Six caliber centers available this summer on the open market. Tavares is one of them.

Why he probably won’t work: Tavares will turn 35 before Opening Night this fall, his footspeed is already in decline, he got exposed defensively at various points this postseason, and fair or not, his postseason disappearances are a thing. And while New Jersey is a far quieter hockey hotbed than Toronto, it won’t matter to Devils fans if Tavares doesn’t perform in that type of environment. It’ll just be another black mark on what is becoming a long list of shortcomings as a player.

Sam Bennett​

Let’s have some fun with blind resumes for a second.

Player A: 162 goals, 174 assists, 336 points in 691 games. 34 goals and 36 assists for 70 points in 99 playoff games. One Stanley Cup championship.

Player B: 143 goals, 280 assists, 423 points in 628 games. 48 goals and 46 assists for 94 points in 138 playoff games. Two Stanley Cup championships.

Player A is obviously Sam Bennett, a player most Devils fans are salivating over after watching him be a factor in yet another deep playoff run for the Florida Panthers and would happily hand a blank check to if they could this summer.

Player B is a player Devils fans can’t wait to get rid of.

It’s Ondrej Palat, prior to him signing in New Jersey three years ago.

Now, its not a perfect comparison. Bennett is a center. Palat is not. Bennett is hitting free agency three years younger than Palat did. But Bennett also plays a far heavier and abrasive brand of hockey than Palat does. Bennett is also going to command max term unlike Palat, and if you think Years 1-3 of Palat’s Devils run didn’t look good, I would hazard a guess that Years 5-7 of a Bennett deal wouldn’t fare much better. Playing with that level of physicality does take its toll at some point.

I don’t want this to come across as me disparaging Bennett as a player. I love what he brings to the table. He’s a big game player who also plays an abrasive style that is well suited for postseason hockey. The Devils could use more players like Sam Bennett.

I’m going to write more about this at some point this summer, but he’s very much a “16 game player” as opposed to an “82 game player”. What do I mean by that? It means he’s a guy who shows up in the biggest games and it almost doesn’t matter what he does over the course of the regular season. Guys like Bennett, or Mark Stone, or Val Nichushkin are “16 game players”. So was Palat, once upon a time.

Devils Insiders ran an interesting poll regarding Bennett versus another top free agent this summer and I’m pleased to say that I am one of the 55.4% of people on the right side of history.

Cap aside, you can add one of Marner or Bennett to the #NJDevils this offseason. Who do you choose? Why?

— Devils Insiders (@DevilsInsiders) May 20, 2025​

Regardless, Bennett has been a big part of Florida’s success the last few years. He has been a key contributor to three teams that have made deep playoff runs. It’s not going to matter that his career high for goals in a season is 28 (three years ago) or that his career high in points is 51 (this past season). He is going to get paid by somebody.

AFP Analytics Projection: 6 years, $6.637M AAV

Why he could work: Bennett is very much an “identity” player, and the Devils need more of those types throughout their lineup. He can capably play anywhere in the Top Nine of a playoff contender on either center or wing. He has a ton of big game experience and plays with an extremely high motor.

Why he probably won’t work: Bennett isn’t going to put up gaudy point totals over the course of an 82 game season, and if he takes a step back in that regard playing outside of Florida, the contract will look like one of the worst in the sport. He simply HAS to produce come playoff time for him to be worth it.

If you’re the type of has been grumbling about Palat being a 30-ish point player since joining the Devils, you probably won’t be too thrilled when Bennett is making more money for far longer and is barely a 40-point player. Also, I don’t buy that particular AFP projection for one second. Bennett is a high profile player on a team that has made three straight deep playoff runs. He is going to get paid. I think his AAV is going to be closer to 9, and it just takes one dumb, desperate team to go north of that. And if he accepts less than that, its probably because he’s taking a sweetheart deal to stay in Florida, not to come to New Jersey.

Brock Nelson​

A lifelong Islander until this past season, Brock Nelson split his time between Elmont and Colorado as the Avalanche acquired him at the trade deadline. Colorado was desperate to upgrade their center depth. But was Nelson an upgrade?

Kind of? But probably not.

Nelson is a big body at 6’4” and 210 lb.,he has remained productive offensively with 26 goals and 30 assists this past season, and he’s still a good skater for a player of his size. But he didn’t have a great playoff series against Dallas and it seems to be the worst kept secret in the league that the Minnesota native might want to go home to Minnesota.

AFP Analytics Projection: 3 years, $7.06M AAV

Why he could work: A bad playoff series shouldn’t necessarily define the player. The Devils need more speed in their lineup and they need a guy who can put the puck in the net. Nelson checks those boxes and plays a position of need to boot.

Why he probably won’t work: The Prudential Center is not located in Minnesota. Nelson also turns 34 this October, and has plenty of wear on his tires already with 1005 games played between the regular season and postseason. I’m not saying he’s about to fall off of a cliff in terms of production, but I’d rather pursue other options than commit to Nelson for multiple years and noteworthy money.

Matt Duchene​

Matt Duchene has quietly been one of the best bargains in the NHL for the last two years.

After signing a 7-year, $56M deal with the Nashville Predators in 2019, the Predators bought him out four years into that pact. Duchene landed on his feet in Dallas, finishing the second of two separate one-year, $3M deals this past season.

Duchene has continued to produce though even though he approaches his mid 30s. He’s tallied 55 goals and 92 assists with the Stars over the last two seasons.

AFP Analytics Projection: 3 years, $7.17M AAV

Why he could work: He’s really good, and while he’d be overqualified to be a 3C type, he would go a long ways towards making the Devils deeper down the middle.

Why he probably won’t work: He has even more miles on the odometer than Nelson when it comes to games played and turns 35 in January. He is also currently in an excellent situation in Dallas where he is a perfect fit in Pete DeBoer’s system and he plays a prominent role on a team that has a legitimate chance to win a Stanley Cup. I don’t see why he would leave other than some team blows him away in terms of money, but he’s still collecting a paycheck from the Predators in addition to what he’s making in Dallas. If he continues to take under market value deals, it would likely be to stay where he is.

Mikael Granlund​

A 13-year veteran, Granlund split his time this season with the Sharks and the Stars. In totality, he played 83 regular season games, registering 22 goals and 44 assists between the two teams. His production wasn’t solely a byproduct of playing 21 minutes a night on a bad Sharks team either, as he had 7 goals and 14 assists in 31 games in Dallas post-trade and has been a playoff contributor as well.

The interesting thing with Granlund is that he hasn’t played much center since going to Dallas, as he’s settled in on their top, all-Finnish line with Roope Hintz and Mikko Rantanen. But I think that’s more a testament to what Dallas has down the middle between Hintz, Matt Duchene, and Wyatt Johnston than anything with him in particular. That type of flexibility affords Dallas the opportunity to throw several different looks at opposing teams depending upon the matchup.

Granlund is a little older at 33, but he should come with a more affordable contract than some of the previous names I’ve already mentioned.

AFP Analytics Projection: 2 years, $4.975M AAV

Why he could work: Granlund might be 33, but he has plenty of offensive skill and enough versatility where he can feasibly slot anywhere in the Top Nine.

Why he probably won’t work: He’s had three 60+ point seasons over the last four years, so he’s going to cost money. He’s also in a really good situation in Dallas, so if he does take a discount, it would presumably be for someone like them and not a Devils team where he has no ties or connections to.

Jack Roslovic​

Now, we’re getting into more of your 3C and 4C territory.

Roslovic has been a journeyman with previous stops in Winnipeg, Columbus, and New York before signing a 1-year $2.8M deal with Carolina this past season.

Roslovic has been relatively productive, with point totals of 45, 44, 31, and 39 over the last four seasons. He has some size at 6’1” and is a decent enough skater.

AFP Analytics Projection: 3 years, $4.09M AAV

Why he could work: Roslovic has put up decent counting stats regardless of the environment around him the last few years. He’s a better skater than most of the players on this list. I also think this is another one of those instances where the AFP projection is wrong and you could probably get the player for something closer to 2-years and $2.5M AAV.

Why he probably won’t work: Roslovic isn’t overly physical, which is interesting after playing a full season in Carolina’s heavy forecheck system. He’s also been a healthy scratch for playoff games for Carolina during this run. Maybe that’s a testament to Carolina’s depth down the middle, as they have Aho, Staal, Kotkaniemi, and Mark Janikowski, but Roslovic also has a history of being so-so in the playoffs prior to getting to Carolina and there wasn’t a huge demand for his services one year ago on the open market.

Yanni Gourde​

Yanni Gourde returned to the Tampa Bay Lightning at the trade deadline after spending most of the previous 3.5 seasons with the Seattle Kraken.

Gourde was a key member of the Lightning third line, along with Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow, that helped get Tampa over the hump and win back-to-back Stanley Cup championships. He has plenty of experience in big games. But his production has dipped a bit these last two seasons as he enters his mid 30s, he underwent sports hernia surgery during the year, and was mostly ineffective in a quick playoff exit for Tampa Bay last month.

AFP Analytics Projection: 2 years, $3.789M AAV

Why he could work: If you think Gourde dealing with a hernia hampered him, but now that issue has been fixed, then he theoretically has bounceback potential. And even if he doesn’t become a 48 point player again, a 40 ish point season is still an upgrade over what the Devils had from their third line center one year ago.

Why he probably won’t work: Gourde turns 34 this December, has lost a step or two already, players generally don’t get healthier as they age, and the last time the Devils signed a 30-something year old for intangibles reasons from Tampa, it didn’t really work out. He’s also one of the smaller centers on this list at 5’9” and 174 lb.

Pius Suter​

Suter might be the most interesting name on this list for me.

Suter took a step offensively this year in his age 28 season, scoring 25 goals and chipping in another 21 assists. He’s not a large player at 5’11” and 180 lb. but he had shown a willingness to get to the front of the net, take some punishment, and make things happen.

Part of why he intrigues me though is his work as a defensive center, as he’s been a key member of Vancouver’s penalty kill. I see that, and I see how many defensive responsibilities that Nico Hischier has, and am intrigued by the idea that Suter could give the Devils another option in that regard.

AFP Analytics Projection: 4 years, $4.983M AAV

Why he could work: He has some finishing ability, he’s excellent defensively, and he plays bigger than his frame.

Why he probably won’t work: Suter is probably a smidge more than I’d like to pay for a 3C if those AFP projections are close to accurate. He’s also not a great skater, nor is he really a playmaker by nature. I’d at least be a little concerned that his 18.1 shooting percentage from this past season isn’t repeatable.

Quick Thoughts on Some Other Bottom Six UFA Centers​

Christian Dvorak: Dvorak is probably more of a middle six guy than your run of the mill bottom six center. He had a decent year with 33 points in 82 games for Montreal this past season, has decent size, and is pretty good in the faceoff circle. But he doesn’t really drive play, isn’t going to add much on special teams, and probably has enough of a track record to be more expensive than your run of the mill option. Maybe he has a little more to give as a 3C on a deeper team than Montreal that has quality wingers on the third line, but I don’t know if NJ is that team unless they insist on playing Meier or Bratt with him. That said, his AFP projection of 2 years and $1.765M AAV makes him an interesting flier candidate, assuming that is his actual price tag. I have my doubts.

Radek Faksa: Faksa is a big body, defense-first, faceoff specialist who won’t contribute much offensively but would be a massive upgrade over the Justin Dowling/Curtis Lazar types. AFP projection: 2 years, $1.33M

Luke Kunin: Kunin is a physical 4C who doesn’t contribute much else of anything, and didn’t really help Columbus after coming over at the trade deadline from San Jose. He is capable of scoring 10 or so goals over the course of the year, but he also gives it all bad with poor defensive play. He’s probably not worth his 2-year, $1.78M AAV projected contract.

Lars Eller: Eller is another big-body bottom six center who was ok after coming back to Washington via an early season trade from the Penguins. He’ll win his share of faceoffs, but he’s not particularly physical, he didn’t do much of anything in the playoffs this year, and he’s entering his age 36 season. I’d pass on him at 1-year and $2.13M

Nick Bjugstad: Bjugstad might be more of a winger than a center if his usage this past season is an indicator, but he’s another guy who is a big body and puts up decent enough counting stats considering he sees little to no special teams time. He also gives the Devils another faceoff option if someone gets tossed from the dot. There are worse uses of 2 years and $2.32M AAV.

Luke Glendening: Glendening is strictly a 4C faceoff option with a little physicality mixed in. He might be a slight upgrade over Dowling but that’s not saying a whole lot. He can probably be had for the league minimum.

Kevin Rooney: Rooney is a former Devil who didn’t do a whole lot well when he was here five years ago, but has managed to stick around the league as a 4C who can kill penalties, throw the occasional hit, and not do much else. He’s another league-minimum candidate.

Tomas Nosek: Another former Devil, he wasn’t exactly an ideal fit the first time around as he is big, slow, and missed a bunch of time due to a broken foot. And no, his 9 points in 59 games for Florida or his 3 assists in 8 playoff games isn’t yet another indicator that Tom Fitzgerald is an idiot for letting him go. AFP is projecting him to make $916k next season.

Sean Kuraly: I don’t know how open Kuraly is to moving, as he’s an Ohio native who has spent the last four seasons in Columbus. But he has decent counting stats, is another big body, can kill penalties, is physical, and is a decent option in the dot. If Columbus lets him walk, he’s an interesting option at 2-years and $1.5M AAV.

Nico Sturm: Sturm is a big-bodied faceoff specialist and that’s about it. If you think that’s worth 2 years and $1.42M AAV, by all means. I do not.

Final Thoughts​

After taking a look at the top UFA centers on the market, I have some thoughts on the market and the Devils situation as a whole.

First, even if the Devils had the cap space to afford any of them, I’m not sure how many of them are good ideas. Tavares, Nelson, Duchene, Gourde, and Granlund are older players, each with strengths and flaws. Suter is somewhat interesting as a bottom six option, but has his own flaws as a player. And while I’m as big a fan of Sam Bennett as the next guy, paying top dollar for what is essentially a 40-45 point player at the peak of his value is the type of deal that can put you in cap hell if and when it doesn’t work out.

Second, the Devils probably need to have internal conversations in regards to how much they want to invest in the center position behind Hischier and Hughes. Hughes in particular has missed large chunks of three of the last four seasons with shoulder ailments and for as talented as he is, he’s not doing the Devils any good on the injured list. I’m not saying the Devils should be shopping for his replacement or get rid of him, as those are ill-advised and foolish suggestions. But I am saying that if the Devils are concerned about Hughes internally, then it would make sense to invest more into their 3C so they have other options should the worst case scenario pop up with #86 again.

Third, the cap situation can’t be ignored, and if the Devils are going to make the effort this summer to clean up their books and free up cap space, I think I would prefer they look for potential longer-term solutions to their problems than throwing market value UFA dollars at whoever happens to be available in any given year. But the reality is that their funds are limited this summer, and the more they spend at 3C when they’re already spending over 15M between Hischier/Hughes, the less they’ll have to spend elsewhere.

I say that to say that rather than them signing Sam Bennett as a UFA, I’d rather they go out and try to trade for the next Sam Bennett. Granted, that’s far easier said than done, but we’ve seen plenty of instances of guys who got off to underwhelming starts to their career only to blossom somewhere else, whether its Bennett, Sam Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe, Mason Marchment, Jordan Martinook, Evan Rodrigues, or whoever. Why can’t the Devils pro scouting department find that next guy and acquire him before they become a household name? It’s not like the Devils haven’t had any success trading for relatively unknown players, with Paul Cotter and Johnathan Kovacevic being two very recent examples. Rather than pay UFA prices, why not see if you can pry Marco Rossi from the Wild when he’s about to enter his age 24 season? Or revisit a potential trade for Ryan O’Reilly at a far lower cap hit? Or explore other outside the box options like Barrett Hayton or Mason McTavish or J.G. Pageau? Get creative.

That’s not to say the players I broke down here are bad players. Frankly, I’d be fine with it if they signed someone like Jack Roslovic to be the 4C, as I’d view him as a massive upgrade over what the Devils currently have and he shouldn’t break the bank. But I don’t view the Devils center depth issue as easily fixable, since it will take time to draft and develop more centers internally and they don’t have their first round pick this year. It will require some short-term attention and resources devoted to addressing it. And considering Jack Hughes’s injury history and Nico Hischier’s UFA status in two years, I would prefer to see the Devils be proactive when it comes to adding more depth at the position so they’re not left in a precarious position. Not just for this upcoming season either, but for the next several years.

Or just sign Pius Suter as the 3C, re-sign Cody Glass as the 4C, and trade Erik Haula. That works too.

That’s how I view the center market. Perhaps you view things differently. Please feel free to leave a comment below and thanks for reading.

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...ersey-devils-2025-free-agency-targets-centers

 

[New Jersey Devils]

DitD & Open Post - 5/28/25: Farewell, Tuna Edition

Tomas Tatar #90 of the New Jersey Devils skates against the Boston Bruins on April 15, 2025, at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. | Photo by Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images

New Jersey Devils & Related Hockey Links for 5/28/25

Here are your links for today:

Devils Links​

A breakdown of the offseason ahead for Tom Fitzgerald: [The Athletic ($)]

“The NHL offseason is fast approaching. The draft is almost exactly one month away, as is free agency. We know the New Jersey Devils won’t be running back the same roster because last season just wasn’t good enough, but what exactly do they need to improve this summer? Most of the Devils’ needs are up front, but it’s not the only position group general manager Tom Fitzgerald could target for upgrades. Let’s take a look.” [Devils on the Rush]

Brad Shaw is official:

We have named Brad Shaw as an assistant coach.

Welcome to the team, Coach!

: https://t.co/KK5GdkPw7U pic.twitter.com/Z6LyRH91Ws

— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) May 27, 2025​

Farewell to Tomas Tatar:

#NJDevils pending UFA Tomas Tatar has signed a two-year contract with EV Zug in Switzerland, where the team says he will be used as a center.

— NHL News (@PuckReportNHL) May 27, 2025​

Hockey Links​

Oilers take a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference Final:

THE EDMONTON OILERS ARE ONE WIN AWAY FROM RETURNING TO THE STANLEY CUP FINAL! pic.twitter.com/VDhpKBmZ8K

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 28, 2025​

Come on, man:

Evan Bouchard gives Roope Hintz a slash to the top of his foot in his return to the lineup pic.twitter.com/ejnLtPIrwp

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 28, 2025​

The Hurricanes simply do not lose 16 games straight in the Eastern Conference Final!

Won the day pic.twitter.com/d8B1J6raWy

— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) May 27, 2025​

Congrats to the Minnesota Frost on a PWHL championship:

MINNESOTA TWICE pic.twitter.com/I9ipQPj9c4

— x - Minnesota Frost (@PWHL_Minnesota) May 27, 2025​

Feel free to discuss these and any other hockey-related stories in the comments below.

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...-in-the-details-5-28-25-farewell-tuna-edition

 

[New Jersey Devils]

New Jersey Devils Free Agency Targets: Goaltenders

He’s not profiled in this article, but I’m putting a picture of Jake Allen here. That’s how negatively I feel about all other available UFA goalies. | Photo by Rich Graessle/NHLI via Getty Images

Picking up where we left off yesterday with centers, we move today to a different position that the New Jersey Devils might be shopping for in free agency: goaltending. Who’s available that might be of interest to the team?

The New Jersey Devils will be looking to fill a few holes in their lineup this offseason, and while help with scoring and depth will be the primary concern, there are other areas that GM Tom Fitzgerald cannot forget about either. One of those is goaltending, as the team’s backup, Jake Allen, is currently set to be an unrestricted free agent. If he decides to take his talents elsewhere, the Devils might want to bring another player in to compete with Nico Daws for the backup role behind Jacob Markstrom. Today, we look at a couple of options in depth, a few at a glance, and a few retreads who probably won’t be worth looking into bringing back.

A Quick Note​

Before we begin, I just want to quickly touch on the fact that Jared made mention yesterday of the options the Devils have to improve their centers. The goaltending situation is both somewhat similar and somewhat different. The similarity is that there are a number of unrestricted free agent goaltenders available, which is good. The difference and drawback here is that there’s not really a whole lot of quality available. As such, be prepared for my verdict on most names to be “no thanks” or worse.

James Reimer​

Reimer is one of the names that merits a little bit of a closer look, mainly due to how his stats were skewed by a couple of games. He began 2024-25 in Anaheim, where he made two appearances. One saw him post decent stats in a loss to Vegas, and then his next saw him get shelled by, ironically enough, the Devils, leading to an overall save percentage of just .864. He would be placed on waivers where the Buffalo Sabres would claim him, and he would get himself on a better track.

He would appear in 22 games for Buffalo, starting 19 of them and posting a 10-8-2 record with a .901 save percentage. For a team that faced the struggles that the Sabres did at times last season, that’s honestly not bad at all. His overall season save percentage is a bit less encouraging (.897) but hey, if Reimer does sign in New Jersey, at least he wouldn’t have to face the Devils and have them put up a touchdown on him again next season!

AFP Analytics Prediction: 1 Year, $1.14 Million

Why He Could Work: Reimer is a veteran who probably wouldn’t be relied upon for more than the 24 or so games that he appeared in last season. He’s at the point in his career where he knows he’s not an every night guy and he still was above .900 in Buffalo knowing that he was only going to start every so often. As long as the injury bug stays away from the Devils’ goaltending, Reimer in a role similar to last year could produce roughly the same results.

Why He Probably Won’t Work: Father time remains undefeated in sports and at 37 going on 38, Reimer’s best days of hockey are behind him. Additionally, I’m not sold on him (or any name in this article honestly) being an upgrade on what the Devils already have in their system. If the team is going to start a sub-.900 guy, why not at least let it be a youngster who can grow over a veteran who is heading towards the end of heir career? Reimer might want to look for a team where his backup role is more of a sure thing.

Dan Vladar​

Vladar is the youngest player featured in this article, as he will be turning 28 this summer prior to the start of 2024-25. He’s not a prospect with years of growth ahead of him still, but that’s what you get in looking at UFAs. Vladar has had moments and spurts where he’s looked strong in net, which is what’s piqued my interest with him. At the same time, he’s been horribly inconsistent and has only posted a save percentage above .900 once out of four seasons.

I’m sure at this point some of you are wondering why I’m going even somewhat in depth regarding Vladar if he’s that inconsistent. THAT is how weak of a UFA goalie class we are talking about here this summer, where Reimer and Vladar are two options where if we signed them, I would basically react like Bob Belcher from Bob’s Burgers at the end of this clip. The rest of them would elicit a worse reaction from disgust to demanding the firing of Fitz before the ink dries on the contract.

Anyway in regards to Vladar, he’s another guy who can give you roughly 20-30 games of goaltending which is what the Devils are looking for. He also has roughyl double the experience as Nico Daws, so if the Devils want to go with a young-ish guy with some more games under his belt, maybe they take a look at Vladar.

AFP Analytics Prediction: 1 Year, $1.46 Million

Why He Could Work: Vladar has spent the majority of his NHL time sans five game with Calgary. Maybe he needs a change of scenery and a different system in front of him. He’s not a complete adventure in net like some of the other names on this list would be, and also isn’t projected to cost the amount re-signing Jake Allen would. For a little bit more money than Reimer, the Devils could get a younger vet in net, which might be a more desirable route.

Why He Probably Won’t Work: While younger than most options, Vladar has appeared in over 100 NHL games, so this could be another guy who is what he is at this point. As a team trying to compete, the Devils may not want to go with an inconsistent option as their backup. For evidence as to how that went in the past, be sure to take a look at the “Retreads That We Should Probably Avoid” section below.

Quick Thoughts on Some Other UFA Goalies​

Alex Georgiev: Talk about falling off of a cliff. After posting a great season for the Colorado Avalanche in 2022-23, Georgiev followed it up with two sub-.900 seasons, including this past one where he was so bad for Colorado, that they packed him up and sent him to San Jose. His .874 in Colorado and .875 in San Jose were nearly identical, so the 29 year old may struggle to find work. AFPAnalytics still sees him getting a one year deal for just under two million, but with how bad he was, I both disagree and don’t want to see the Devils even think about offering him a deal.

Alex Lyon: After posting some good numbers in limited minutes with Florida in 2022-23, Lyon got a bigger share of work once he signed with Detroit. His 44 games and .904 in 2023-24 were not grown upon in 2024-25, where he became another member of the Sub-.900 Club with a .896 in 30 contests. At 32, he is what he is as a player at this point, and while he might play better behind the Devils than he did the Red Wings, I don’t think it’s worth gambling on. He’s also projected to get a two year deal at $1.8 million per, so yeah another reason to steer clear.

Ville Husso: Another once promising player who has seen the shine wear off. Husso at least had the benefit of turning in four strong performances with the Ducks, so there may be some reclamation potential here. On a one year deal at league minimum, you could do worse. At the same time, you could go out and spend actual backup goalie money and probably do a whole lot better too.

Retreads That We Should Probably Avoid​

Kaapo Kahkonen: Played one NHL game for Colorado last season and let in four goals on 20 shots. No thanks.

Louis Domingue: Another basically AHL level player at this point; has appeared in five, count ‘em five NHL games since the end of 2020. Pass.

Vitek Vanecek: The only one here who is arguably still an NHL player. Played 25 games across time with San Jose and Florida, winning just five and posting a .884 while doing so. I’d avoid him just based on his history of collapse with us in the past; the stats just do a nice job backing up the desire to keep him far away from New Jersey.

Other Guys With NHL Experience​

Pheonix Copley, Matt Murray, and Spencer Martin are other names that are known to some extent who made NHL appearances this past season. None of them, however, have statistics that make them worth a look beyond maybe an AHL deal if you’re desperate for depth.

Final Thoughts and Your Take​

Tom, Mr. Fitzgerald sir, if you are somehow out there reading this, please do us all a favor and throw a decent contract in Jake Allen’s direction before free agency opens. I know I’ve been critical of him this past season, but after looking at just how slim the picking are in the free agent pool, and how bad some of these guys were as backups for other teams, I didn’t realize how good we actually had it.

If the team still wants an upgrade, they’ll have to figure that out through either their prospect pool, an offer sheet or a trade, because Jake Allen is head and shoulders above the other unrestricted free agents available. Find a way to bring Jake back for now and punt the future of the crease decision to at least next summer.

What are your thoughts on the options for goalies in unrestricted free agency; would you want Vladar or Reimer brought in? Is there a different name on this list or not on this list that you like? Are you in the same boat as I am and thoroughly nonplussed with the choices available? Leave any and all comments below and thanks as always for reading!

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...jersey-devils-free-agency-targets-goaltenders

 

[New Jersey Devils]

My Last Post Featuring You: The People Who Matter

This is John Fischer’s last post at All About the Jersey as managing editor. After nearly 17 years here and nearly 19 years total, it ends with John answering questions from the People Who Matter.

Last week, I announced that I am stepping back and leaving All About the Jersey. It has been close to 17 years at SB Nation/Vox Media and close to 19 years total in writing about the New Jersey Devils on a blog on the Internet. This will be my last post here. Per my own “see you later” post, I asked you, the People Who Matter, to ask any questions you may have about the Devils, the site, and whatever else. As usual, you came through.

Firstly and more importantly, I remain floored and blessed at all of the well-wishes, messages of appreciation, acknowledgments of disagreements, and a lot of thank yous. Here, on X, in my inbox, and elsewhere. I am equally pleased to see those comments in support of Chris, who will be taking over this site as manager as of June 1. I thank you all.

The main reason why I asked for questions was because a lot of my own posts were driven by questions. Questions I was asked. Questions I saw in the comments. Questions I had myself. Answering those questions, I think, has led to more informative posts. As well as posts with takes where you may disagree but you at least understand where I am coming from. With that stated, let me dive in from the oldest comment in the post going forward:

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From scott33:

If i was going to ask a question for the last article- it would be if the Devils ever reached out to you either on a post (good or bad) or anything that has been on the site. Has there been any kind of acknowledgement about the site even from their media people?

And, related, in a response, from ChuckTheDuck:

I second this question. Basically, has there ever been any formal recognition by the team or it’s players of this site, you, and the content.

Excellent questions! The super-short answer is not officially but they know and they read this site. Several events have confirmed to me that the team was and possibly is still aware of this whole site. As well as others:

Way, way, way back in the In Lou We Trust days on Blogspots, one of the first emails I received thanking me for having a site was from someone claiming to be Jamie Langenbrunner’s brother. This is the Internet and anyone can claim to be anyone. But who would pretend to be the brother of Jamie Langenbrunner? That was my first sign that the subject of the blog is aware.

This continued further into the SB Nation days. At one of the pre-season events (I want to say 2009) where fans could meet the Devils, I wore one of the few ILWT shirts made. Anssi Salmela saw it and was visibly impressed, telling me he’s read it. Lou saw it and smiled - which is probably the most acknowledgment I would get out of him.

Later in 2010, I did have Ilya Kovalchuk’s American agent reach out to me after the trade to New Jersey. Which confirmed that he knew about it. He was less interested in my questions about other clients like Anton Volchenkov, and so our discussions were Kovalchuk-related. In so much I did a lot of listening about Kovalchuk. He only asked once if I would consider (his word) writing something about Kovalchuk struggling after the trade. I told him no and he respected that. It probably helped that I wrote about it before he even called.

A bit later when Jeff Vanderbeek owned the team, one of their staff members did reach out to me to talk. Amid that conversation, I was told straight away that they know what I write, people in the office read it, they are OK with all of the criticism because we back it up (this is a crucial point), and they wanted to know how Matt Ventolo figured out all of that information about attendance That was his audition post. Matt was a great writer, by the way.

Jerry Tierney saw me on the lower concourse before a game at the Rock in, I believe, the 2013-14. He told me season ticket holders can meet with the new owners, Josh Harris and David Blitzer. So I went up with him to where the bar area is now above Sections 3 and 4. I believe it was Blitzer who said “In Lou We Trust” in response to a Person Who Matters. He shook my head and repeated it. I said, I’m aware of it too - I came up with the site. We then chatted a bit and asked if the four comped seats next to my seat could at least be sold if they’re not going to be used by the team. Which was resolved since the comp owner (a former lawyer of the Devils) often left them empty. The then-new owners knew.

We have had commenters who were very clearly family members defending the play of Brett Seney and Eric Gelinas. They were not shy about it; I think that was common knowledge, though.

Going back to the initial question: None of these things were formal. But these things were enough to let me know that the hockey world is not so small, and as much as players and staff members are told to not read what is written about them, they or someone close to them did anyway. I hope they still do. I believe someone in the Devils organization still does.

From Seank70:

QUESTION for your last article: over the 19 years , what was the the top prediction you were right about ? And what was the biggest miss ?

I will answer the second one first. I have had a lot of misses. I have had a lot of failures, predictions gone wrong, and hopes dashed. I have been wrong a lot. I thought the 2014-15 Devils were going to make the playoffs. Nope. I thought the Devils would run it back after 2018-19. Nah. I thought the Devils could beat Los Angeles in 2012. Didn’t happen. I think you can claim most of my playoff and season predictions to be wrong and you would end up being right more often than not. Especially in the 2010s. My biggest miss that I can recall was not accepting that Martin Brodeur was really past it in the late 2010s - especially after 2012. I was very stubborn about that. Mike’s post at the Winter Classic and the game itself - which I attended live - was like a coffin being closed. I had to accept it after then. They needed to move on from Brodeur and I was one of the last to accept that.

The top prediction? I am going to keep going back to this well: The Devils should have drafted Brayden Point in 2014! This was not a case of us looking back in hindsight. We knew full well he had real potential and we were just hockey bloggers gleaning information from other people and sources. Brian profiled him! We took him at 30th in our mock! Point was passed over three times including an infamous choice of Connor Chatham over Point! I was mystified that he fell as far as he did. Tampa Bay continues to reap the rewards to this day.

From snwbdgislife:

I’m not sure this is an appropriate question or if you have addressed it sufficiently. But in my view the hardest thing to gain in sports is a significant advantage over your competition. IMO NJ had it 2 years ago. I thought it would take years for NYR and NYI, much less WAS and PIT, to catch up to NJ’s speed and skill. But in the quest to get tougher and harder to play against they lost that big skill/speed advantage. And ironically they did it to try and compete with CAR. But they are still losing to CAR and CAR isn’t the gold standard anymore. So NJ is stuck in the messy middle. They are not as strong/tough as CAR and CAR isn’t as tough as FLA. But they have also lost their skill/speed advantage. Some stars and a lot of meh IMO. What the heck would you do if you were GM?

I fully agree that the Devils misread the five-game second-round elimination to Carolina 2023 and the failure of 2023-24 to mean that they should get bigger, tougher, grittier, and more experienced. All it got them was a five-game first-round exit to Carolina in 2025. A valiant effort given all things considered but an elimination all the same. And it is hard to not see Florida as the gold standard of the NHL as they are about to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals for a third straight year.

I will say that a deep analysis of Florida would be required to learn the right lessons. I understand they are heavy and they throw plenty of legal and not-legal shots. So are other teams in this league and they won diddly squat with that (see: Washington). Florida is a fascinating case of a team not really built through the draft (they have five drafted players on their roster and three of them were over 10 years ago) but through trades (most notably Matthew Tkachuk), free agency (most notably Sergey Bobrovsky), and even waivers (most notably Gustav Forsling). They are a team that rolled the dice on Paul Maurice, who had a reputation of being a loser until he didn’t lose. They are a team committed to analytics as assistant GM Sunny Mehta has worked closely with Bill Zito. For as much complaining about a tax advantage, the Panthers are in their fifth straight season of being a playoff team, which matches all of the times they ever did it before 2020. Ownership, Zito, Mehta, and the staff did a lot to turn things around and stick their ways of playing hockey. If the Devils and others want to take any lessons from the Panthers, then it should be in how they scout and analyze pros to acquire. I would start there if I was a GM.

In terms of how to build or adjust the roster, I would focus less on going big or going nasty and go more about going cohesive. Similar to Carolina, Florida is a team where the fourth line and third defensive pairing is going to play similarly to how the first line and first defensive pairing plays. It is aggressive. It is a challenge to identify depth players to keep things going. And it is not a guaranteed Cup winner (nothing is). But it will elevate a team because if an opponent struggles with one style of play, they are going to hate it when it does not let up.

For the older People Who Matter, this was also a big reason why the Devils had such a long Golden Age. Yes, the neutral zone trap flipped the game on its head and the Devils were not going to be bested at playing the 1-2-2. What made theirs so difficult to breakdown was how everyone bought into it and the players they would bring in would buy into it as well if they wanted to last in New Jersey. I do not think the 2024-25 Devils had a problem with buying into a system, but I do think there was a divide into what each line or role was buying into and it did not work out so well against a machine like Carolina. And it would not likely work so well against other machine-like teams like Florida where the issue is not so much one matchup but all of them.

The gut reaction is to get nasty or bigger. I think the real value is to find out where the league is going and try to get ahead of that and be among the leaders of the next wave, than trying to fight the currents of the ocean or just following the leaders of the current wave (who are currently the Panthers until they are not). If I or someone in my organization develop something on-ice that will make the league baffled at how to handle it like the 1993-94 Devils did, then a new Golden Age can begin.

From Tasmar Vanderweghe:

I also applaud the fact that you have decided to do a Jim Brown/Barry Sanders and go out while you’re still at the top of your game. Thanks for everything John...agree or not. In parting though...I do have some questions that I hope you’ll deem worthy of answering...here goes....please limit the answers to persons or events during your time running the blog

Favorite Devils players (you can offer 3)

Favorite Devils coach

Least favorite Devils coach

Favorite Devils team

Favorite in person moment at a game

Least favorite moment

Can we have just one last rant about something like hits, grit, or fights making a difference?

Thank you. I will address all of these points and within the timeframe of 2006-2025:

• My three favorite Devils from this time period are Martin Brodeur, The Big Deal, and Patrik Elias.
• My favorite Devils coach from this time period is Jacques Lemaire. Peter DeBoer runs second for 2012. I have faith in Sheldon Keefe.
• My least favorite Devils coach was the Error of John MacLean. One of the few positives of that era was this post.
• My favorite Devils team from this era: the 2011-12 Devils. Followed closely by the 2022-23 Devils.
• My favorite in person moment at a game from this time period: 3. Akira Schmid shutting out Our Hated Rivals in 2023’s Game 7. 2. Taylor Hall’s greatest goal as a Devil. 1. Adam Henrique scoring in overtime in 2012’s Eastern Conference Finals in Game 6.
• Least favorite moment: I also attended this one too: Game 7 in 2009 against Carolina. Only time I ever left the Rock swearing up a storm. I am not going to list any others. It cannot be topped.
• Hits, grit, fights make a difference only in a romantic sense but not in a sense that actually impacts the scoreboard of a hockey game. The ultimate example of this is the most famous moment from the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals. Younger me and many others associate that comeback series win by the Devils with Scott Stevens crushing Eric Lindros into oblivion. However, not only did that hit - arguably the most famous hit in Devils history - not intimidate the Flyers or have Philly wilt every time #4 took a shift; but the Flyers tied up the game 1-1 after that infamous moment. The Devils won the game thanks to Patrik Elias lifting up Dan McGillis’ stick and then putting home a puck somewhat sent on its way by Jason Arnott - who was checked hard by clearly not-intimidated Keith Primeau at the moment. If Scott Stevens’ most famous hit did not turn the tide of a massively important game - Game 7 for the right to play for the Cup), then how can any bodycheck by or on, say, Jesperi Kotkaneimi turn any tides? It really does not. I want the Devils to focus on the things that matter that would put points on the board or keep the opposition from putting points on the board. Grit does not win and if you think Florida is currently winning because of it, then we’re not watching the same games. (Not to mention that Carolina has been cheap-shot heavy this year, do not think I didn’t see Dmitry Orlov attempt to go Todd Marchment on Timo Meier in Game 3.)

From EliasStillRocks:

One last question.... As I try to keep life light and as humorous as possible.... What is the funniest post that you can recall that made you laugh

Oh, that is a very good question. I think the most I laughed was when Mike wrote about the incoming jersey ads back in December 2020. Which I still wish never happened. One of the many times we stood athwart history to say “No.” and history said “Too bad.”

From Jin4576:

Question: What would be your last song to close out this chapter in your life?

Good question! For the record, I took the idea of putting songs into Gamethreads from Steve Lepore. Credit him for starting that. I have only continued it. Anyway. For this post, two songs come to mind:

• Don Caballero’s “June is Finally Here” from their seminal album What Burns Never Returns
• NoMeansNo’s “The Night Nothing Became Everything” from their album 0+2=1

Both are instrumentals but both say quite a bit to me at least. The first, aside from its almost-timely title, feels like a song that is an ending. An ending to a lot of complexities. No false endings in the song either. The second is more or less an introduction to a new beginning. It is loud, all over the place to start, finds a center, and then fades out into an unknown silence. I am kind of in the second one now since last Friday’s post. The unknown silence will likely come tomorrow when I realize I do not have to write anything for Sunday. Or organize posts for free agency. Or the 2025 NHL Draft. Or some other change about the New Jersey Devils. Or anything. It will be strange. I wish I could say I knew what could come. It could be anything. And so nothing could become everything.

From TerreriStepper:

I missed my chance when we moved on from ruff, but I always meant to ask this because you may be the only one who gets the joke. Since he is still in the league though, why not: is Lindy lindy?

An excellent question! On the surface, Lindy may be seen as lindy because Lindy is still around. Plus, the game has become more offensive which suits a key component of Lindy’s philosophy as a coach (the other being having a stupendous goalie). However, there are not many (any?) Ruff disciples working in this league as far as I know. For something to be lindy, it needs to provide value and that means success in this sport. As great as 2022-23 was, he provided so little for New Jersey in the other seasons. Same with Dallas and Buffalo. So I would say Lindy is ultimately not lindy.

From devilsrock:

Question from me: looking at Florida, and if you are completely honest, do you see devils winning the cup with this core, i.e. Hughes brothers, Nico, Bratt?

I do. Especially in comparison to past Devils teams, the sheer offensive skill between those four blows away much of what previous cores had. Sure, there is a through line from Scott Niedermayer and Brian Rafalski to Luke Hughes as much as there is one from Elias to The Big Deal, Bratt, and especially Hischier. But just as those past Devils paved the way, the current group is just capable of things that was not really thought of in the 1990s or 2000s.

Following on my response to snwbdgislife, the way to win is not so much to follow the leader but figure out what to lead in next. A team can be successful with the Hughes Brothers, Nico Hischier, and Jesper Bratt as they hopefully find that out. The Devils management needs to identify what they can and want to do on the ice, and build a cohesive 18-man squad to do that.

From BringBackPeluso:

Question: I have a throwback 82-92 red and green jersey. I have been procrastinating for over 10 years?! on what player to get on it. Was thinking Lemieux our MVP from our first cup? I have a have a Daneyko jersey already. Also any insight as to where to get this done? I live in Bergen County.

Claude Lemieux did play for the Devils from 1990 through 1992 so he did legitimately wear the old red and green jerseys. He even put up 41 goals in 1991-92. You could do that.

As for where you can have it done, your best bet is to contact a sports apparel shop (e.g. Middlebury Sports Apparel in Randolph might do it) and see if they are willing to do it. It may be expensive but it could be done.

From Blood_Devil:

What was the most fulfilling thing you did during your tenure? What was your favorite article/series you wrote?

The most fulfilling thing I have done is to have a staff. When I started the blog, I was protective of it. It was mine. It was my responsibility. It was my words. It was my typos and errors. It was me. After a while, it was clear that if I wanted to be more serious about the site and have it actually have posts up related to activity happening, then I needed help. I also needed to establish what I wanted in a site instead of just what I wanted. If only to communicate to those who want to write about the Devils that there was a standard. Namely, to back up what thought, opinion, argument, take, statement, and so forth you have about the Devils. And, related to that I needed to be flexible enough to communicate that the site was just a hockey blog. It is not a full-time job. It certainly never paid like one. Family and health and real life was more important and so if we had to move things around, we could. Related: I wanted the other writers to write like themselves about what they want to write about the Devils. I would only ask them in specific cases as to what to write about, but even that was open ended to how the writer wanted to have it.

It has been a great success. I remain impressed that so many talented People Who Matter were willing to give their time, their attention, and their efforts to the site. It is why I specifically named so many people in last Friday’s post. I really could not have made In Lou We Trust / All About the Jersey into what it is for so many of you without them. And, most of all, all of those writers - and the ones I did not select from those audition posts - were people like you. They were readers and commenters. They bought in to the idea of the site and said “Yes, I want to contribute.” You, yes, you reading this, could do this one day. That I can even pass the site onto Chris is a blessing in of itself. Out of all of the things I have done, I feel the most fulfilled from that.

My favorite article/series varies. I loved doing the goal breakdown posts, even if I had to rush plenty of those posts due to timing. While they were not my idea, I loved the Top 25 Under 25 series, including asking the People Who Matter for their lists. The look back at each draft class, while long, has always been an interesting thing to dive into - and I love doing that. I managed to speak at a conference after researching time actually killed from penalty kills: Killing Time, which was done in 2015 and 2016 offseasons. Thank you, Ryan Stimson in particular for that. While I was in some personal pain at the time, documenting the New Jersey Devils 2010s: A Decade of Necessary Changes was a personal highlight and something I am proud of to this day.

From mrswiggins:

On the other hand, I have always agreed with you 1000% when to comes to Kurtis freaking MacDermid, and thus my final question to you is this:

- you get to play GM one last time. Give us the top ten realistic transactions you would make this offseason. Doesn’t have to be super detailed nor exactly cap compliant. Starting with #1:

- Waive MacDermid and bury his contract at Utica (because that’s better than buying him out, correct?)

OK. Let’s do it. Assume I have already had a deep conversation with Sheldon Keefe and his staff to understand what exactly they want all 12 forwards and 6 defensemen to do. Cohesion to the system is going to be just as crucial as talent from the open market. My first act is indeed to bury Kurtis MacDermid and pickup an extra $1.15 million in cap space for July 1, 2025. Done.

#2 Demote Seamus Casey to Utica to save another $0.950 million. Combined with the MacDermid burial, the Devils will have another $2.1 million to spend for a total of $14.05 million

#3 Buyout Erik Haula to save another $1.6 million and eat only $0.8 million for 2026-27. As per my buyout primer, while buying out Ondrej Palat saves more, it would cost more. And I think the Devils really need to move on in their bottom six. This puts me up to $15.65 million to play with.

#4. Since Luke Hughes cannot be given an offer sheet and he does not yet have arbitration rights, I send his agent a contract offer of $7.75 million AAV for 8 seasons and leave it at that. A total of $62 million committed to a defenseman I believe will be more than worth it. That leaves me with $7.9 million to play with for other moves.

#5. I talk turkey with Jake Allen and tell him he can come back if he is willing to do it for $2 million. Which is a big paycut from the $3.3 million he earned last season. If not, Nico Daws, the job is yours.

#6. I am only qualifying Santeri Hatakka and Isaac Poulter as RFAs. Cody Glass would be too expensive to keep around $2.75 million AAV and I think it is time to move on from Nolan Foote. Hatakka and Poulter can be super-deep options in their respective depth charts.

#7. How about a trade? Marco Rossi is apparently unhappy in Minnesota and Bill Guerin may not want to keep him. While Rossi could be an offer sheet target, I call up Guerin and give him an out around the draft. Instead of being squeezed to take draft picks, he can take Dawson Mercer and the 2026 second round pick to save face. While I have to still replace Mercer and Haula in the lineup, I have $11.9 million to use. $5 million of which will go to extending Rossi for four years. There’s my spine of the forward group. And before you tell me about the centers being small, please consult the Tampa Bay Lightning roster from 2020-2022.

#8. July 1 comes and I sign the following for my new bottom six with my most of my nice $6.9 million remaining: Cole Koepeke (shout out to JP Gambatese for the suggestion), Eric Robinson, Radek Faksa (shout out to Jared for mentioning him on Wednesday), and Steve Lorentz. Rossi centers the faster Koepeke and Robinson. Faksa can center the physical Lorentz and Cotter. What about Arseni Gritsyuk and Lenni Hameenaho? Those four are the guys they need to surpass to earn a roster spot.

#9. I probably have some money left over from those four signings. Why not bring back some nostalgia for scoring if he’s down to take the $2 million that Allen may not take? How about a return of The Pride of Montvale, New Jersey, Kyle Palmieri? He has been productive, albeit in big minutes, with the Isles. With Mercer now with the Wild per #7, Palmieri is a fill-in middle-six winger who can score. At age 35 and the option to stay local, he may be interested.

#10. Also on July 1, I demand Ondrej Palat to give me his ten-team trade list and I send him to anyone willing to take him. If I can clear that $6 million by February 1, 2026, then I can set in motion the massive play for Quinn Hughes by that year’s deadline. Since that list cannot be given until July 1, 2025, I cannot move him before hand without his permission and I do not want to find out how much he liked George Costanza at Play Now.

My end result is a team that is faster, has more scoring punch, has a different look at depth, and it does not fully require the Devils to move on from their biggest anchor contracts in Palat and Dougie Hamilton which may have to wait anyway. Great question and we’ll see what Mr. Fitzgerald does himself in time.

From 950003dev:

My one question to you is this.

I have been a hockey fan for over 60 years. I believe the greatest series I have ever witnessed (even though I hated the final result) was the 1994 Eastern Conference championship between the NJ Devils and the New York Rangers. What was your greatest series?

The greatest series for me was 1995 Stanley Cup Finals. I never saw the 1972 Summit Series what with me being both American and born in 1983. However, that series is Important because of how it changed the game. For the NHL, that series changed what hockey would be until the Salary Cap Lockout of 2005. The Devils were into their second season of utilizing a neutral zone trap. The narrative was that a Red Wings team loaded with legends, then current and eventual ones, was going to stomp them out. The Devils did more than play with them. They swept them. They forced the league to recognize that a great system can beat an on-paper superior lineup. They forced Scott Bowman to sit down with Slava Fetisov and talk until he discovered the Left Wing Lock, which helped Detroit become even more dominant in the 1990s. They also secured history for the Devils franchise, the state of New Jersey, and a 12 year old me.

From Säbelzahntiger, who asked several questions:

Some questions:

- If you could, what would you change about the current framework the NHL is operating in to make the game even more attractive? (can be in-game rules, CBA, player safety, points system, playoff seeding etc.)

- As someone who has never attended a game in North America, which arenas would you recommend visiting and why (apart from the Rock)?

- Many discussions in the comments revolve around factors (and their relative importance) to get this team closer to winning (analytics, speed, system, grit etc.). Curiously, culture (or chemistry) remains largely absent. How would you factor culture into the equation? I’m asking this as well from a Swiss and personal perspective, having quit playing hockey due to toxic locker room culture and hearing sometimes stories from Swiss players who returned from North America never fully getting accustomed to the business side of things. I’m also curious on your take more generally about the hiring culture and apparent nepotism in the NHL. My hunch is that the Devils could be a lot more successful if they would break with this.

- Lastly, given the current core of the Devils, what sort of brand of hockey do you think they should adopt to get past teams like Carolina and especially Florida with their tenacious forecheck? With what type of players would you complement the core?

Great questions! I shall answer them in order:

First: I think the game as it is now is quite attractive. The massive increase to the salary caps is not coming from people who dislike the game. If I were in charge, then I would hire some different creative people to promote the attractiveness of this game. Some of their ads now are good, such as the ones focusing on the new generation of players; but they need more. And they should invest in other types of media. There is a NHL Network. Use it more! Have a show explaining how coaches look and coach up the game. Have a show focusing on the minor affiliates and prospects on the come up. Have a show of stories from players. Have more content and different types to not appeal to different fans but different kinds of fans.

It would not be attractive, but I would enforce some new rules. The Department of Player Safety would be run by a non-hockey person as to not be biased to how they used to play or to a former team. Purely for optics, that would help. I would enact minimums for certain suspensions and quantities of suspensions. If someone gets tossed for putting someone on a stretcher, then he should get a longer punishment than someone else getting tossed for being mad at the end of the game. I do not think people would like it but it would be more consistent and, in time, begrudgingly accepted.

Second: I would recommend the Rock. I have not been to too many other arenas. MSG is cavernous and remarkably expensive beyond the concept of having to be in the midst of Our Hated Rivals. Can’t recommend MSG.

Third: I think a lot of the comments after the loss to Carolina should be more about tangibles than intangibles like grit and culture since the Devils lost in five games due to some very tangible differences between the two teams. As much as the Devils are not focused on much by sports media, anything foul in the locker room would hard to be ignored in today’s media environment. Especially as more and more players and agents have their own media to discuss and bring up things. Even back in 2010-11, it was pretty apparent to non-connected hockey bloggers like me that Jamie Langenbrunner’s repeated “It’s in the room” comments after another loss under John MacLean spoke to issues in the culture.

I do not think the Devils’ problem in 2024-25 was due to players not agreeing with how business should be done or not buying into what Sheldon Keefe wanted them to do. The roster’s flaws came about when then scoring slowed down and the injuries picked up. Their lack of depth in talent was further exposed against Carolina in a five-game loss. The lack of cohesion in the team has to do more with what the players could do as opposed to the players not being on the same page. To that end, I think the locker room is not an issue.

As far as nepotism and hiring in sports, it is unfortunately an issue in general. Whether it is engineering, business, finance, or sports management, who you know is often a better decider for getting a job than what you know. The bitter and harsh reality is that if the person is competent and the business or team is successful, then the nepotism is not really an issue to most people. The issue is when then the nepotism does not lead to success or hinders it. To that end, I do think the Devils could stand to keep stepping away from the traditional 200 Hockey People (it’s not just men anymore, plenty of women in hockey prefer “The Old Ways”) to find that next wave of where the league is going. It usually takes some out of the box thinking to figure out what will be successful next in the league instead of figuring out how to imitate someone else’s success.

Fourth: Beating Carolina’s and Florida’s forecheck is going to require a strong gameplan, commitment to that plan, and providing enough quality on the ice to keep them honest when the Devils do have the puck. Both teams love to forecheck with layers and support. If the Devils can more reliably use their aggression to their advantage, then they can find space to use their speed to rush attacks down. Weirdly, Keefe sort of, kind of found that in spots in the five game series loss. It may behoove him to try to find it (or at least find it in the current Carolina-Florida series) to make that something the Devils can pull out if/when it happens to them by an opponent. As far as complementing the core, the Devils need scoring talent and speed. We saw what Fitzgerald brought in for this season to add experience, grit, size, and it meant very little as it came with slowness, less of skill on the puck, and less movement off the puck that could have kept a Canes team honest.

In the responses to Säbelzahntiger’s comment, Bar Man had this question:

To bring this back on topic, I’d like to know what John thinks about changing OT and maybe adjusting standing points?

Which was echoed by NJ Seagull:

Got it. Math was hard late last night when I posted this. And yes, to keep this on topic I’d like to know John’s opinion on this (and 10-min OT)

I am OK with going to 3-2-1-0 like the International Ice Hockey Federation does. It is not the end of the world if the NHL sticks to 2-1-0 as they have been. I do not think that teams will suddenly go super-hard in a tie game in the regular season. Some teams just let it go beyond 60 because they are tired or just want to get something for their efforts amid the grind of an 82-game season. But if the NHL goes to it, it would be OK with me.

I am also agnostic about 10 minute overtimes. As it is, the five minutes often mean a extra and usually long shifts for a handful of players. I do not think 10 minutes to get extra players involved will help make overtime any more interesting. Especially if those players are slower, less skilled, and therefore ill-suited for 3-on-3 hockey. And regular season games have to end at some point. If the NHL wants to go for it, then fine. But I’m fine with the current format here too.

This absolutely means the playoffs should not change. The NHL has the perfect format for games in the playoffs. They should not touch it ever. I fear it might after Gary Bettman, one of the league’s biggest proponents, retires.

From Rolston14:

For the analytical folks is it possible to throw out some numbers (how many original users/commenters are still posting/active, how many total active members do we have, what percentage of unique page views are there vs total commenters i.e. how many lurkers?, what article generated the most comments, any other “stats” you might think we would find interesting)

The other question i’ve always had but never asked, was how would we go about contacting other members of the blog individually (if both parties were in agreement of course) - I’m thinking something along the lines of sharing our twitter handles or some-such. or maybe there’s a good reason for not wanting to do that, I don’t know, but i always sort of wondered.

There have been a few times i’ve had tickets to a game and would have liked to give them away to folks here, but i wasn’t sure if that was something that would be frowned upon, or then to my point above, how to even go about contacting someone without having to put our info in a comment. (maybe an optional profile setting where we add twitter handle?)

I would love to have the answers about the readers, commenters, and users. Due to changes in the comment system throwing out a lot of the old comments, that is really hard to figure out. Not to mention there are user accounts that are really spam accounts so they may not be “real deal” people interested in the Devils. Lastly, the readership counting has always been iffy on my end so I wish I could say with certainty how many people we have read this. This is a lot to say I do not know and I wish I did! The most I can look back under the new commenting system is the last 120 days, where we have had 34,686 total comments. Not necessarily 34,686 different people and that number is smaller than what we would get in-season.

In terms of contacting other people, that invites a potential safety risk since I do not know how many people want to put their info out there and want to be contacted. For the staff, we do have a masthead to be contacted. But individual users, not so much.

Sorry I could not provide a more interesting answer, especially to that first one. I would love to know how many page views we had over these nearly 17 years.

From MDDevil:

My question: do you think the Devils will win a Stanley Cup with the 3 Hughes brothers (WHEN/after Quinn is acquired that is)? And bonus points for the year (because, let’s face it, the answer HAS to be yes.)

My answers: Yes and I will predict it will be in 2028. Not the first year of Quinn Hughes. After some period of teeth gnashing about how the Devils have all three Hugheses and cannot win it, they will and a lot of the haters and losers will suffer yet another crushing ‘L’ with the fourth banner to be raised before 2030.

From RaaandyMcKay:

Finally, per your request, some questions for you to choose from. 19 questions for your 19 years of covering NJD, to be exact.

Since our last cup win in 2003:

1. Best player not named Bratt - value vs draft position?

2. Best one tool player?

3. Most complete player?

4. Biggest draft bust?

5. Biggest draft miss? (a la Barzal, Rossi, etc)

6. Which Devils team was 1 piece away from winning a cup, and what piece was missing?

7. NHL player (2003-now) who never played for NJ, but would have been a perfect fit?

8. Devils player who most exemplified a style of physical play that you feel has no place in the game?

9. Devils player who most exemplified a style of physical play that you feel belongs in the game?

10. Favorite fight?

11. One face-off to win a cup - who takes it?

12. One penalty shot / shootout attempt to decide a huge game - who takes it?

13. Best candidate for player/coach & in which season?

14. Which everyday player would you choose to alternate as forward & D in the same playoff series?

15. Most overrated Devils great?

16. Player who most deserves to be considered a Devils great, but is not?

17. Best starting 5 + goalie, but only players who spent one season or less in NJ?

18. In a league that often discourages big personalities, most unique off-ice player?

19. Doesn’t TWENTY YEARS have a nice, clean ring to it???

I did ask for questions. Let’s run the gauntlet! In order:

1. The trick answers are Brian Rafalski, John Madden, and Andy Greene as they were never drafted. Of actually picked players by New Jersey: Willie Mitchell, an eighth rounder from 1996 that ended up playing in over 900 games.
2. Best one tool player, goodness: How about Miles Wood whose one tool was to skate super fast in a straight line.
3. Most complete player: In Devils history, that is easily Patrik Elias.
4. Biggest bust: In the era of this blog’s existence, John Quenneville. For the Devils, take your pick between Jean-Francois Damphouse, Adrian Foster, and Ari Ahonen.
5. Biggest miss: I repeat, Brayden Point in 2014.
6. The Devils team that fell short of a Cup by one piece was perhaps the 2001 and 2012 Devils teams that made it to the Finals. The 2001 team just needed some gas. The 2012 team needed a healthy back for Ilya Kovalchuk. More seriously: Both teams could have used one extra scorer to put them over the top in each series and I think they would have won it all.
7. I would have loved, and I mean loved, Point in a Devils uniform. Ditto for Patrick Marleau (I believe NJ came close a few times to getting him), Roman Josi, Jason Robertson, and, not that this would ever happen but Anze Kopitar.
8. Take your pick between the many goons I had to write about over the years from Gazdic, Peters, Boulton, Farnham, Geertsen, Janssen, MacDermid, Gabriel, and probably some others too. Sasha Lakovic may have been the worst I have seen among them.
9. In a pre-Rule 48 world, Scott Stevens. Now? I would say Timo Meier does it.
10. None, really.
11. Nico Hischier. And I’m serious.
12. Among the current Devils, Jesper Bratt.
13. Candidate for a player-coach could have been Stevens in the early 2000s.
14. Ah, the Brylin. Among current Devils, Hischier would probably be the best at it. The job would go to Nathan Bastian since he seems to understand defense and he certainly was not going forward a whole lot.
15. Most overrated Devils great? I think the great ones are legitimately great. To not avoid the question entirely: Ken Daneyko only because his prime years were in a very different era of hockey that really did not apply in the 1990s or his twilight years in the 2000s or any games he has commentated since.
16. Time heals all wounds so Zach Parise. In time, I think he will get his due. The People Who Matter did forgive Scott Gomez eventually. You can add Travis Zajac to this answer too.
17. I hate this question because most of the guys I think of actually played two seasons like Neal Broten and Doug Gilmour. I will pass. Sorry.
18. The most unique off-ice player is Jaromir Jagr. All accounts is that he is devoted to the game and is just a character.
19. It does but I can’t do 20. Sorry.

From The Great Slawslaw:

My question: who deserves to have their name on the cup more: Corey Schneider or Jack Hughes?

Trick question: The Cup isn’t about deserves. More seriously, it has to be The Big Deal as he can still win one as a player. Unless Schneider gets into coaching or management, he is not going to get there.

From an email of an anonymous user, a series of questions (I removed the ones I already answered from others):

Most unexpected place you were recognized?

When did you know that you had something percolating w the site?

How often would you have something just about done then essentially rewrite it?

Any topic you wanted to explore in more depth but didn’t have a window for it?

During the down years, was doing the site able to make the seasons more bearable or more of a drag?

What (if anything) made you go ‘I can’t believe I’m doing this’?

Did doing the site ever make it tough to just be a fan?

In order:

The most unexpected place was when I was walking around in downtown Westfield and someone drove by yelling they liked my site. I waved back. I was effectively catcalled on the street for my hockey blog. I never expected that.

For the percolation: two things. I knew I had something percolating when I had someone - I forget the name, sorry! - suggest I register a domain name for In Lou We Trust so more people could access it easily. Which I eventually did and paid for. For a hobby and having plenty of disposable income, I figured it was worth it. It was.

Especially when James Mirtle reached out to me to join Sports Blog Nation. He gave me the details and pitched me that all I would need to do is to write. He also said $50. I wrote back that I don’t know if I can do it while paying $50. He wrote back and said, no, we would pay you $50. I accepted and that is how I joined up in 2008. I want to say I was the seventh hockey blog and part of a wave of hockey blogs to fill out the league.

Aside: I think Lighthouse Hockey, Mile High Hockey, PensBurgh, Winging it in Motown, Pension Plan Puppets, and Stanley Cup of Chowder predated me. Apologies if I got that wrong.

I would re-write paragraphs or sentences somewhat often. Hence, some of my silly typos or extra words left in would get through to publish. Rarely would I re-write a whole post from scratch. Once I have an idea and I have the thoughts to go with it, I get going and I tend to stick with it.

Topics I wish I could cover more is a good one. I wish I did a series where I forced myself to learn in public about hockey tactics and coaching. It is an important aspect to the game and good analysis at least shows how a team is performing on the ice beyond the numbers. It also can answer why the Devils did/did not do well. I can still learn it; but it will have to be on my own. I also wish I brought back to the Soft Goal Analysis or Goal Review (I did one for David Clarkson) or some kind of running list of details about goals the Devils scored in a season. Something to provide more value beyond just a goal total. I also wish I explored other lesser known nations in hockey like I did with the Philippines. Specifically India since they are a strange entity: a long-ish IIHF member that has never played in the World Championships and seemingly has not made strides in a formal program despite having a history of people playing the sport over a century ago. And more goal breakdowns. They were time-consuming but always worth the effort.

During the down years, it became a drag. When the rebuild was beginning in earnest, I think most of the People Who Matter expected it to be rough. When the team flopped after 2018, it became more of a bemusement. The 2023-24 campaign was a bear to get through for me just because it was just a whole lot of let downs after some positive times and ultimately not a whole lot to hope for other than changes. The 2024-25 Devils did improve, which was good.

I think my “I can’t believe I’m doing this” thoughts tended to center around money. Namely, the lack of it I earned while doing all of this. From Mirtle’s initial offer, to raises received, to a lack of raises definitely not received, and eating a paycut a few years back to keep the site possibly alive (which it did), I really am not coming out of this endeavor ahead financially. I would be reminded of this at least annually around tax time where despite the lack of income, I certainly got to pay the government. This is not sour grapes. I always treated All About the Jersey as a hobby and not a job. It never paid enough to be a job. It paid enough to make my taxes more costly, but not enough to be anything full-time. I do think that I left plenty of money on the table for not reaching out for more money. I do not regret it much because, again, this was a hobby to me. And I think the other writers got that too since, again, we all have our own jobs outside of the site. That all said: that one draft post where I involved a made-up yam was pretty silly too. I was taking inspiration from David Nonis as a potato from Pension Plan Puppets, so I wanted to do my own version with a yam.

Did doing the site make it tough to be a fan? In a sense, no. This was an output of me being a fan. It is a reason why I never took press credentials and did not want to play journalist when others may have wanted that. I want the Devils to win. I want to cheer for them. I want to write good things and praises for them. I want to be wrong when I am negative. I want the Devils to win. But being a fan also means living in reality and so even when I would be more pessimistic or down or wanting wrong things to be made right, I had to write that. I would like to think this site as a whole, represents the full experience of fandom from big-picture thoughts to really granular subjects to out of the ordinary takes to regular things you would expect to see.

In a sense, it did make it harder. One of the reasons why I am stepping away is because it is getting harder for me to write as I have been about the Devils. And as NJ Seagull noted, I do have to keep attention to the online world as actual, real life hockey is in front of me. I have to put being a fan aside to comment on X or this site or to remember something for writing later. Related to that, if the Devils stink it up, most of you - the People Who Matter - can go leave the game or turn off the TV. I am committed to watching and giving thoughts about it regardless of how stinky it got. And when the game ends, you can move on to the next thing. I would have to write, check to make sure someone else is, or get ahead on the next thing I am writing. This is not a complaint, but it was work at times and certainly not by being a fan.

I am looking forward to being just a fan. Even if it is for a little bit. After all, one of the reasons why I started blogging at all was because I have a lot of thoughts about the New Jersey Devils and I figured I should share them with people who would actually care about them instead of people just humoring me.

---

With that, those are my last answers to your questions here. If anyone put any up after 9:20 PM on Thursday night, then I am sorry if I have missed it. I was going to leave it here but, as usual, I cannot so I will not. One more time, for the last time:

I thank everyone who commented at all to last week’s post, sent a message on X, or even sent me an email wishing me well. I am blessed to receive such well-wishes from a lot of you, whether you have been reading since the Blogspot days or you just started reading the site this day. I encourage you all to keep reading people you may not agree with, cause you to look at the Devils and the game differently, and engage. There is more to sports than just the results. Learn, dig into it, and understand the whys and hows and what could bes of the Devils. It is far more interesting anyway.

I thank Chris, Nate, Jared, James, Alex, Gerard, Jackson, Ian and all of the previous writers at All About the Jersey for contributing their time and efforts. Chris will take the lead and he will do a fantastic job in what will be a new era of All About the Jersey. Please support him because the hockey will not stop at All About the Jersey.

I thank James Mirtle for taking a chance on me in 2008 and the larger Vox Media management for not cutting AAtJ with the other hockey sites a few years back. I also want to thank, in particular, Tyler Bleszinski and James Bankoff for their support and even enduring sitting by me at a game a long, long, long time ago (I want to say it was a win over Toronto, not sure). It is a minor miracle these days to consistently be a part of someone’s site for years much less nearly 17 of them. And to also leave that site on one’s own terms and on positive terms. I appreciate that.

I thank my family for their encouragement, understanding, and especially patience. If only for all of those hours spent writing instead of doing something possibly productive.

I thank the New Jersey Devils. Whether I agree with how things are going, disagree with their direction, get mad when they suffer by their own hands, get glad when they succeed, and everything in between, they are a team worth watching, thinking about, and, yes, even loving. The New Jersey Devils will always be a part of my passion. Will it lead to some other thing I do in the future? Maybe, maybe not. Will I always have season tickets and go to as many games as I did? Maybe, maybe not. But I will always remain a supporter of the New Jersey Devils. That will not change.

I thank God. If only for giving me the gifts to get this far at all.

I thank you. Yes, you. By being a reader - not even a commenter, a reader - and a New Jersey Devils fan, you are a Person Who Matters. In the hockey world, few give the Devils and their fanbase any respect. That was as much true from 1995 to 2003 as it is today. I learned that you will not be given respect. You need to take respect. Do not let anyone tell you that you do not matter as a Devils fan. You do. You count. And if you support New Jersey, then I know you can be loud enough to be heard. That stereotype about New Jersey is 100% true: we make ourselves heard. So do not be meek. Do not demand it, command it. You are a Devils fan. Let’s go.

All this to end with the my standard ending to a post: Please leave your reactions and other thoughts about this site and the New Jersey Devils in the comments. Thank you for reading.

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...ple-who-matter-new-jersey-devils-fans-forever

 

[New Jersey Devils]

DitD & Open Post - 5/30/25: A Return? Edition

New Jersey Devils Right Wing Kyle Palmieri (21) skates with the puck during the first period of the National Hockey League game between the New Jersey Devils and the New York Islanders on January 2, 2020, at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, NY. | Photo by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

New Jersey Devils & Related Hockey Links for 5/30/25

Here are your links for today:

Devils Links​

“Flyers fans on social media were clamoring for (Brad) Shaw to become the permanent head coach, but (Sheldon) Keefe and the Devils pounced on the opportunity. He’s known to excel with the blue line especially, as most of the NHL teams he worked with improved significantly on defense after he joined. This includes joining a Blue Jackets team that was 29th in league defense and propelling them to second (!!) in just one single season.” [The Hockey Writers]

“The circumstances have changed for Kyle Palmieri. Whereas it once appeared like he would be staying on Long Island, there’s a new man in charge as the general manager, and that potentially changes everything for his New York Islanders tenure. If it’s over for him in Elmont, the New Jersey Devils should swoop in via free agency for a chance at a reunion with the scoring winger.” [New Jersey Hockey Now]

Hockey Links​

The Stanley Cup Final is set:

THE REMATCH IS SET

THE OILERS AND PANTHERS WILL FACE OFF AGAIN IN THE STANLEY CUP FINAL pic.twitter.com/ufHLHDuaVq

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) May 30, 2025​

And we have a schedule:

The full Stanley Cup Final schedule: pic.twitter.com/N3amTHmNm0

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) May 30, 2025​

The Kraken have a new coach:

UP NEXT: THE LANE EVENT

We’re excited to welcome Lane Lambert to the #SeaKraken as our organization’s new Head Coach → https://t.co/Vd5RuaFbRK pic.twitter.com/R75grVT9BG

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) May 30, 2025​

And the Islanders will keep Patrick Roy:

Mathieu Darche announced today that Patrick Roy will remain as Head Coach of the New York Islanders. pic.twitter.com/cKWYkg8ShH

— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) May 29, 2025​

Jonathan Toews is hoping for a comeback:

Jonathan Toews reached out to his agent Pat Brisson yesterday to inform him he's 100 percent committed to coming back to the NHL next season. Just spoke with Brisson, who says he will start taking calls from NHL teams on Toews now leading up to July 1.
Toews, 37, last played in…

— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) May 29, 2025​

J.J. Peterka? Chris Kreider? Marco Rossi? Some offseason trade targets: [Daily Faceoff]

“At a time when the salary cap ceiling is taking a significant jump to $95.5 million, the conditions are ripe for upheaval. Flexibility is returning to the league’s financial system, and teams have more needs collectively than the free-agent list offers solutions. So there’s every reason to expect a fertile trade market. With that in mind, here’s an early look at the names in play entering the summer.” [The Athletic ($)]

“The Toronto Maple Leafs need to change some of their DNA, general manager Brad Treliving said Thursday. Whether Mitch Marner is part of that going forward is unknown.” [NHL.com]

Feel free to discuss these and any other hockey-related stories in the comments below.

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2025/5/30/24439853/devils-in-the-details-5-30-25-a-return-edition

 

[New Jersey Devils]

The 2024-25 Devils and Luck, and a Farewell

Photo by Andrew Mordzynski/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

For one final time, this is my yearly luck post! My favorite post of the year, this post looks to quantify luck and see if the Devils were lucky or unlucky this year. It also comes with a farewell as my final post for this blog. I hope you check it out!

I have been writing for All About the Jersey/In Lou We Trust since 2014, and for most of those years, I have written a yearly post about luck. It is my favorite post I write each year, one I enjoy diving into and analyzing. Luck is obviously an important part of any sport, and hockey is no different. As fans, we inherently know this. Some teams are superior, but when it comes to the playoffs, they get snakebitten, or goalies let up a few goals on unlucky bounces that send them home. Or, looking at it the other way, teams that barely make it in get a red-hot goalie and go a lot further than they would have. Teams can plan all they want, look at all the analytics, put together the best team, but they can still be foiled by luck. That is what makes it so interesting.

Today, after 11 seasons writing about my favorite team, the New Jersey Devils, this will be my last post. I will be joining John in retiring from this blog. However, I didn’t want to spend it just reminiscing, I wanted to write a somewhat normal post too. So, before I get into my farewell, I wanted to write my yearly luck post. I hope you enjoy it and get something out of it.

So let’s get into it! For those who might not have read this post in years past, this is an attempt to quantify luck in hockey and look at how it affected the Devils this past season. I initially got the idea for this post from Rob Vollman’s Hockey Abstract. He released the book back in 2014, the year I started writing for this blog. John was nice enough to get each of the writers of the blog a copy of the book back in the day, and I enjoyed diving into the analytical approach to hockey. In it, Vollman discusses how to quantify luck. He says that luck can be boiled down to 5 statistics. When you look at those 5 stats for a team, you can see if they were lucky or unlucky. It is not a perfectly quantifiable measure of luck, I don’t think that exists or will ever exist. You cannot perfectly quantify certain aspects of the human condition, and luck is one of those aspects. Nonetheless, I think it does a really good job, all things considered, and it gives us a general idea of whether or not the Devils were lucky or unlucky in a season.

To summarize it, luck can be looked at through these 5 statistics: PDO, Special Teams Impact, injuries as measured by CHIP, record in post-regulation games, and record in one-goal games. I’ll describe what each one is as we get to it, and we will see how the Devils fared in each stat this season. Let’s get started!

PDO​

PDO is the easiest of the five to visually see and research, as it is a statistic regularly tracked by any hockey statistics website. It is a stat that tends to symbolize luck, so it makes sense that it is on this list. It might not be the entire picture of luck, at least I don’t think so, but it is a stat that is intended to track luck to some degree. Simply put, it is the combination of a team’s shooting and save percentages at 5 on 5 play. When added together, luck-neutral teams should have a PDO around 1.00. Anything significantly under that, and a team was unlucky. They could have been snakebitten, or their goaltending could have been particularly poor for a stretch. On the other hand, anything significantly over 1.00, and a team was lucky with either an overly inflated shooting percentage, or a goalie that was absolutely on fire. This is where Carolina usually crumbles, with poor team save percentage, although in this playoffs, Frederik Andersen seemed to be a tonic for the first two rounds at least before everything crumbled.

This season, according to Natural Stat Trick, the Devils ended with a PDO of 0.996. This ranked them 18th in the league in PDO. The luckiest team was Winnipeg at 1.025, and the unluckiest was Nashville at 0.970 (the aforementioned Canes were at 0.983 by the way). Within that 0.996 PDO stat for New Jersey, the team’s shooting percentage at 5v5 was 8.50%, and the team’s 5v5 save percentage was 91.14% (0.085 + 0.9114 = 0.996 PDO). Overall, this is a fairly luck-neutral number for PDO. It is ever so slightly under the pure luck-neutral 1.00, but it is very close. NJ’s shooting percentage at 8.5% was the number that dragged the PDO below 1.00, as that shooting percentage ranked 22nd in the NHL.

Overall, however, the Devils’ PDO was luck-neutral.

Special Teams Impact​

Special Teams Impact works similarly to PDO, as it takes two stats and combines them to give an idea of luck. But whereas PDO is a luck stat for 5 on 5 play, Special Teams Impact looks at all power play and penalty kill situations. It takes a team’s power play and penalty kill percentages and combines them. The closer a team was to 100%, the more luck-neutral they were in these situations. Anything over 100%, and the team was lucky in special teams situations. Anything below, and they were unlucky.

In 2024-25, according to NHL.com, the Devils ended the regular season with a power play percentage of 28.2% and a penalty kill percentage of 82.7%. This puts their Special Teams Impact at 110.9%. Without a doubt, the Devils were lucky in this stat. Their power play percentage ranked 3rd in the league, and their penalty kill percentage ranked 2nd. That is incredible, plain and simple. They had a relatively dominant power play and an even better penalty kill. That is very rare for this team, and in all the years I have done this post, this is the best STI I have seen for the Devils. It will be very interesting to see if the team can recreate this special teams success next year and beyond, and what will happen to the assistant coaching staff if they keep succeeding at this level. You would have to think they might be poached for head coaching candidacies if the team remains this good at special teams.

Overall, in this stat, the Devils were lucky.

CHIP​

To me, this is both the most important and most interesting of the five stats in this post. CHIP stands for the Cap Hit of Injured Players, and it attempts to analyze the impact of injuries on a team. Injuries have a massive impact on a team year over year, and they are basically just luck. You might want to contribute some of it to a good training team, preparation, and whatever remedies teams use to keep players healthy, and that is a fair argument. However, most of it is undoubtedly luck. This is especially true when you consider who gets injured, and this is where CHIP is so good. Analyzing injuries by using salaries and cap hits is generally superior to simply counting man-games lost due to injury because it helps to analyze the impact of injuries on better players. If Jack Hughes misses 20 games due to injury, as he did this past season, that is way more impactful on the Devils and their chances of winning than, say, the 34 games that Curtis Lazar missed. But if you just count man-games lost to injury, that stat would show the 34 missed by Lazar as being more impactful, when that is clearly not the case. But when looking at CHIP, Jack’s $97,561 per game cap hit is way more impactful than Lazar’s $12,195 per game, as it should be.

To find CHIP, a great resource is the NHL Injury Viz. Their visuals really simplify this stat and show it in a great chart. You can also hover over the bars in the graph for more information. I recommend clicking the link and checking it out for yourself. Here is the CHIP chart for 2024-25: (Note: the bigger the bar, the larger the CHIP, the more impactful injuries a team had this past season)

Based on the chart, even with the loss of players like Jack Hughes, Dougie Hamilton, Jonas Siegenthaler, and Jakob Markstrom at different times, the Devils were actually one of the healthier teams in the league overall, although they were not super healthy either. They were the 13th healthiest team over the 82 game season. They lost $4.04 million in injuries to forwards, $3.92 million to defensemen injuries, and $0.62 million to goaltender injuries. To further analyze, here is the CHIP chart on a per-game basis for the Devils:

As you can see, the Devils were incredibly healthy in the first half of the season. From games 10 through 42, there were incredibly few injuries, mostly just Curtis Lazar and Nathan Bastian for a little bit, and 3 games from Jake Allen. Otherwise, they were golden. But the real killers were with the Markstrom injury from games 51 through 61, and then, even worse, the Hughes and Hamilton injuries for the final 20 games or so. Those two injuries in particular skyrocketed the Devils’ overall CHIP. Without those two injuries, they would have been extremely lucky with injuries this season. As it was, however, they only ended up being mildly lucky. And you could even claim that, thanks to the timing of those injuries, keeping Jack out of the playoffs specifically, it negates any luck the team had from CHIP earlier in the season, and I would be inclined to agree with that line of reasoning.

For those reasons, I can’t claim the Devils were unlucky with injuries, because they were so healthy for the first two-thirds of the season. But overall, I would declare the Devils luck-neutral in CHIP this year.

Post-Regulation Record​

The final two stats revolve around close games. Tight games can often be decided with some form of luck involved. A fluky bounce of the puck that goes in the net, or a fluky bounce that prevents an otherwise surefire goal, these can all happen in close games to help decide the outcome. Not all close games are going to be specifically decided by luck like this, but you know luck plays a part in all of these games, so it is worthwhile to track these when looking at luck. If the season were shorter, this would be less effective to look at, but over 82 games, enough close games occur that tracking close games is a decent indicator of luck. Luck-neutral teams will be about .500 in close games, and there are two stats to look at.

The first of the two looks at games that go beyond regulation. Three-on-three has more of a measure of skill involved, but even still, many are often decided by a rogue breakaway, and those can be generated at least in part by luck. Shootouts are extremely luck-driven. This SBN post from 2014 goes into how much of the NHL shootout is driven by luck, and that has not changed in the decade since. Therefore, looking at a team’s post-regulation record gives us a decent indicator of luck. Teams should be about .500 here, especially in games that go to shootouts.

This season, the Devils played in 13 games that went beyond regulation, not including the two double-overtime games in the playoffs. 9 of those 13 games were decided before a shootout, and in those, the team went 4-5. In the four shootout games, the team went 2-2. So, overall, New Jersey was 6-7 in games that went beyond regulation, 7-8 if you want to include the playoff games. Overall, this is basically luck-neutral. They played in an odd number of post-regulation games, so they couldn’t finish at exactly .500, which means this is as close as they could get. They were not incredibly unlucky in the shootout, like way back in 2013-14 when the team went 0-13 in the shootout and missed the playoffs because of it. Post-regulation games did not hurt or help the Devils this season.

So, overall, in post-regulation games, the Devils were luck-neutral.

One-Goal Games​

This one is very similar to the last one. Rather, instead of games that went beyond 60 minutes, this looks at games that finished in regulation but were decided by only one goal. The rationale for this is the same as before: one goal can be fluky for a number of factors, so close games like this should go for your team about as often as they go against you. You might argue that more skillful teams should come out on top a little more than at a .500 clip, and that is fairly reasonable, but in general, a luck-neutral team should be around .500 in one-goal games.

This past season, the Devils played in 15 one-goal games that did not go beyond regulation. In those, they were 6-9. This is fairly unlucky, but not massively so, with a 40% win percentage in these games. They actually lost to San Jose twice by one goal, which is crazy. But if just one of those games went the other way and they got a win, a 7-8 record would be basically luck-neutral. So they were unlucky here, but not crazy unlucky.

So, overall, in one-goal games, the Devils were somewhat unlucky.

Conclusion​

This is honestly the most luck-neutral I have seen the Devils since I started writing these posts each year. In my opinion, the team was basically luck-neutral in three of the five categories. They were very lucky in one stat, special teams impact, and they were slightly unlucky in one stat, one-goal games. You could honestly make a claim about CHIP being slightly lucky or unlucky either way, so I scored it as luck-neutral. And both PDO and post-regulation stats were definitely luck-neutral.

So, in reality, it comes down to two stats. The Devils were very lucky in special teams situations, and a STI of 110.9% is the best I’ve seen for the Devils. Their 40% win rate in one-goal games is unlucky, but only somewhat unlucky, as a 6-9 record is not too far from luck-neutral. When you combine those, the luck of special teams beats out the unlucky one-goal game record, leaving the Devils as having been slightly lucky in 2024-25. They were not very lucky, they did not win thanks to luck. They were not a playoff team because of luck. In reality, they really only got lucky in special teams situations, which are only played for a small percentage of each game.

Nonetheless, it was enough to tip the scales, so I have to claim that the 2024-25 New Jersey Devils were slightly lucky. It is hard to think that way when you realize that Jack Hughes’ injury caused him to miss the playoffs, and that was a huge hit. But this exercise isn’t meant to include the playoffs, just the regular season. And in the regular season, overall, the Devils were a little lucky.

Farewell​

And that is it for me. I honestly cannot believe that I have been writing for this blog for 11 years. In 2014, I was in my mid-20s, only two seasons into being a season ticket holder for the Devils, sitting in section 117 and watching the end of Martin Brodeur’s illustrious career. I remember John putting out a post that he wanted more writers, and wanted article submissions that he would post on the site. From those, he would choose a few to write for the blog on a weekly basis. I said why not, and wrote up a post about how the Devils had more than 12 capable forwards, and they would need to figure out how to address the excess talent at the position in the offseason. That article aged like milk, considering the team didn’t make the playoffs for another few seasons yet. But at least according to John, it was good enough to get a spot writing every week alongside Gerard and CJ. It was unpaid at the time, I was just doing it for fun and because I enjoyed following the team and writing about how they were doing.

And 11 seasons later, it has been a true joy to contribute to this site on a weekly basis. Being able to track how the team is doing in more depth than I ever would have otherwise, writing about their boons and busts, and discovering young talent before they became full-time NHLers has been very enjoyable and interesting. It’s made me feel more connected and invested in the team than I ever would have otherwise, even though I still would have tuned in and watched the games. But by contributing to the blog, the articles I wrote tied me even more to my fandom. Never would I have ever felt so invested in eventual disappointments like Eric Gelinas, Steven Santini, Jesper Boqvist, Alexander Holtz, and others. And never would I have felt more connected to eventual successes like Damon Severson, Jesper Bratt, and Dawson Mercer.

Moving forward, I wish the site well, and I am positive that it will continue to thrive. There are a lot of good writers here, and while the Devils’ fanbase isn’t the biggest, it is passionate, and the organization has held out in northern New Jersey for way longer than many predicted. This franchise is here to stay, and it is successful. And knowing my luck, I am sure that some of the best days for this team, and especially this young core of players, are close at hand. The year after I had to give up my season tickets because I couldn’t afford both them and my mortgage, the Devils made the playoffs. So it is only fitting that the year after I leave All About the Jersey, the Devils go on a deep playoff run. At least, that is my hope, and I am willing it into existence right now.

Thank you to anyone and everyone that has read and commented on any of my posts, and thank you to John specifically for giving me a chance to write for this blog. It means a lot to me to be able to contribute to the Devils community, and the fact that some people read and comment on my posts is still truly remarkable to me, all these years later. I am glad to have been a part of this, and that will not go away, even if my weekly posts will be no more. I look forward to continuing to follow the blog and reading about new prospect profiles, new hot takes mid-season, and seeing how the team is performing analytically. Good luck to everyone still writing for the blog, and I especially wish good luck to the New Jersey Devils. May your successes be grand, and may your tenure in New Jersey continue to be great for years to come.

And for one final time, thank you for reading my post today here at All About the Jersey! I encourage you to comment about how luck affected the team this season and how luck can be quantified via statistics in hockey. If this is the last time this luck post graces this blog, I hope it leaves an impression on you and makes you think about luck in hockey as you watch the Devils. Thank you again, and goodbye!

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2025/5/31/24434526/the-2024-25-devils-and-luck-and-a-farewell

 

[New Jersey Devils]

All About the Jersey Will Continue: Three Promises and An Announcement

Effective today, John is no longer the editing manager of All About the Jersey. However, we will work to make sure this site goes strong into the future.

Happy June, everyone.

We are just a few months away from the start of another New Jersey Devils season, and I cannot think of a place I would rather share it with other fans than here. This is All About the Jersey, a haven for Devils fans and all who want to thoughtfully discuss hockey.

On Friday, John bid farewell to the site. I am sad to see him go. I have been reading his work here since the In Lou We Trust days, as many other members of the site have. Since I joined the site in 2017 as a volunteer game writer, John has helped me grow as a writer, giving me plenty of opportunities to connect with this awesome community. I know that many relied on John for his love for hockey, his attention to detail, and his commitment to this site. I then also realize that it is up to those who of us are still here to keep this place going strong. With that, I have three promises to share with all of you:

First Promise — All About the Jersey Will Not Falter in its Coverage​

While this is a Devils-focused blog, John did not just write about the Devils. He also wrote extensive Division Snapshots alongside thorough write-ups on international tournaments and qualifications. I think it would be a shame for those posts to go away, so I will be picking up John’s international posts moving forward. Additionally, I will continue the Division Snapshots, though I am not currently sure if I will keep them weekly: I may shift those to twice-monthly, but that is an October decision. Ultimately, I do not want coverage to be disrupted.

For those of you wondering about the Top 25 Under 25, fear not: I would never end this annual tradition. In addition to our prospect profiles, the Top 25 Under 25 is one of my favorite offseason activities because it pushes all of us to be aware of the young players who may be a part of the future of the New Jersey Devils and the NHL. As soon as the Draft is over and it looks like the Devils are close to finished with filling out their roster (around halfway through July), we will compile the list of players and write up the post announcing the voting. As always, the final results will be released between August and September.

Second Promise — All About the Jersey Will Always Uphold its Standards​

While All About the Jersey is a blog and not a full-fledged news source, we have always done our best to hold true to editorial standards. We do not blindly report or repost rumors. We do not have mysterious unnamed sources. We credit corroborated and reliable reports and dive deeper into some of the things journalists might not be as concerned with. We have a research standard, and writers will always be asked to follow it. This is not a rumor mill, and we do not believe in tabloid-style writing.

Additionally, this blog is written by real fans. In a time where a Google search will result in AI-infested information pushed in your face or outright AI-generated websites in the results, we believe in real writing for real people. Everyone here puts time and effort into their work, and the results are rewarding. The rise of clickbait-driven AI sports websites only deepens my resolve on preserving and continuing to build this blog.

Third Promise — All About the Jersey Will Continue to Be a Community​

Just after I joined the blog in 2017, John posted his All About the Jersey Declaration of Principles in response to the eight statements jointly released by the NHL, NHLPA, and 15 other hockey organizations earlier that month. The second principle he wrote is one I would like to highlight at this moment:

2. I declare that this is a New Jersey Devils blog primarily for Devils fans. It does not matter where you are from, what you look like, who you like, when you started following the team, why you visited, or even how hardcore of a fan you are. If you’re a Devils fan, then this site is for you. To that end, everyone here should be respectful to each other. No pedestals, no ditches, the Devils fans are on the same plane here. Those who cannot play nice with others will not play at all.

A big part of this just means following the site’s rules, which are unchanged as of this moment. Will they ever change? To some extent, it is possible: but do not expect this site to become some sort of wild west. For now, the rules will be enforced as they are. My reason for that is I think those who have stuck around this community tend to appreciate that the level of conversation here is a fair bit higher than social media sites. As long as you back up what you say and remain respectful, you will be welcome here — and that goes for non-Devils fans, too.

If you follow the blog on Twitter (@AATJerseyBlog), that account will continue to post. I have also been thinking about starting a BlueSky account, and it is also now live as of last night. If you have accounts on either platform, feel free to follow there for updates. An unfortunate part of the Twitter sale and its associated changes awhile back is that our articles no longer automatically post to the account right when they are published, but I will be posting them manually. Remember that our posting times will remain the same. Sometimes things will go up a little early or a little late, but the framework of the site will stay the same. Aside from that, I will be doing my best to be at least somewhat active on social media during the games, and I will also share some short thoughts about the Devils on those accounts.

Well Wishes To Our Departing Writers​

In addition to John’s farewell on Friday, Alex also announced his departure from the site yesterday. I will miss reading their articles, and it has been hard even for me to imagine seeing the site on a weekend without posts from them. Additionally, I have one more departure to announce, as Ian will not be back for game previews and recaps in the 2025-26 season. I felt like our games group was very solid this past year with Jackson, Ian, myself, and the games John filled in for (and also the previous season when we had Caleb), so I will be making an effort to keep that output strong in the next season.

For my eight years writing for the site, I have John to thank, most of all. His work ethic set the standard for the site. As an editing manager, John was incredibly informative, helpful, and patient. But 19 years is a long time, and I fully understood his need to step away. In Alex’s case, 11 years is also a pretty long time, and I would never want writing about the Devils to become stale for anyone here. I hope they do well in their other endeavors, and above all, I hope they take time to enjoy their life. But for John, Alex, Ian, and anyone else who has written here before, I am never going to consider the door completely closed on anyone. Everyone is welcome here, always.

A Promotion — Jackson is Now a Weekly Writer​

While change can be difficult, a positive is that it creates opportunities for people. I still greatly miss Mike Stromberg’s articles, but his departure is what ultimately pushed me to write weekly articles on Mondays. With John and Alex departing, a couple of spots opened up for new writers. Since Jackson first posted in the 2023-24 preseason, he has marked himself as a thorough writer with a good eye, and I am excited to announce that he will be posting weekly articles moving forward. You may have already noticed his Vaclav Nestrasil prospect profile, and another one of his profiles will be out tomorrow. Throughout the next year, he will be making more posts with as much topical freedom as everyone else here, and I am looking forward to reading his articles. As he takes on a new responsibility, please read and support his work.

Moving Forward and Your Thoughts​

I thank everyone here for their understanding of the changes taking place here. I reiterate my first promise here, as I do not want to pull the rug out from underneath the people who relied on this site for coverage of various hockey topics. As I mentioned change creating opportunities for people, we will also be seeking new writers in the near future. I recommend that, if you have thought about writing for this site or elsewhere, you think about whether you are interested in joining the site as a writer now. If you are, a Devils or hockey-related writing sample would be a good thing to have in your back pocket for when I make that “Writers Wanted” post.

In the meantime, our posts are scheduled as usual. Gerard, Nate, Jared, James, Jackson, and I will continue to work in our respective areas. Prospect profiles, free agency, and trade ideas and discussions will be posted as usual. On top of that, if you have any suggestions for the site, please share them in the comments below. For All About the Jersey, this is Chris: I hope all of you have a good day, and thanks for reading.

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...es-news-chris-new-managing-editor-new-writers

 

[New Jersey Devils]

David Lewandowski: 2025 NHL Draft Prospect Profile: 200-Foot Forward With Playmaking Touch

Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images

David Lewandowski put up big numbers in Germany before coming to North America. Read about that and more below.

Today we continue our look at 2025 NHL draft prospects here at All About The Jersey. The next player we’ll be focusing on is David Lewandowski. A German-born forward, might Lewandowski be a target for one of the Devils’ mid-round picks? Let’s take a look at what makes him an interesting prospect.

Who Is David Lewandowski?​

David Lewandowski was born on February 20, 2007. A native of Dusseldorf, Germany, Lewandowski is listed at 6’1”, 176lbs according to his profile on the invaluable Elite Prospects. Lewandowski is the son of Eduard Lewandowski, a Russian-German forward who was selected in the 8th round (yes, 8th round) of the 2003 NHL draft by the Phoenix Coyotes. Eduard never ended up making it to the NHL, but he played professionally in Germany and Russia all the way up to 2022-23 when he was in his early-40’s.

Lewandowski began his junior career playing in the Dusseldorfer EG system in the German junior leagues. In the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season, he posted six goals and 20 points in 19 games. And while he only saw seven total games in another Covid-riddled year in 2020-21, his 2021-22 saw him get back to somewhat regular playing time. That season, he played 10 games at the U15 level and 22 games at the U17 level. In the U15 league, Lewandowski absolutely blowtorched his competition, registering 16 goals and 33 points in those 10 contests. Clearly showing he was too good for U15 hockey, he then got the call for Dusseldorfer EG’s U17 side, where he continued to shine to the tune of 12 goals and 29 points in 22 games.

2022-23 saw Lewandowski spend a full season with the U17 squad, once again putting up video game numbers. In 32 total contests, Lewandowski put up 26 goals and 70 points. He also got his first taste of international competition in 2022-23. In 12 games with the German U16 squad, Lewandowski posted three goals and 13 points. He also got into three games with the U17 team, registering a lone assist.

2023-24 would be his final one in the Dusseldorfer EG system, playing a pair of games at the U17 level before moving up to U20 competition. With Dusseldorfer EG’s U20 squad, Lewandowski collected 15 goals and 48 points in 33 total games. It was this season that also saw Lewandowski loaned to ESC Moskitos Essen in the Germany3 League, where he put up a goal and 10 points in 13 contests. At the international level that year, Lewandowski registered three points in four games in U17 play, and three goals and nine points in 15 games at the U18 level.

This past season was Lewandowski’s coming out party of sorts. He finally got the call to Dusseldorfer EG’s main squad in Germany’s top professional league, the DEL. He got seven games with the big boys, but was held without a point. This was when Lewandowski made the move to North America, joining the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL. Canadian major junior hockey was good to Lewandowski, as the German forward recorded 15 goals and 39 points in 52 total games with the Blades, including another goal and assist in four playoff contests. Not bad for a kid making the move to another continent playing a different brand of hockey on the smaller North American rinks.

Lewandowski also represented Germany in the U18 and U20 World Junior Championships in 2024-25. At the U18 tournament, he posted a goal and three points in five games, while at the U20 level, he potted two goals in another five matches.

Lewandowski clearly has a track record of producing, and while his draft season numbers do not jump off the page, it is encouraging that he was regarded highly enough to get a taste of the professional level in Germany, then came over to North America and put up respectable numbers at the highest junior level here.

Where Is Lewandowski Ranked?​

Lewandowski is ranked:

• 51st by NHL Central Scouting (North American skaters)
• 78th by FCHockey
• 55th by Draft Prospects Hockey
• Honorable Mention by The Athletic (Scott Wheeler’s top 64 Prospect Ranking, so take this as a ranking of roughly 65-80 overall)

What Others Are Saying About Lewandowski​

Let’s first take a look at what Neutral Zone has to say about Lewandowski. This is from their profile of the German forward, published recently on May 23rd:

David Lewandowski is a versatile, skilled winger with legitimate offensive tools, excellent spatial awareness, and a competitive motor. He plays a cerebral, calculated game with flashes of high-end puck skill and creativity. He was (Saskatoon’s) best plus-minus player (+21) despite only ranking 7th in team scoring — strong two-way impact and off-puck details. He projects as a potential middle-six NHL winger who can contribute at even strength and on the power play if his pace and physical consistency continue to develop.

They also list a handful of reasons why Lewandowski should be an NHL Draft pick, including:

• Excellent Two-Way Results and On-Ice Impact
• Skilled, Creative Playmaker With Finishing Touch
• Skating and Balance Are Above Average
• Power Play Threat With Strong One-Timer and Vision
• Consistent Motor and 200-Foot Game

The drawbacks in his game, according to Neutral Zone, are:

• Lacks Dynamic Element or Pace to Separate at Next Level (Yet)
• Shot Mechanics and Goal Scoring Still Developing
• Lean Frame and Modest Physicality
• Limited Short-Handed Usage / Not a Faceoff Option

Next we’ll go to Dayton Reimer of The Hockey Writers. In a piece written this past October, Reimer paints a picture of a Saskatoon Blades team that many expected to not compete for the WHL playoffs. But thanks to surprise contributions, the Blades were able to make the postseason in the end, thanks in large part to a strong first season in North America by Lewandowski. From the article:

...no one has embodied the Blades’ new identity more than David Lewandowski, who joined the team on Oct. 12, 2024, after deciding to leave the pro circuit in Germany. He’s been gritty and fearless when required, but also has shown incredible intelligence and creativity. Alongside Williams and fellow rookie Zach Olsen, the ‘Kid Line’ has become the heart of the Blades and could be a key to Saskatoon’s success in 2024-25.

Reimer goes on to talk about how Lewandowski’s experience in the DEL helped him develop a strong defensive instinct and overall high hockey IQ that he brought to a Blades team that desperately needed it. Perhaps the best analogy in the article was this:

The German has been like a quarterback, directing the play around him and placing himself in the best place to benefit others around.

A Little Video​

Prospect Shifts has been such a godsend for our prospect profiles, and they once again deliver with a shift-by-shift breakdown of one of Lewandowski’s games from this past season. This time we’ll be taking a look at his October 17th contest against the Edmonton Oil Kings:

We’ll go linearly through the video. At roughly the 1-minute mark, Lewandowski gains the zone with his linemates and shows good patience to create a good rush chance for himself. He doesn’t score, but he plays a big role in sustaining lots of zone time after the initial shot, including beating a defender off the wall and making some smart passes to generate more looks at the net. Some of the scouting reports we’ve seen talked about his strong hockey IQ, and that was on full display on this shift.

Another aspect of his game those scouting reports had a lot of praise for was his defensive work. That really shone through to me around the 2:30 mark. His line gets pinned in their zone for an extended period, which is bad. But watch Lewandowski here, particularly starting at 2:35. Lewandowski is CONSTANTLY, and I mean CONSTANTLY, whipping his head around to see where the opponents behind him are. It might not seem like a great thing to turn away from the play all the time, but I really love what Lewandowski is doing here. He’s taking quick peeks to make sure he’s positioned correctly, shifting and skating to keep up with his defensive assignment. Even though he’s playing wing, and thus has far less defensive responsibility than his center, there’s no floating in his game. He’s not just lazily hoping someone else on his team takes possession of the puck so he can go back on offense, he’s taking an engaged, active role defensively as soon as the puck is in his zone. And whenever the play enters his area he makes sure to either challenge the puck or leave it to a teammate who is in a better position to do so. I really liked this shift from Lewandowski.

At about 5:00, Lewandowski accepts a breakout pass and tries to work his way through a few defenders, but the puck is easily knifed off his stick and sent the other way. It’s hard to blame Lewandowski for losing a 1-on-3, but I highlight it to show an example of Lewandowski lacking an explosive gear when it comes to his skating or skill level. It’s something mentioned in some of the reports and it showed up here.

At 6:20, Lewandowski shows more strong hockey IQ and defensive instinct by positioning himself in the slot and intercepting a dangerous pass while his team is on the penalty kill. He does a great job of skating the puck out of the zone, but his headman pass is picked off and sent right back in. But there’s Lewandowski again to collect a loose puck in his zone and this time he makes a terrific breakout pass that showcases high hockey IQ and even some higher-end skill. It’s a bit of a mixed bag on this shift, but the highs were pretty high.

His next shift comes on the power play. Here he sets up on the near wall and shows off some good patience and playmaking touch before firing a shot home for a power play goal. It was sort of a weird one, as he seemed to almost get caught between a shot and a flip toward the net, but regardless, Lewandowski gets on the board.

At about the 10:52 mark, it’s not much but I feel it’s worth highlighting. Lewandowski and his line take an offensive zone faceoff, and a few seconds later, his team scores. Lewandowski did not score and he did not collect an assist on the goal, but after the faceoff he IMMEDIATELY went to the front of the net and set up between the defenders. At various points, both defenders in the net-front area are occupied by trying to body Lewandowski out of the inner slot. This frees up time and space for the rest of his teammates, and they take advantage. It’s a subtle play, but I really like how Lewandowski showed some hockey IQ, grit, and strength by working his way to the middle and indirectly setting his team up to score.

An Opinion​

As far as mid-round prospects go, I like what I see out of Lewandowski. He seems like a prospect with a high floor, as his hockey IQ, defensive instincts, and playmaking ability all stand out to me and give him a baseline as a responsible bottom six winger that can get some PP2/PK time. Now, high floor prospects aren’t exactly what you should be on the lookout for in the 2nd-3rd round range, as a lot of the time it’s better to take swings on players with dynamic traits. And while Lewandowski’s playmaking is good, I wouldn’t say it is a difference-making tool of his, in addition to good but not great skating and skill.

That being said, I do think he’s got room to grow as a prospect. As mentioned, his skating and skill don’t jump out at you, but he shows flashes of dynamic ability here and there. If he can learn to harness that part of his game more, something I think is very possible as he matures and fills out his very lean frame, we could see Lewandowski develop into a strong player. With his hockey IQ, defensive motor, and playmaking touch, we could be looking at a middle-six winger that can chip in 40-50 points a season while playing on both special teams units. That’s if he hits his ceiling of course, which is a big if.

But at the end of the day, I like Lewandowski as a prospect. Even though he lacks a dynamic element, his hockey IQ, willingness to battle defensively, and solid offensive skill make him a player I would not mind the Devils taking with one of their two second round picks.

Your Take​

What do you think of David Lewandowski? What is the most promising part of his game to you? What about his most concerning aspect? Would you be ok with the New Jersey Devils drafting him in the second round, or would you rather select him later if he is available? As always, thanks for reading!

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...rofile-200-foot-forward-with-playmaking-touch

 

[New Jersey Devils]

If Available, The Devils Need to Trade For Quinn Hughes ASAP

If Quinn Hughes is actually available, the Devils need to go get him now. Not two years from now. | Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images

The Canucks will probably not make Quinn Hughes available via trade. But in the off chance they do, the Devils need to be at the front of the line.

A few weeks ago when I did the RFA profile for Luke Hughes, I touched on his brother Quinn’s situation in Vancouver and why I think the situations are connected.

Things have seemingly quieted down in Vancouver since Jim Rutherford made his totally not tampering comments in regards to trying to bring Jack and Luke Hughes to Vancouver. The Canucks hired a defensive minded coach in Adam Foote to replace Rick Tocchet, their plans have seemingly shifted towards executing whatever their offseason plan is, and as far as we know, it would appear that those plans include Canucks captain Quinn Hughes being on their roster.

There is some uncertainty surrounding the Canucks as they head into a pivotal season. Obviously, Vancouver wants to win and get back to the playoffs after missing last season. But they have a couple key UFAs in Brock Boeser and Pius Suter slated to hit the open market next month. Longtime franchise goalie Thatcher Demko is entering the final season of his contract as fellow netminder Kevin Lankinen begins the first season of a five-year extension. And while center Elias Pettersson is signed long-term, the Canucks may or may not be having buyers remorse in regards to that deal. If they do and they opt to move him, the clock is ticking before his NMC kicks in with his new deal on July 1st.

Quinn Hughes has two years and $7.85M AAV remaining on his contract before he can opt to hit UFA himself, and while the Canucks have said they will do everything in their power to keep him, the worst kept secret in the league is that he might want to play with his brothers Jack and Luke Hughes. Quinn hasn’t exactly poured cold water on the idea publicly either, as it seems like every other week a new photo is popping up of him spending time with Jack and/or Luke on Instagram.

The Canucks appear to be heading into an offseason where their priority is to build a winning team, as is their prerogative. But they also know that this situation with their captain is going to come to a head at some point. They know they might have issues getting free agents to go to Vancouver if they don’t have clarity surrounding their best defenseman going forward. The Canucks aren’t allowed to sign Quinn to an extension until July 1st, 2026 at the earliest, but they’re not dumb. They can read the tea leaves and have a sense well before then whether or not Quinn has any intentions of staying in Vancouver long-term or if Quinn is eyeing UFA (presumably with the intention of joining his brothers in New Jersey).

All of this raises the question of how the Canucks should approach this situation in the short-term. Obviously, they have no long-term leverage when it comes to Quinn and his future. But they do have some short-term leverage should they decide to trade him. They could offer him up to the highest bidder and Quinn would certainly have plenty of value even knowing he’s probably hitting UFA in two years and he’s probably not staying wherever he’s going. Or they could simply keep him and try to build a winner around him, which is sounds like is the course they’ll probably take (at least for the 2025-26 season).

The ball is in Vancouver’s court for now. They don’t have to do anything with Quinn Hughes right now.

With that said, this is a Devils-centric blog. Not a Canucks-centric blog.

It’s easy to say “Well, if Quinn wants to play with his brothers so badly, just wait two years for him to hit free agency and sign him then. Why would you give up assets for him?”

First, lets take a moment to pause and laugh at the idea of New Jersey being a prime free agency destination. Especially when one considers the long history of Devils players who opted to leave New Jersey once they hit free agency.

Now that that’s out of the way....I get the reasoning behind that line of thinking, but I don’t agree with it.

If the Devils can acquire Quinn Hughes prior to him hitting UFA in 2027, its something they should strongly consider doing.

How Valuable is Quinn Hughes Right Now?​

The short answer to that question is extremely valuable.

Quinn Hughes won the Norris Trophy last season as the league’s best defenseman. He is a finalist for the award again this season despite missing 14 games. He is a consistent PPG defenseman entering his age 26 season, and as we already mentioned, he’s signed for two more years at a very reasonable cap hit of $7.85M AAV.

It’s not empty calorie point production though that makes Quinn valuable. It’s the skating ability. It’s the sudden movements, quick cuts, edge work, and ability to stop on a dime that makes him special. It’s his playmaking ability. It’s his ability to move the puck. And on top of all that, he has developed into one of the best DEFENSIVE defensemen in the league on top of all of that. Luke has shown a lot of these traits in his first few seasons, which makes him a tantalizing prospect on his own, but Quinn is the more polished, closer to a finished product version of that.

I don’t think my words do it justice at all though. I’d recommend checking out this video from YouTuber Rob Talks Hockey in its entirety just to see how special Quinn actually is.

Players like this, at this age, are the type of players teams build around. Without extenuating circumstances, they just don’t get moved.

For example, PK Subban, age 26, was traded straight up for Shea Weber on the same day the Devils made the Taylor Hall trade. Subban was also traded two days before his NMC kicked in and during a time when the acquiring team was allowed to not honor said clause. Erik Karlsson, age 27, was traded from the Senators to the Sharks. But he was traded by a then-rebuilding Senators team with a year left on his deal. For the most part though, those types of players do not get moved via trade at that age unless there’s something going on to suggest a change of scenery might be needed. I would argue Quinn’s so-called desire to play with his brothers would qualify as such.

This is why I don’t buy the argument that Quinn would have no market via trade because everyone just assumes he’ll wind up on the Devils in two years. This is the type of player that every playoff contending team would and should be lining up for if he were made available. Especially with two years left. Especially signed at a fair rate of just under $8M AAV.

You don’t think there’s a playoff team out there that thinks they could use a little more speed? A little more puck-movement? A little more offensive creativity? A little more offense from the backend? A little more when it comes to shutting down the opposition? I can think of at least one team that played this postseason that could use all of those things.

The New Jersey Devils.

Why Waiting For Him To Hit UFA In Two Years Is a Bad Idea​

The Devils have built a win-now roster with players who are either already in their primes or are about to enter them. I’m not saying all of these players will still be here, but their core forwards are all in their early to mid 20s and are signed for at least the next two years. Almost all of their blueline is signed as well for at least the next two years. Jacob Markstrom is only signed for one more year but he showed that he still has plenty left in the tank this past season.

But put the rest of the roster aside at the moment. Just consider the Devils core forwards of Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, and Nico Hischier.

The whole point of signing those players to the deals that the Devils signed them to when they did was to maximize their ability to add other talent to the roster around them. And while the Devils certainly have done that, with all due respect to the Brenden Dillons and Ondrej Palats of the world, adding a player like Quinn Hughes is on a whole other level.

Yes, the Devils will still have Jack and Bratt beyond 2027 (Hischier is a UFA), but why would you waste Jack’s age 24 & 25 seasons while you are waiting for Quinn? Why would you waste Bratt’s age 27 and 28 seasons? Why would you waste Hischier’s age 27 and 28 seasons, the last two you are guaranteed with him?

If you’re Tom Fitzgerald, you already did all of this work to build a win-now team built around your core pieces. If you have an opportunity to add a 25 year old Norris-caliber defenseman who would probably sign long-term with you seeing as both of his brothers are already on the team, why wouldn’t you explore that?

Isn’t the whole point of building a win-now team to try to, you know, win? And win now?

None of us has a crystal ball and can see into the future, but in terms of professional sports, two years from now may as well be an eternity. Things can change, both positively and negatively. The landscape of the Metropolitan has changed in the last two years. The landscape of the East may continue to change as teams that are contenders now either change their DNA (as Brad Treliving put it in Toronto) or teams age out of their contention windows.

One thing that typically doesn’t change though is this....the teams that have more talent than the other teams are usually the ones that win. I’m not saying you can win on talent alone....the Leafs are as good an example as any of that. But having the right high-end talent is a big part of that. Having a #1 defenseman who can move the puck, skate well, and soak up 25+ minutes a night playing against top competition is extremely valuable.

If you can get that type of player now, why wait?

How Can This All Work, Both Cap-Wise and Trade Compensation-Wise?​

Here comes the complicated part....if the Devils were going to trade for Quinn, how does he fit, and what should they be willing to surrender in order to do so?

Answering the latter question first, I think there are very few untouchables for Quinn Hughes. Obviously, the Devils wouldn’t trade Jack or Luke for him, so put them aside. I would also consider Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt to be off-limits.

Anything else though, as far as I’m concerned, is up for discussion.

Dawson Mercer? Simon Nemec? Seamus Casey? Lenni Hameenaho? Dougie Hamilton? Timo Meier? Arseny Gritsyuk? Anton Silayev? The 2026 first round pick?

I’m not saying the Devils should trade all of those guys. My point is that once you get past your core guys, nothing should be off the table. I’m also saying that yes, it is worth giving up your favorite magic bean(s) or lottery ticket to acquire a 25 year old Norris-caliber #1 defenseman with two years to go on a team-friendly deal, even if said defenseman may sign with you as a UFA in two years anyways. It’s worth bringing in that type of player now to support the rest of your core while they’re at their peaks (or approaching said peaks).

The issue with all of this is the salary cap and its tough to see an avenue towards fitting Quinn in right now. I also think the Devils have to operate over the next month under the assumption that the Canucks are not trading Quinn yet, so any improvements made to the Devils roster need to be made regardless and you worry about fitting Quinn in down the road if that opportunity presents itself.

I will say that I don’t see how the Devils can fit Dougie Hamilton’s $9M AAV on a blueline with both Luke (once he signs whatever his next deal is) and Quinn at $7.85M. But I also question Dougie’s fit on the Devils in general moving forward. I plan to write next week that the Devils should consider trading Dougie Hamilton. I think they should do that regardless of how this situation plays out. I’m not saying the Canucks will want him, or that Dougie would be willing to waive his M-NTC to go to Vancouver, but I do see that $9M AAV as a roadblock that will need to be cleared to do other things.

I would guess that a Quinn Hughes trade probably directly costs the Devils their 2026 1st, a 2nd round pick, Nemec, and Mercer. I would also guess that it would indirectly cost them Hamilton as well for the money to work. As much as I like Nemec as a prospect, I think that’s a relatively low cost to pay for what you’re getting back.

I also think there are other teams around the league that could top that offer with little trouble.

Why This Entire Situation Is Probably a Moot Point​

At the end of the day, the Vancouver Canucks don’t have to do anything. Not yet, anyways.

Yes, there are problems with that line of thinking if they ultimately come to the conclusion that sticking their head in the sand and pretending this problem on their hands eventually goes away is a good idea. But the Canucks are also entitled to run their team how they see fit.

If I were running the Vancouver Canucks, and I knew that this situation was eventually going to come to a head, and I knew that I was probably ultimately going to lose a player like Quinn Hughes regardless of what I did, I would see the writing on the wall and trade him with two years to go to whatever team put together the best package. I don’t care if that’s New Jersey, Toronto, Florida, Seattle, Utah, or any of the other 25 or so teams in the league I didn’t name.

But I’m not Jim Rutherford or Patrik Allvin. I don’t have to answer to Francesco Aquilini, who is the chairman and owner of the Canucks. I don’t have to answer to a fanbase that would understandably be annoyed at the idea of trading one of the best defensemen in the league in his prime. Frankly, if I’m the Canucks, I’m trying to win this upcoming season. The Canucks aren’t that far removed from being a playoff team themselves. They have some good pieces already in place, cap space with which to work, and draft picks they could trade. Trading Quinn would run counterproductive to that goal of winning.

Vancouver does not have to trade Quinn Hughes right now. And while an argument could certainly be crafted that they’d be better off doing so, they don’t have to and they seem to be operating as if they’re not planning to.

I would expect this situation to come to a head a year from now when the Canucks are allowed to offer Quinn Hughes a contract extension. I wouldn’t even rule out the possibility of him signing it. If he’s happy where he is, and the Canucks are going to offer him top of the market type of money, he’d be smart to consider taking it. But the clock will be ticking once Quinn is less than a year away from UFA, and if there is any truth to the idea that the three Hughes brothers want to indeed play together, that would also be the time for Quinn’s camp to tell the Canucks “thanks, but no thanks” and trying to force the issue then.

Final Thoughts​

Quinn Hughes will probably not be made available by the Canucks this offseason, but if he is, he is a player that the Devils should be bullying their way to the front of the line to try to acquire.

And no, its not because of his last name or the fact that his brothers are already on the team, although that certainly helps.

It’s because Quinn is an elite-level talent who is just entering his prime of what he’s going to be as a defenseman. It’s because he’s a game-breaking player signed for two more years at a team-friendly rate. It’s because he brings elements to the table that are difficult to find between his speed, his playmaking ability, and his elite defensive play. It’s because he fits the core that the Devils already have in place as they try to take those next steps from “playoff team” to “Cup contender”.

The Canucks are entitled to run their franchise how they see fit. They don’t have to trade Quinn right now, and they certainly don’t have to trade him to the Devils if another team makes a better offer. They’re allowed to be stubborn about it if that is what they choose to do. I think they would be better off seeing where this is going, knowing they probably aren’t going to be able to keep him, and take the best offer they can get now. That price will only decrease the closer we get to UFA in 2027. If they want to hold on for another year only for Quinn to say I’m not signing here so they can turn around and tell their fanbase they tried, that’s on them.

That said, I think everyone sees how this Quinn saga in Vancouver likely ends. Rather than wait two years, it makes sense for everyone involved to rip the band-aid off and make the deal now.

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...he-devils-need-to-trade-for-quinn-hughes-asap

 

[New Jersey Devils]

New Jersey Devils Free Agency Targets: Defensemen

Aaron Ekblad is set to be an unrestricted free agent, but would he be a fit for the Devils? | Photo by Eliot J. Schechter/NHLI via Getty Images

Continuing to look at unrestricted free agents that could be of interest to the New Jersey Devils, we move on to defenders. Who might the Devils want to bring in to supplement their blue line?

As we continue on with looking at the needs and wants for the New Jersey Devils this summer, today we move into position that seems relatively set: defense. With five players under NHL contract, two more on entry level deals, and a looking contract renewal for Luke Hughes, the Devils don’t necessarily need much for their blue line. At the same time, Jonathan Kovacevic will not be ready for the beginning of the season, and the team will be looking to improve on a disappointing end to the last campaign, so there might be a move to make after all.

This Edition’s Quick Note​

Before we begin today, I wanted to preface that this will not be a very in depth piece, and rather more of a quick look at some of the available names. The reason behind this is, because, as I said above, the Devils really aren’t going to be looking for any major pieces on the back end, at least not in free agency if you believe the rumors floating around. For that reason, most of today’s names will be quick hits to fill out depth for the team.

I will be looking at a couple of big names as well though, because again, last year’s team wasn’t good enough. Now, with just over $12 million available, and the Hughes contract probably taking a big chunk of that, the Devils won’t have a ton of cap space (even if they put Kovacevic on LTIR) left after. With that information, bear in mind the team might need to make a move to fit some of the players discussed today. I will not be going into those moves here, but know that I won’t use that as a reason for the Devils to not pursue them.

Aaron Ekblad​

Ekblad is arguably the biggest name that will be available this summer, and is currently still playing at the time of writing in the Stanley Cup Finals. The first overall selection of the 2014 draft has spent his entire career as a Panther up until this point. While he’s missed some time with injuries in recent seasons, he’s still played an important role in helping to make the franchise a credible contender and delivering the first Stanley Cup in team history last year. Regardless of the result of the playoffs, the Panthers will surely be looking at bringing Ekblad back, as his anticipated cap hit isn’t much higher than his previous $7.5 million.

With two straight cup finals, 732 games of NHL experiences and 380 regular season points, there will be no shortage of suitors for Ekblad this summer for anyone looking to improve their defense. He can play in any situation, and brings size, experience and leadership to any team he could potentially join. He’s the “big fish” on defense this summer, and is probably going to look to cash in on one last big contract in his career.

AFP Analytics Prediction: 7 years, $7.8 million per season

Why He Could Work: If the Devils want to add a big name in the prime of his career, this is the available guy. In a world with a rising cap, Ekblad might not even be Top 5 in terms of contract cost depending upon Luke’s new deal. Bringing in a player with a championship pedigree who can eat up 20+ minutes a night could be the type of change that propels the Devils to further success. If he wants to come here and Tom Fitzgerald can make the cap work, again this could be the type of move that corrects course for the team.

Why He Probably Won’t Work: A lot of teams will probably be looking at Ekblad and there will be quite a few who can outbid New Jersey. As such, Ekblad is likely to accept a more lucrative deal elsewhere. Additionally, at his anticipated price, adding Ekblad would adversely impact the team’s cap structure going forward, as all the Devils space probably vanishes between him and Luke Hughes. As the team still has other areas they need to improve, Ekblad probably won’t be a Devil.

Dmitry Orlov​

Orlov is another known name that will once again be hitting unrestricted free agency this summer. A second round draft pick of the Washington Capitals in 2009, Orlov spent most of his career with them before they moved him to the Boston Bruins prior to his first time hitting UFA status in 2022-23. Known more for his defense than his offense, the lefty would be a strong addition to any group looking to strengthen their ability to keep the puck moving out of their own end.

Having spent the past two season with the Carolina Hurricanes, Orlov played in all but six contests, bringing 54 points across that time. Orlov is a good, reliable second pair defender, and he can play up on a first pair if needed as well. With the defense market being a little light this summer, again, I could see a lot of teams inquiring about his desire to play for them to help improve their back end.

AFP Analytics Prediction: 3 years, $5.8 million per season

Why He Could Work: The Devils will be looking to replace a player who has essentially been a second pair guy for them in Kovacevic. Orlov would go a long way in absorbing those minutes, and could provide the Devils with another player capable of getting the puck away from opponents and moving where the team wants it to.

Why He Probably Won’t Work: The Devils are pretty set on every night lefties once Luke Hughes re-signs, and at the anticipated price, that’s money that would be spent upgrading other spots. The Devils also still have the righties who finished the postseason in their lineup, those being Dougie Hamilton, Brett Pesce and Simon Nemec. Again, the Devils probably won’t be in on the bigger names since there’s other, more important focuses, unless they decide to make a drastic change.

Quick Thoughts on Some Other UFA Defenders​

Nate Schmidt: Something of a mid-tier option here, Schmidt is also still in the postseason right now with Florida. He’s a dependable enough option and still should have a few good years left in him. With 239 points and 741 NHL games under his belt, Schmidt could be a good fill in while Kovacevic is out and could help the Devils to be a deeper team. At a projected roughly $3 million on a two year deal, Schmidt is affordable, but as I’ve said a few times, the Devils might want to spend that type of money improving other parts of their lineup.

Travis Dermott: Dermott has NHL experience, but after a short stint with Edmonton early this season, he was picked up by Minnesota before being waived again and reclaimed by Edmonton. He would spend the rest of the season with their minor league affiliate in Bakersfield. He projects to be a league minimum depth acquisition, and while he’s been an NHLer, those days might be behind him.

Parker Wotherspoon: Wotherspoon took some time to find his path to the NHL, but has turned in a pair of respectable seasons for Boston the past two years. He’s mostly a third pair player, but if the Devils are adding, that’s honestly the role they’re looking for. He projects to get a two year deal at $1.35 per season, and the Devils should be interested, as he would be good left-handed depth at that price.

Mike Reilly: Reilly had a good 2023-24 for the Islanders but missed most of 2024-25 due to a concussion and heart condition. With those now behind him, he will be looking to become an NHL mainstay again in 2025-26. Another left handed shooter who could be had for an estimate of less than $1 million, Reilly could still be an effective depth option.

John Klingberg: Klingberg is still alive in the postseason as well, and while some thought he was washed up, he’s shown this season he still has something in the tank. He can play both sides of the ice as well, and that versatility could have some value to the Devils. Estimated to cost just under $2 million for next season, a vet with some offensive skill from either side of the ice could be a good piece of insurance.

Oliver Kylington: The reclamation project of this article, Kylington took a chunk of time away from his NHL career before making a comeback in 2023-24. After his return to the Calgary Flames, he spent time with Colorado and Anaheim. Once seen as an up and coming mid-pair defender, he’s looking to be a fringe guy on a league minimum deal. If the Devils want younger depth and feel Kylington could be reclaimed in Sheldon Keefe’s system, he could be an underrated pickup.

Experienced Depth Vets​

Erik Johnson and Jack Johnson are both nearing the end of their respective careers on the back end and should be available for league minimum or close to it. While I’m not advocating for either one necessarily (both struggle with the speed aspect of the game at this point) having either one as a veteran presence and a spot in 7th guy wouldn’t be the worst thing. Travis Hamonic is a slight bit younger, but has lost a step as well; he projects slightly above league average for salary, but again, should only be looked at as a vet/not every night guy.

Final Thoughts and Your Take​

By no means is this a full list, as if you look at that AFP Analytics spreadsheet, you’ll notice there are quite a few other UFA defensemen listed with varying degrees of skill and experience. Today’s list is just a sampling of which players will be available for all 32 teams to bid on their services. Some obviously will have more attention on them than others, but for the Devils, the options will depend on their direction: do they want to go after a big name while parting with an existing piece, or do they just supplement their lineup with depth guys? Either path gives them a chance to upgrade their roster, but they need to decide where to apportion their cap and which positions to prioritize.

What are your thoughts on the options for defenders in unrestricted free agency; do you want the Devils chasing big names or just depth pieces? Are there any players not discussed here that are UFAs that you would like to see in red and black next season? Are you worried about overspending with the perceived lack of quality options? Leave any and all comments below and thanks as always for reading!

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2025/6/5/24443606/new-jersey-devils-free-agency-targets-defensemen

 

[New Jersey Devils]

Blake Fiddler: 2025 NHL Draft Prospect Profile: Son of Vern and a Big, Mobile Defenseman

Photo by Dennis Pajot/Getty Images

Projected as a late-first round or early-second round prospect, Blake Fiddler seeks to be a successful second-generation NHLer.

Considering the current makeup of the New Jersey Devils roster, most would reasonably expect the team to target forward prospects with their second round picks. However, the best drafting is often not drafting for what you need now, but what you will need in five years. In the that spirit, today’s prospect profile will be of Blake Fiddler, a 6’4” right-handed defenseman.

Who is Blake Fiddler?​

Blake Fiddler was born on July 9, 2007 in Nashville, Tennessee, back when his father, Vernon, was a member of the Predators. Listed at 6’4” and 209 pounds, Blake already has the size to be an NHL defenseman. Still only 17 years old, though, Fiddler has had experience with the Edmonton Oil Kings of the WHL and the United States National U18 team. Additionally, he captained the U18 Team USA squad for the Hlinka Gretzky Cup.

In his WHL career, Fiddler saw steady increases in production from his age-16 to age-17 seasons, and his on-ice results took a massive step forward in the 2024-25 season. On Byron Bader’s Hockey Prospecting, Fiddler has an interesting list of comparisons because of this rise in production. With a 51% NHLer probability and 15% star probability, Fiddler’s top draft comparisons (in terms of pure point production) include Miro Heiskanen, Derek Morris (his father’s former Phoenix Coyotes teammate), and Haydn Fleury. In any case, Fiddler’s draft-year comparisons are all current or former NHLers, even if the range of their abilities is pretty wide.

Where is Fiddler Ranked?​

According to Elite Prospects, Fiddler is ranked as follows:

• 26th by NHL Central Scouting (NA Skaters)
• 21st by Recruit Scouting
• 21st by Bob McKenzie, TSN
• 23rd by Elite Prospects
• 24th by Dobber Prospects
• 24th by Smaht Scouting
• 27th by Sportsnet
• 32nd by FCHockey
• 39th by Craig Button, TSN

Fiddler is solidly a late-first or early-second prospect by rankings, but things get tend to get pretty murky after the first 10-15 selections. While I would be surprised to see him fall to the Devils’ selection, it is certainly not impossible.

What Others Say About Fiddler​

For The Hockey Writers, Jesse Courville-Lynch profiled Fiddler. Courville-Lynch was not a huge fan of Fiddler’s consistency, noting that his potential lies in two-way play rather than offensive explosiveness. Still, they argue that Fiddler should not drop far down into the second round if it comes to that, writing that he could be one of the “steals of the draft.”

The Neutral Zone’s report on Fiddler compared him to Brandon Carlo, projecting him to be more of a shutdown player in the NHL with some offensive upside, praising his gap control, reach, and netfront physicality. Most importantly, in my opinion, they write that “his first-step quickness and top-end speed are still developing to handle NHL-caliber forwards effectively.” While I agree that his first steps can be a bit awkward, I think he moves really well while skating backwards, and is very agile once he gets in motion. I am not as concerned about his top-end speed.

Luke Sweeney of Dobber Prospects was a bit more negative on Fiddler. Saying that Fiddler’s early reputation may still carry him into the first round, Sweeney says Fiddler’s WHL was inconsistent. Sweeney writes, “He uses his reach and skating to close gaps on the rush and demonstrate some physicality, though it is his play with the puck that is less assuring. Fiddler makes some questionable decisions offensively and causes some frustrating turnovers through poor handling.” In the game of Fiddler’s that I watched further down the article, I was not extremely concerned about his turnovers.

A Little Video (Or a Lot, He Plays Almost 30 Minutes Here)​

Right off the bat, I love the way he positions himself in the neutral zone, looking to cut off passing lanes rather than cede center ice. For a big, young defenseman, Fiddler also moves around very well, and he shows a lot of awareness retrieving the puck in the defensive zone. When Edmonton is on the power play a couple minutes into the video, Fiddler delivers a nice, low shot through traffic early, almost making for a netfront goal, but the Swift Current goaltender kept it out.

Fiddler gets a test of speed later on that power play, as he gets a pass blocked at the blueline. Sawyer Dingman could have had a breakaway, but Fiddler closes the gap quickly and expertly wraps a poke check around Dingman before blocking a second attempt. That said, Dingman is a big grinder himself, so it wasn’t like he chased down a speedy goal scorer.

Fiddler is on the ice for a goal against — a fluttering point shot — at around 5:50. In the play leading up to the goal, my only criticism is that he should have played the puck carrier a big more aggressively on the zone entry at 5:49. At 6’4”, Fiddler has plenty of reach to make a play there, but goes to defend the netfront as the entry is completed. Fiddler did not screen the goalie, and his man did not tip the shot, so it wasn’t a terrible shift. I do think he could have been a bit more engaged to clear up space, though. He is a lot more engaged around the seven-minute mark of the video, so I do think he took something from that shift.

While Fiddler was on the second power play in most cases, he was one of the defenseman first out for the penalty kill that begins at 8:58 in the video. I like what Fiddler does to steer forwards away from the front of the net, and he effectively utilizes his size there. I am not sure he is as certain about where to be in the passing lanes on the penalty kill, though. With his reach, he needs to be taking up as much space as possible when he is not engaged at the front of the net.

Finally getting on the board himself in a third period power play, Fiddler receives the puck at the blueline by the boards and skates it to the middle. Shooting low through sticks and legs, the initial shot hits the goaltenders arm and rebounds to Kayden Stroeder, a then-15-year old who had five goals, eight points, and a +5 rating in 16 games this year (mark that name down for 2027). I like Fiddler’s instincts on the power play, though I am not entirely sure what his ceiling is there. To his credit, he tries to get rid of the puck quickly when forwards pressure him, and his passes are largely right on the money. His low shots from the point could also make him a viable PP2 option when he does make the NHL.

Getting some penalty killing shifts late in the game, Fiddler continued to show his ability around the net, picking his moments well to take forwards entirely out of the goalie’s sightlines. Then, in an extended five-on-three situation, Fiddler looks like he continues to be a difficult presence for his opponents, helping to prevent screened shots from being executed. He also got a chance on the first power play at the end of the game, but Edmonton could not convert, and the game ended in a shootout. Fiddler played a lot of penalty killing minutes and created a rebound goal to help send them there, so that was a pretty good game from him.

My Thoughts on Fiddler​

By virtue of when the Devils are selecting this year, it is not super likely that the Devils have the opportunity to select Blake Fiddler. I think he is a very interesting prospect, and I think he can actually look to a current Devil in what kind of player he may be in the NHL in Brett Pesce. He is huge, he has reach, he is physical around the net when he needs to be, and he excels at facilitating puck movement with accurate passes. From what I see, I do not think he will ever turn into some kind of slap shot-bombing, heavy-checking big defenseman, but he has a lot of strengths in his mobility and all-around ability. I wish I got to see more of him defending on the rush, as he did not really get tested much while skating backwards in the game I saw.

You also never know what kind of deals the team will make before or during the NHL Draft. For all we know, current Devils may be moved away, or the team may swap or trade draft picks. That might mean losing picks or gaining picks, or moving up or down but don’t be surprised if the Devils make their first selection somewhere other than 50th overall. Knowing some of the more attainable late-first or early-second round prospects could help determine whether the Devils would benefit from making such trades. Last season, when they traded John Marino, they received the second round selection used to take Mikhail Yegorov, who now projects to be one of the most important Devils of the future.

For Fiddler’s future, I also think he may benefit from departing Canadian junior hockey after his age-18 season. He is on the younger side, so the 2025-26 season would be the first year of NCAA eligibility for him, but he already almost looks too big for his WHL competition. For preparing for some of those more intense players around the net he will have to deal with in the NHL, I think a move to an American college would be good for him. It is a shorter schedule, which I don’t love, but a big defenseman like him needs to face physically mature opponents, and not younger teenagers. I am sure his father, who was a very responsible player in the NHL (as well as a guy who took on some of the toughest assignments in the bottom six), will steer him right.

Your Thoughts​

What do you think of Fiddler as a prospect? If he somehow fell to the New Jersey Devils, would you consider him? How do you think he projects as a future NHL player? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...ern-and-a-mobile-big-defenseman-devils-righty