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[New Jersey Devils]

Ryker Lee: 2025 NHL Draft Prospect Profile: Another Scoring Winger from the USHL

Photo by Chase Agnello-Dean/NHLI via Getty Images

Ryker Lee has shot up NHL Central Scouting’s rankings this year. Here’s why the shooting winger would be a steal in the second round.

It is another day, so we have another prospect profile for the 2025 NHL Draft season. Today, we will be profiling Ryker Lee, a college-bound wing.

Who is Ryker Lee?​

Ryker Lee was born on November 8, 2006, in Wilmette, Illinois. Growing up in Illinois until he was accepted to Shattuck-Saint Mary’s in Minnesota, Lee has marked himself as one of the best goal scorers in the 2025 NHL Draft. In his one and only full season in the USHL with the Madison Capitals, in which he was named Rookie of the Year, Lee posted 31 goals and 37 assists in 58 games, setting him up for the upcoming year, which he will spend with Michigan State University. He will also find himself facing off against his Madison Capitals teammate, Mason Moe, who is set to attend the University of Minnesota.

Elite Prospects

While Ryker Lee is a solid goal scorer for his age, he is not an especially big player. At 6’0” and 181 pounds, Lee could find himself falling in the Draft due to his average-at-best skating and lack of defensive reputation. For the New Jersey Devils, who are actively seeking offensive help both in the immediate future and in their prospect pipeline, they may have to overlook those qualities for the opportunity to select someone with Lee’s hands and skill with the puck.

Where is Lee Ranked?​

Lee is ranked in the first two rounds by most sources. Rankings are sourced through Elite Prospects.

• 28th by NHL Central Scouting (NA Skaters) (40th in mid-season)
• 23rd by Dobber Prospects and Smaht Scouting
• 30th by TSN — Button
• 34th by Elite Prospects
• 38th by Daily Faceoff and The Hockey News — Ferrari
• 39th by FCHockey
• 42nd by McKeen’s Hockey
• 43rd by The Hockey News — Kennedy
• 58th by Sportsnet — Bukala and TSN — McKenzie
• 59th by Recruit Scouting

What Others Say About Lee?​

For The Hockey Writers, Matthew Buhrmann wrote a glowing review of Lee’s offensive ability. Citing @RyanMaScouting’s tracking data impact card on Lee, which is a fan of Lee’s possession impact and power play ability, Burhmann put a lot of stock into Lee’s commitment to Michigan State, arguing that should give teams a reason to select him in the late first or early second round. He also writes,

He’s a little underrated in this draft because Canadian Hockey League (CHL) guys get most of the attention, but the USHL is a harder league to play in, especially defensively, where teams are more structured and tougher to break down. The fact that he put up the numbers he did in such a tight-checking league shows how well he can create and make plays in big moments.

Buhrmann is right that CHL guys usually get more attention than their USHL counterparts, but I would argue this has shifted rather strongly since Jack Hughes went first overall in 2019. I do agree with his assessment that some CHL games tend to be more wide-open. Moving on, though, Smaht Scouting ranked Lee 23rd in their Spring Draft Rankings. Dan Haurin wrote on Lee,

He has a distinctive dynamic element to his game, consistently manipulating defenders and opening up space for teammates and himself to create scoring chances. He’s also got a hard and accurate shot with a quick release that he’s willing to use both from out high and right around the crease in the offensive zone. He’s currently shooting nearly twice the USHL league average per 60, as well as generating nearly twice the xG/60.

While knocking his skating ability, Haurin indicates that Ryker Lee’s shooting, distribution skill, and offensive IQ combine to make him one of the most valuable pure offensive threats of the 2025 Draft. My worry, seeing the caveat of his skating ability from a few sources, is that Lee may struggle with the speed of the NHL game. This is especially true if he remains slightly on the smaller side.

A Little Video​

From Prospect Shifts, below is a full-game tape from one of Madison’s games against the Chicago Steel.

Immediately in this game, Lee’s slower style is on display, as he tries to force the puck intot he offensive zone through traffic and turns it over. Fortunately, Chicago was not quick to counter, and Madison ended up keeping the puck in the offensive zone. Just a minute later in the game, they were on the power play, and Lee was out there for the advantage. On the power play, Lee has two issues. The first is that he is positioned on his strong side, where he does not seem to move around quick enough. He will be handled roughly by NHL defenses in that position if he does not gain weight or improve his skating.

In the offensive zone, Lee seeks out shooting areas, and his teammates do a good job of getting him the puck. Back on the power play about four and a half minutes into the video, Lee again struggles to deal with penalty killers on his side, leading to hectic puck movement and a team turnover, which created a shorthanded chance that was gloved by Madison’s goaltender.

Defensively, Lee is a bit of a floater, but he is not terribly positioned. Like many skilled players, he is waiting for the opportunity to grab a loose puck and take it the other way, but he does not make much of an impact directly on puck carriers. This also seems to ring true for Lee’s forechecking, as he is not big enough to create turnovers on his own, but is well-positioned enough to make plays on the puck when he has help.

Something that Lee repeatedly does well is get into the right areas immediately after offensive zone faceoffs. He looks to get open for passes or to get into position to deflect shots from the point, not wasting any time in the process. Throughout the video, Lee’s offensive instincts and choices with the puck are strong. Past the mid-way point, Mason Moe makes a stand-up play at the blueline, creating a turnover with Lee streaking ahead. Lee gets the puck around center ice with Bobby Cowan on his left. Forcing the goalie to wait for his shot, Lee takes the puck deep into the offensive zone before dropping it, taking two defenders out of the play, and Lee picks up the assist on Cowan’s goal.

The highlight of the video starts at 14:25, when Lee shields the puck in the defensive zone to make a backhand pass to start a transition play. Mason Moe chases the puck down in the offensive zone and stretches a risky, but rewarding pass across to Lee. Lee’s shot is batted down and then chipped to the slot by Cowan, but Moe was unable to play it. Lee backhands the bouncing puck at the blueline, building a cycle in the offensive zone. After a couple passes, Lee gets the puck back and beats a sleeping defender, breaking down the goalie for a ridiculous goal.

On another power play in the third period, Lee shows off his legs and takes the offensive zone by himself after skating the puck through three zones, avoiding a neutral zone drop pass. After a faceoff, Mason Moe takes a crossing pass from Lee and surveys from his wall, but drops the puck back to the point. Colton Jamieson calmly slides it over to Lee on the right, who steps in, shoots, and scores his second goal of the game. He picked his spot by the blocker and hit it perfectly through the screen.

Lee makes one of the wildest passes of the game at 17:48 in the neutral zone, as he was hounded while skating back from the offensive zone to center ice. Lee backhands the puck between the two Steel forwards pressuring him, allowing Jamieson to dump back into the offensive zone. It was not an especially meaningful play, but one of those moves that make you go what did he just do? Ultimately, it created an offensive zone opportunity, but Lee was unable to pull off the chip shot goal off the goalie’s back. Lee did get his hat trick, eventually, on the empty net, as he was deprived of one chance on a bad icing call (that was apparently reversed and put at center ice) and got another, firing a laser on goal right off the bench with just over a minute left in the game.

It was a slow start, but by the end, you see why some people see Lee as a late first-round prospect. However, his size and lack of physicality may turn some teams off of drafting him, and teams in the mid-second round should be hoping for an offensive talent like this to fall. If you want to see more, see the highlight package below.

My Thoughts​

One of these days, one of these right-handed snipers wearing number 10 are going to make it big in the NHL. I see a lot of Daniel Sprong in Ryker Lee’s game, primarily in their approach and great offensive instincts. You don’t see a lot of instances of guys like Lee making the wrong play on the attack. He will miss the net sometimes because he is trying to pick and snipe corners, but he is driven to get the puck on goal, whether shots come off his stick or from his teammates. He is also apparently a very good passer, both from what scouts say about him and from what I see on video.

The big question will be whether Lee makes it to 50th overall. Of course, not everyone profiled here will be available by then, but some might. You don’t know which guy ranked at 90-100th might get picked in the early second round, or whatever. You don’t know who is ranked around 30th that might be available in the third round. Or maybe this will be the year that NHL GMs draft perfectly, without error. So if Ryker Lee ends up being that prospect that falls into the Devils’ lap, that would be great. He can replace the space that Alex Holtz occupied and never fully grew out of as a prospect, and he would not have the expectations associated with being a top-10 pick. Winning hockey teams will always need goal scorers, so I would mark Ryker Lee for the New Jersey Devils draft board. Maybe the Devils can even end up with Ryker Lee at 50 and Mason Moe later on.

Your Thoughts​

What do you think of Ryker Lee? How do you think he compares to the others profiled here? Do you like his game? Do you think he has enough build to succeed in the NHL? What do you think of his shot? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...ng-winger-from-the-ushl-sniper-michigan-state

 

[New Jersey Devils]

New Jersey Devils Sign Juho Lammikko: What This Indicates in Tom Fitzgerald’s Offseason Approach

Last in the NHL in 2022 with Vancouver, Lammikko has been with the ZSC Lions for three seasons in the Swiss National League. | Perry Nelson-Imagn Images

It’s not July, but Tom Fitzgerald is already reportedly at work in free agency.

Yesterday, PuckPedia announced that the New Jersey Devils signed Finnish forward Juho Lammikko to a one-year, one-way, $800,000 contract. In Lammikko’s last NHL season, he had seven goals and eight assists in 75 games as a fourth line center. That year, he won 51 percent of his faceoff draws, winning 354 and losing 340, though his career NHL faceoff percentage is 47.6% in 159 games. Listed at about 6’3” and 205 pounds by his Swiss National League team, the ZSC Lions, Lammikko adds considerable size to the Devils’ bottom six, and the Devils made the signing official today at 10 AM Eastern.

#NEWS: We’ve signed Juho Lammikko to a one-year, one-way deal.

: https://t.co/ScZe8MzoQz pic.twitter.com/CNMtif02hY

— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) June 15, 2025​

Thankfully, Lammikko is not just a big body. In the 2021-22 season — the first year for public NHL EDGE tracking data — Lammikko:

• Had a 68th percentile top speed (22.52 MPH)
• Was in the 79th percentile in speed bursts over 18 MPH (525 total)
• Was in the 80th percentile in speed bursts over 20 MPH (119 total)
• Was in the 75th percentile in top shot speed (91.83 MPH)
• Was in the 60th percentile in shots between 70-80 MPH (26)

Per some looking around by CJ Turtoro, Lammikko would have ranked fourth on the 2021-22 New Jersey Devils in 18+ MPH speed bursts per 60 minutes (40.14), ranking just below Jack Hughes (40.55) and well above Jesper Bratt (35.42). He might not be the fastest burner on the ice, but he is capable of outskating and outworking many players in the league. Comparatively, Justin Dowling posted a below-average top speed and one of the weakest shots recorded on the team. On the other hand, Curtis Lazar was in the 90th percentile in top speed (23.14 MPH), but was somewhat reserved in what moments he chose to use his legs. While his shot was not as weak as Dowling’s, Lazar’s shot was also below league average in top speed (82.73). If you are looking for improved physical tools in the bottom six, Lammikko can provide that.

But what else does this signing show about Tom Fitzgerald’s approach to the 2025 NHL offseason?

A Willingness to Look Overseas

Last week, I wrote about looking for unsigned players who have been having good seasons in the AHL. This is the other half of that alternative approach to filling out the roster, though I had not yet had a chance to start looking at what European professionals should interest the Devils. Obviously, Fitzgerald has been at work here. Since Fitzgerald joined the organization under Ray Shero, the Devils have made a handful of these sorts of moves, though none have translated into much success. However, one of the names we mentioned on this blog last year — Pierre-Edouard Bellemare — broke into the NHL in 2014 at age 29, going on to have a successful career as a fourth liner through the 2023-24 season. That said, Bellemare had similar production to Lammikko in 2024-25, with Bellemare scoring 10 goals and 18 assists in 34 games, compared to Lammikko’s 13 goals and 25 assists in 48 games. Unlike many players, Bellemare seemed to get better as he got older, being an integral defensive specialist on Tampa’s ill-fated three-peat attempt in 2022.

If Lammikko can go on to have a solid NHL career from age-29 and onwards, Fitzgerald will look very savvy for this move. However, it can be difficult to predict which European professional league players will acclimate well to the NHL and which will not. Before Bellemare came to the NHL, he never played a minute of North American hockey, and he turned out pretty good. Lammikko played five North American seasons from 2014 to 2019 before going back to the Liiga and KHL, returning in 2020-21 for the Florida Panthers before leaving again for Switzerland in 2022. For him, there should be no adjustment period.

Moving forward, I think Fitzgerald should continue trying to lure some of these overseas professionals back to the Americas. There are still plenty of players with NHL experience out there, including the Swiss National League. A look at the NL’s top scorers reveals familiar names such as Austin Czarnik (20 goals and 56 points in 49 games), Dominik Kubalik (27 goals and 49 points in 52 games), and Markus Granlund (21 goals and 47 points in 39 games). Some at the top of the league, like Julius Nattinen, were early-round draft picks but did not make the league. Some, like Sakari Manninen or Jesper Froden, were undrafted, had a good AHL season or two, but never got a real NHL shot. And who knows how hungry players who have been playing in Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, or Russia might be if they get an extended NHL chance?

Realizing the Need For Near-League Minimum Contracts​

Getting someone who has been out of the league, but still active for a few seasons, has multiple benefits. Fitzgerald did not have to outbid anyone for Lammikko, and I am not sure if he was even on other teams’ radars. But with a passable NHL season under his belt in recent years, getting Lammikko for just $25,000 above the league minimum salary is good business. If Lammikko somehow gets passed over for the roster in October, his contract will have no impact on the team’s cap situation, though he will still be paid the full amount in his bank account if he ends up in Utica.

With the team still needing to sign Luke Hughes and Cody Glass with only $11.24 million in cap space, we should presume more league-minimum contracts will be signed. Whether that means a returning veteran from last year or someone out there on the market, the Devils will not be able to make any financially-substantial external additions unless they shed serious salary. If no such moves are made, your October 2025 roster would likely be what you see on PuckPedia right now, with Hughes and Glass re-signing and Gritsyuk joining on his ELC deal.

Why Not a PTO?​

For some fans seeing the news last night or this morning, they might be wondering: why not sign Lammikko to a PTO? While European contract information can be difficult to come by, at least one Swiss news source, Blue News, reported last year that Lammikko’s extension with ZSC was signed through the 2027-28 season. The Lions have been active in their pursuit of bottom six NHLers, as they also signed Denis Malgin to a five-year contract in 2023, after Malgin had 11 goals and 6 assists in 42 games at 26 years old. I can imagine that ZSC, eager to push the boundaries of competitive Swiss hockey, has deep pockets for the National League and would be paying Lammikko more than enough for him to scoff at a PTO offer. There’s a reason he’s making his full salary whether or not he ends up making the NHL team. PTOs are great tools for finding necessary depth, but not always an option when there are teams — even if not in the NHL — who are willing to pay upfront.

Where the Devils Stand With Centers and Overall Depth​

With Nico Hischier, Jack Hughes, Dawson Mercer, Erik Haula, and Juho Lammikko under contract, the Devils currently have five options down the middle. Cody Glass, a restricted free agent, should be the sixth, though the team could move them if they deem him to be too pricey to retain for his role (I hope they come to an agreement). At the moment, I would mark the depth chart as such:

Meier-Hischier-Noesen
Haula-Hughes-Bratt
Palat-Mercer-Gritsyuk
Cotter-Lammikko-MacDermid

Signing Glass would allow the team to shift things around a bit more:

Meier-Hischier-Noesen
Bratt-Hughes-Mercer
Haula-Glass-Gritsyuk
Palat-Lammikko-Cotter

If you look at the above lineup, I would not blame you to think, that is not a contender after how they ended up this season. But it is still possible to create cap space to make more transformative acquisitions, and having two 6’3” bottom six centers is a good start for responding to the issues that plagued the team in 2024-25. But is this enough? I would have a hard time blaming Fitz if having six natural centers, with Haula and Mercer on wing, somehow proved too little for the team in 2025-26, though I would love it if he made one more proven addition in this area before the team takes the ice for the pre-season in September. For now, Fitzgerald is a bit ahead of the game, and he can focus on the big-picture moves over the next couple weeks.

Your Thoughts​

What did you think of the signing of Juho Lammikko? Do you think he will fit the team well? Will Keefe benefit from having a faster bottom six center in the mix? How do you think this impacts the team’s center situation? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...ffseason-approach-center-depth-zsc-lions-finn

 

[New Jersey Devils]

Haoxi “Simon” Wang: 2025 NHL Draft Prospect Profile: Size, Skill, and a Unique Hockey Journey

Haoxi Wang might just have the most interesting story out of all prospects in this year’s draft. Read on to find out why.

Today we look at perhaps the most unique prospect eligible for the 2025 NHL Entry Draft: Haoxi “Simon” Wang. What makes his story so interesting, and what makes him an intriguing prospect in addition to that? Let’s dive in.

Who Is Haoxi Wang?​

Haoxi (pronounced How-she) “Simon” Wang was born on July 27, 2007. A native of Beijing, China, Wang is a hulking left-shot defenseman, listed at 6’6”, 209lbs according to his profile on Elite Prospects. As far as I can find, Simon is either a more western name that Wang wanted to go by once coming to North America, or a nickname given to him by others once he came here.

We have seen some NHLers over the years that have been born in non-traditional hockey markets, such as Taiwan, Brazil, and Italy to name a few. But for the most part these players spent only the first few years of their life (and sometimes not even that much) in those places before moving to more traditional hockey countries to train and develop. Wang is different in that he spent the first 12 years of his life in his native China. He did spend his junior/major junior years in Canada, but 12 years is far longer than most NHL prospects spend in places where hockey is not a major sport.

After coming up in Beijing, he moved to the Toronto area right before his teenage years. A friend he grew up playing hockey with had come to Canada previously, and this friend encouraged Wang to take the plunge as well. Wang and his family obliged, and he settled into arguably the biggest hockey hotbed in the world. His first taste of North American hockey came with the Toronto Titans of the Greater Ontario Hockey League in 2019, but even this took a unique turn for Wang. While it’s true that he joined the Titans program and trained with them for a while, he didn’t actually end up playing any games with them. Instead, he returned to China once the Covid-19 pandemic hit, played and trained there for a little while longer, and eventually returned to North America for the 2022-23 season where he joined the North York Rangers, also of the GTHL.

In his first legitimate game action in North America, Wang played 33 games with the Rangers’ U16 squad, putting up three goals and seven total points. The following season, Wang graduated to the Ontario Junior Hockey League level, where he played for the Brantford 99ers. In 28 games that season, Wang didn’t score a goal but did post seven assists.

This past season saw Wang truly ascend. Playing for yet another team, the King Rebellion of the OJHL, Wang notched four goals and 22 points in 38 games. After his 28 games with the Rebellion, Wang made the leap to the famed OHL, where he joined the Oshawa Generals. In 32 more games with the Generals, Wang put up two points, both assists. The numbers don’t jump off the page obviously, but it is impressive to see such a meteoric rise from a player who didn’t play hockey at a high level until his age-16 season.

Wang’s impressive rise was also enough to catch the attention of Boston University, as the Terriers offered Wang a spot in their program back in September of 2023. Wang accepted, and he will continue his hockey journey at the NCAA level this upcoming season under the guidance of former Devil Jay Pandolfo.

Where Is Wang Ranked?​

• 31st by TSN (Bob McKenzie)
• 34th by NHL Central Scouting (North American skaters)
• 43rd by Daily Faceoff
• 44th by The Athletic’s Corey Pronman
• 44th by The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler (Yes, both scouting experts at The Athletic have Wang ranked at 44th overall)
• 59th by Smaht Scouting
• 70th by McKeen’s Hockey
• 74th by TSN (Craig Button)
• Honorable Mention by DobberProspects (Their ranked list included 46 prospects, so consider this a ranking of roughly 50th overall)

What Others Are Saying About Wang​

Let’s start with Scott Wheeler of The Athletic, who did a longform profile of Wang back in December. If you have access to The Athletic, it’s a great look into Wang’s journey. Wheeler paints a picture of a kid with tons of natural talent, but who is still very raw as a prospect given his relatively late start as far as high-level training goes. The defining trait of his game is his size/skating combination, as Wang has impressed scouts with just how great of a skater he is for a player of his size. He also flashes plenty of skill, and while his hockey IQ needed a lot of work upon coming to Canada, Wang apparently has made great strides in this area as well.

This isn’t from Wheeler’s longer piece, but here is his blurb on Wang in his final draft rankings from a couple weeks ago:

Wang’s an extraordinarily mobile player for his size, with impressive skating technique through his inside and outside edges laterally and flowing mechanics going north or back to pucks. And while his handling still needs a little refinement, he’s got some skill, can play with fearless confidence (which I wanted him to show more of and skate more pucks in the OHL instead of deferring) and has the heavy shot you’d expect. There’s work to do to tighten his gaps, but there’s a lot to like. The skating component is clear but his reads are coming, his on-ice communication is really strong (he’s constantly talking to his partner), he has learned to play a more physical style and it just feels like once he learns the decision-making component on offense a little better (he’s got a real ability to join the rush and make plays) and gets stronger on his feet (he’s big and he can bowl guys over but he can get knocked around when they engage in contact) that there could be something really interesting there. He covers a lot of ground quickly and is cast in a mold that teams are excited about. He’s also a summer birthday and it feels like he’s still very, very early in his development curve. He’ll be an interesting bet on Day 2.

(Also, one amusing aside from Wheeler’s piece: You remember how one of the teams Wang played for after coming to North America was the Brantford 99ers? Well after his time with the team, Wang’s mother bought the franchise. She apparently has an impressive portfolio of rinks she owns back in China, which now includes an OJHL franchise in Canada).

Next let’s see what Thomas Gagne of Smaht Scouting had to say about Wang:

An absolute physical monster, Haoxi Wang becoming a legit NHL draft prospect who could very well be drafted in the first round is probably one of the most unique stories of the amateur scouting world in the past several years. The Beijing-born defenseman is 6’6 tall and skates like the wind. Not just in a straight line too, his pivots are clean, his balance is right, and he can use his edges to open angles, work give-and-go’s and activate from the blue line in the offensive zone, which he liked to do a lot in the OJHL and sometimes in the OHL too. The transition has been impressive between the two leagues for Wang. At first, he seemed a bit overwhelmed by the pace of play, but slowly he’s been getting more comfortable and despite the lack of production, the underlying numbers paint the picture that he’s been a very effective player for the Oshawa Generals. A long-term project that will need an NHL team actively supporting him in his development, due to how raw he still is, Wang could become an absolute outlier of a hockey player with his size, skating and willingness to play an offensive game.

Again, more praise for his unique size/skating combination, as well as his skill level, with a note that he is still very raw as a prospect.

Steven Ellis of the Daily Faceoff is pretty much in lockstep with everyone else:

The Boston University commit was dominant against OJHL competition with the King Rebellion, but he needed a bit more time to adjust to OHL action in Oshawa. But the one thing scouts can all agree on: there’s high upside here. He only started to play at a high level competitively a few years ago, and he’s learning how to use his 6-foot-6 frame to his advantage. The Beijing, China native can skate well and has good offensive instincts. Moving forward, reading plays on the rush will be something he needs to work on, but the raw talent is there. You just might need some patience.

I could go on, but I think you get the point. Scouts are in agreement on what Wang is as a prospect.

A Little Video​

We turn once again to the YouTube channel Prospect Shifts. They’ve compiled a video of all of Wang’s shifts from his January 18, 2025 game against Brantford while playing for the Oshawa Generals of the OHL. Let’s take a look:

I find it very funny that the first thing we are greeted with in this video is the play-by-play broadcaster telling us that Wang was late coming onto the ice for his shift. Anyway...

Through his first few shifts, I do see flashes of what makes Wang an enticing prospect. You can tell how big he is even through this video, but despite his size, Wang is a very smooth and effective skater. He makes some strong passes early on, including a nice breakout pass, but lacks the touch to allow his teammates to settle his passes properly.

At about 2:10, Wang puts together a sequence that I am very impressed with. He wins a puck battle against multiple opponents, making a nice stick play on the opposing forward to take possession. He then tracks the puck down in the corner and makes a really nice outlet pass to his teammate, slipping the puck neatly to the open man. He can’t handle the pass and Brantford keeps possession, but I put this on Wang’s teammate way more than Wang. He then gets to the front of the net to cancel out the Brantford forward, and eventually Oshawa clears the zone.

His shift that begins at 4:30 is an eventful one. We see a lot of good things from Wang in the offensive zone, such as Wang stepping up on a loose puck to keep the play alive, Wang showing off some nice skill and edgework at the top of the zone to fire a shot at the net, and Wang intercepting a clearing attempt to keep the play alive once more. But then we see Wang attempt to play “hero ball” a little bit in his defensive zone, and it backfires. He tracks back to collect a dump-in but loses the puck while trying to make a play. He then does a good job to come up with a takeaway, but he coughs it right back up after getting too fancy with the puck on the breakout attempt. This leads to Brantford getting a quality look at the net, but Oshawa keeps the puck out. Very high-risk/high-reward stuff from Wang.

At about 6:25, Brantford transitions the puck into Oshawa’s zone, with Wang defending. It’s a small play, but I like Wang staying focused on his assignment and not getting caught puck-watching. This allows him to cancel out his man when the puck comes to them near the side of the net, even though Wang was not facing where the puck came from. It’s not like this was just blind luck either, Wang took a quick look over his shoulder at where the play was headed and anticipated that he would need to pick up his man.

Around 7:40, we see more hero ball from Wang. He tries to use his big frame and skill to make a fancy breakout play as opposed to just playing the puck hard around. This time it worked out, though it almost cost Wang.

At 8:25, we get another flash of high-level play. Wang skates the puck out, and shows off impressive vision and skill to slip a deceptive and effective pass between two forecheckers right to the tape of a teammate, setting up a nice zone entry for Oshawa. Nothing comes of the play at first, but Wang then receives a pass in the neutral zone, makes a terrific move to evade a defender and gain the zone, then hooks a good pass to his right to set up a possession.

Around 10:30, we again see Wang basically turn his back on the play to engage with an opposing forward in front of the net. Your mileage may vary on whether this is good or bad, but at the very least it’s nice to see Wang show a commitment to physical defense in his own zone.

At 11:25, Wang covers a lot of ground to erase a rush chance for Brantford. This was impressive to me considering Wang was on the opposite side of the ice and had to hurry over to the weak side to cover for his partner who stepped up in the neutral zone. Wang gets to the puck carrier in plenty of time to block the shot with a nice poke check. He then cancels his man out effectively, allowing Oshawa to easily exit the zone.

An Opinion​

Haoxi “Simon” Wang very much reminds me of New Jersey’s 2024 first-round pick, Anton Silayev. A huge, left-shot defenseman that shows off remarkable skating ability for a player his size, and who flashes high-level skill and occasionally strong hockey IQ while still being raw in a lot of ways? Yeah, the similarities are eerie.

Silayev was much more polished in the runup to his draft than Wang is though, hence why Silayev went 10th overall (and even that was a little surprising considering a lot of draft experts had him ranked in the top five) while Wang will most likely be a day two pick. Silayev was also looked at as more of a defensive blueliner with decent offense, while Wang is the opposite as an offensive blueliner with decent defense.

Comparisons to Silayev aside, I really like Wang as a project pick. Keep in mind, Wang got a very late start to his hockey career, so there is most likely way more untapped potential with him than almost every other prospect in this draft. This means he will probably need more time to develop than usual, but he has way more room to grow than most prospects. And considering how impressive he looks already, it’s hard not to dream of what Wang can be at his ceiling.

There are risks with selecting Wang of course. First of all, it’s no guarantee he does properly develop. Perhaps his hockey IQ never grows, perhaps his offensive game never fully blossoms, perhaps he never learns to fully utilize his large frame. These are all worthwhile concerns. And for the Devils specifically, do they really want to use more draft capital on a defenseman when their system is filled to the brim with blueliners? Shouldn’t they be targeting forwards, and more specifically centers, instead?

While I would agree that in a perfect world, New Jersey should be restocking their forward pipeline as opposed to adding another project defenseman, Wang’s potential might just be too great to pass up. In fact there’s a good chance Wang might not even be available when the New Jersey Devils make their first selection in this draft, which as of this writing is slated to be 50th overall.

In the end, while I understand the risk, I would be in favor of taking Wang in the second round. In my opinion, draft picks outside of the first round are best spent taking swings on high upside as opposed to low ceiling/high floor players. Wang is firmly in the former camp, and if he does reach his potential, the rewards would be astronomical. If Wang even comes close to his ceiling, can you imagine a left side that features Luke Hughes, Anton Silayev, and Wang? Even if a logjam is created if a certain defenseman that currently plays in British Columbia makes his way to the Garden State, I’m sure someone can play on their offhand and create probably the most talented blueline in the league. Or at the very least, the Devils will have a premium trade chip to use so they can acquire whatever they need. I know New Jersey needs more offense in their system, but that doesn’t necessarily have to come from their forwards. If they can generate more offense from the blueline than any other team in the league, that’s a huge advantage that could potentially lead them to a Cup. Wang has the potential to be an elite offensive defenseman.

And let’s go back to Scott Wheeler’s profile of Wang once more, as there is one passage in there that gives me a lot of hope that Wang will develop well as opposed to flaming out. In this excerpt, “Walters” refers to John Walters, and “Valliquette” refers to Brett Valliquette. They are Wang’s advisor and Walters’ consultant respectively:

After returning (to North America) at 14, (Wang) and Valliquette began renting ice and skating at the local NTR rink at 7 a.m. before school every Tuesday and Thursday. Over the last couple of years, Valliquette has taught him to “understand the offensive game and all of these fakes and little techniques.”

In that last season of minor hockey with the Rangers in 2022-23, Walter’s dad, Joe, began driving him to his games and giving him tips. Wang said his hockey IQ began to take shape in those car rides.

It seems as though the biggest thing that might hold Wang back from reaching his ceiling is his hockey IQ, since all the other physical tools are there. But clearly he’s proven that he’s willing to put in the work to get better in this regard. And if simple car rides can lead to Wang developing a much stronger hockey IQ, imagine what some time at BU and, eventually, the minor leagues of pro hockey can do.

I really like Wang as a prospect. I would be in favor of taking him with any of New Jersey’s picks in this upcoming draft.

Your Take​

What do you think of Haoxi “Simon” Wang? Does his incredible potential intrigue you more than the concern over how raw he is? Where would you be comfortable taking him? Would you rather avoid adding another defenseman to the pipeline? As always, thanks for reading!

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...rofile-size-skill-and-a-unique-hockey-journey

 

[New Jersey Devils]

New Jersey Devils Prospect Update: In Case You Missed It Edition

A picture of Yegorov. Why not? | Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

After draft previews and a few weeks absence, some news may have slipped through the cracks. This post summarizes what may have been missed.

As the draft nears, we look at some news we may have missed.

Around the Pool:​

• First, the confirmation we’ve been waiting for:

Both Zakhar Bardakov and Arseniy Gritsyuk are leaving SKA.

The pair will continue their respective careers in North America.

We would like to thank them for their efforts with our club in Saint Petersburg! Good luck!#hcSKA pic.twitter.com/uSpwtlOD1O

— SKA Ice Hockey Club (@hcSKA_News) June 11, 2025​

I’m still stung by the salt of losing Bardakov, but we shall see how he fares in Colorado. Gritsyuk should be a welcomed addition to the Devils lineup next season.

• Congratulations to center Matyas Melovsky for earning some hardware as the best defensive forward in the QMJHL last season. Melovsky signed an AHL contract with the Utica Comets this offseason. A defensive-minded center with a scoring touch and physical presence, he certainly has the mold of a player who could become a valued addition to the bottom of the Devils lineup one day. It will be interesting to see how he develops.

#GoldenPucks

Guy-Carbonneau Trophy, Matyas Melovsky, @DrakkarBAC:

Despite constantly being used against opposing top lines, the QMJHL's 7th-highest scorer still finished the season with a +40 differential, in addition to winning 59.1% (7th) of his 1,444 face-offs (4th). pic.twitter.com/pZ4fw6ib5x

— QMJHL (@QMJHL) May 9, 2025​

• To no one’s surprise, Anton Silayev will spend another season developing in the KHL, but the timeline from Daniel Rebain is encouraging.

As I suspected. One more year in the KHL for Anton Silayev before he signs his three year ELC with New Jersey in the Spring of 2026. ✍

— Daniel Rebain (@pvtmcbain) June 3, 2025​

• Daniel Rebain also tweeted (x’ed?) this post about the the KHL players who may be heading to the Devils camp. The note on Karpovich is particular interesting. Injuries limited Karpovich to 25 games this year, only four of which were in the KHL with an average ice time of 5:04 minutes.

I would also expect Daniil Karpovich ('23, 6th Rd) and maybe even Artyom Barabosha ('22, 7th Rd) to make the trip over for Dev camp.

Daniil Orlov could make the trip for a second stright year, but with his new deal with Spartek idk.

Karpovich is also on potential ELC watch.

— Daniel Rebain (@pvtmcbain) June 3, 2025​

• After a rough season, there will be a shifting of the guard in the Utica Comets coaching staff as contracts are not renewed. Replacements TBD.
• Adirondack Thunder Assistant Coach Mike Bergin had some kind words for winger prospect Josh Filmon.

“For his first pro season, I thought it went well,” Bergin said. “He came in, and it is tough to adjust to the pro level, especially when you are still eligible to play juniors, as Josh was last year. He came in, and you could see the vision, his shot, and just the way he carries himself day-to-day, that he is going to be a great pro.” — The Hockey News

• After an injury that was thought to possibly end his hockey career and derailed most of his season, Kasper Pikkarainen has signed with TPS of the Liiga. It cannot be understated how big this will be for the young winger’s development. We wish him the best of the luck and healthier times.

Kasper Pikkarainen nähdään tulevalla kaudella jälleen TPS:n paidassa - hänen aiemmin solmittu sopimuksensa jatkuu kauden 2026–2027 loppuun asti

Uutena Kasper Pikkaraisen kummiyrityksenä kaudella 2025–2026 toimii Roster! #HCTPS #Turku #Liiga pic.twitter.com/rBMlp3RKwE

— HC TPS (@HCTPS) May 7, 2025​

• Dobber prospects posted this interesting update on winger Cole Brown, who it appears will suit up for Notre Dame next season. The Devils are headed into uncharted territory with the prospect, but may possibly still keep his rights. Time will tell.

His status with the New Jersey Devils is pending a league and NHLPA resolution on player expiry rights that commit to the NCAA after their junior careers. Mark Henry

Your Take​

Post your thoughts below.

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...prospect-update-in-case-you-missed-it-edition

 

[New Jersey Devils]

New Jersey Devils Trade Erik Haula to Nashville Predators

Haula, always good to the kids, has had a lot of fans in New Jersey. | Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Less than two weeks away from free agency, the New Jersey Devils clear a little cap space by moving Haula to Nashville.

Today marks the end of Erik Haula’s time with the New Jersey Devils, for now. The team has announced that they have traded Haula to the Nashville Predators for a fourth-round pick in the 2025 Draft and Jeremy Hanzel, a defenseman who spent much of his first full professional season in the ECHL with the Atlanta Gladiators. As the Devils noted in their release, they now have seven picks in the 2025 NHL Draft.

Since being acquired on the morning of July 13, 2022, Erik Haula has been an impactful supporting player for the New Jersey Devils. In his first season with the team, Haula scored 41 points in the regular season and six points in the playoffs, helping the Devils defeat the New York Rangers in the first round after the team set a franchise record for standing points in a season. Simply being a part of this team marked Haula down in the annals of Devils history. In the process, he also made sure to give everyone one of the group’s more memorable goal celebration in one of the team’s momentous victories against New York:

Since that wonderful first step into playoff contention for these Devils, things have not been as great for the team, and Haula has had his share of struggles as well. In the 2023-24 season, Haula was a bit more lucky with his shot, but the team took a step backwards. Signed to a fresh three-year, $9.45 million contract, this regression was not pinned on Haula, but the team needed a strong 2024-25 season from everyone on the roster. In the second year of his deal, Haula only had 11 goals and 10 assists in 69 games, while moved largely off center down the stretch. This may have, in part, made Fitzgerald more likely to trade Haula. Having a bottom six center on an affordable contract would not be the end of the world, cap-wise, but the team had been using him more as a wing. I think it makes some sense to make this trade if they did not plan to put Haula back at center on the third line or at wing on the second line to take faceoffs for Jack Hughes. With $3.15 million in cap space cleared for the next season, they might be able to look for an upgrade on one of those lines if they continue to shed salary:

The #NJDevils now have $14,394,167 in cap space after clearing Haula’s $3.15M.

Talks with Jake Allen and Daniel Sprong are expected soon, if not already to see where both sides are at. https://t.co/5EIqfeGnRD

— James Nichols (@JamesNicholsNHL) June 18, 2025​

One of the reasons I was not extremely eager to move Haula is that his contract is affordable. If he just got back to scoring around 15 goals, it would be more or less fair value, or better, depending on his defensive impact. Now with over $14 million in cap space, the team still cannot really do all that much after Luke Hughes signs his extension. They still likely have to move at least one of Ondrej Palat, Dawson Mercer, or Dougie Hamilton to make a big addition at forward. Jared recently laid out the case for thinking about moving Hamilton, but I am not big on the idea. I also wrote about why the team should not shop Dawson Mercer this offseason. In there, I tried to somewhat defend Haula, while acknowledging he would probably be among the first to be moved for cap space, by comparing the Devils’ supporting cast with their contracts and production laid out:

Ondrej Palat: $6Mx2 remaining; 15 goals, 13 assists in 2024-25 ($315,789 per primary point)

Dawson Mercer: $4Mx2 remaining: 19 goals, 17 assists in 2024-25 ($129,032 per primary point)

Erik Haula: $3.15Mx1 remaining: 11 goals, 10 assists in 2024-25 ($185,294 per primary point)

Stefan Noesen: $2.75Mx2 remaining: 22 goals, 19 assists in 2024-25 ($74,324 per primary point[!!!])

I later compared Haula and Palat directly:

I would love to see Palat and Haula turn it around, but at their age, it is not historically likely. Not a lot of players rekindle their old levels of production at 34 years old. Though, to be fair to Haula, he did not get nearly as much secondary assist luck as Palat. Haula had seven primary assists to Palat’s four, while Palat had nine secondary assists to Haula’s three. With eight fewer games played, his season was truly much more palatable than Palat’s. I just don’t expect 40 points from him again.

While Haula did underperform his contract to some extent in the 2024-25 season, he did not do so nearly as much as Ondrej Palat. I recognize that Palat was great in the playoffs at helping Nico Hischier operate, but he still did not get on the scoresheet that much. Since trading Haula represents a pretty limited boost to the team’s cap space, I thought there may have been bigger fish to fry. Considering that he had so few secondary assists this year and probably got unlucky in that regard when you look at his stats, Haula was still mostly staying afloat for the amount the team was paying him. That said, it is not necessarily a bad decision to move on: it just depends on what they do with that extra money.

Jeremy Hanzel should not factor into the 2025-26 season at all. While I will reserve more judgement for the Top 25 Under 25 later this summer, my first impression is that I would be surprised if he ever factored into the operation of the New Jersey Devils as an NHL club. Having another draft pick is a nice thing for Fitzgerald to have in his pocket though, whether he flips in a trade or tries to find a diamond in the rough with it.

Therefore, we will not be able to judge this move in a vacuum. If Tom Fitzgerald does not invest this money into moves that can help the Devils’ middle six compete and create goals, I might end up disappointed, and just wanting Haula back. But if this is just the first of a string of moves that results in a big contributor joining the team, I am likely to look on this trade positively. This is the business side of it: the Devils need to trade someone to make additions.

I will always like Erik Haula, though. He made a lot of fans, some of whom have posted some great tributes, like this one from the Traveling Haulas. But at least the Traveling Haulas will not need to add a new jersey to the mix, as Haula played with Nashville in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season. Now, perhaps, Haula can get a taste of real life in Nashville, and not the pandemic version of it, while he reunites with Andrew Brunette, who was a part of the 2022-23 coaching staff that Haula worked so well under.

When Haula first signed that extension in 2023, the Devils posted a big feature titled “Haula is Home.” In that piece, Haula touched on how much movement he has done throughout his career since Vegas pulled him from Minnesota in their expansion draft, and that it was good to finally have a place to settle down. For him, I wish that he could have gotten to finish his contract in New Jersey. When he said he didn’t want to play for another team, I believed him. He mixed well with his teammates on a personal level and provided a lot of what they needed on the ice. If anything, it feels like he is departing with unfinished business, and I would mark him as an early 2026 free agency target, assuming he doesn’t extend in Nashville.

Your Thoughts​

What do you think of the Haula trade? Do you think he will have a bounce back season? What was your favorite memory of Erik Haula? What is next for the team? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...tors-brunette-fitzgerald-draft-pick-cap-space

 

[New Jersey Devils]

Maybe the New Jersey Devils Will Make the Necessary Moves This Summer

Next player to move please. | Photo by Andrew Maclean/NHLI via Getty Images

After last off-season and this past trade deadline, concern arose that maybe the New Jersey Devils were moving in the wrong direction. After yesterday's trade, maybe they're back on track.

Just when you think New Jersey Devils General Manager Tom Fitzgerald has lost his touch, he goes out and does something to give you hope. After an okay 2024 off-season and a disappointing 2025 trade deadline, things seemed to be moving in the wrong direction for the Devils. I wrote previously about how the team couldn't afford to over-correct away from their identity again and that maybe Fitzgerald shouldn't be the one to fix the team. With yesterday's trade however, maybe he still has some tricks up his sleeve.

Moving Erik Haula to Nashville may not be popular but it was a good trade. He was a good locker room guy, and he was one of the better Devils in the 2023 playoffs. Unfortunately, all sports are a "what have you done for me lately" business and Haula's 2024-25 was miserable outside of his faceoff percentage. Not only does moving on from him give the Devils the the start of a path to reshape their Bottom Six, it also helps with the salary cap to do so. Fitzgerald did not have to retain on him and even got a fourth round pick alongside a long shot defense prospect.

If the team wasn't afraid to make this move, then maybe this summer will bring the overhaul fans crave. Even with now just over $14 million in cap space according to Puckpedia, there's quite a bit to get done. Factor in that a good chunk of that might go to Luke Hughes' new contact, and there's still moves to make to truly bolster the depth. The top option would, of course, be finding a taker for Ondrej Palat. As long as that move makes sense from a cost standpoint (meaning the Devils don't have to part with a ton of assets to make it happen) the Devils would be adding to their overall success by subtracting a player who is slowing down and omg productive when stapled to top talents.

Jared wrote last week about the Devils potentially moving on from Dougie Hamilton as well. Unlike Haula and Palat, Hamilton I think still has some value to the Devils and if he were still on the roster I wouldn't be upset. At the same time $9 million is a lot of cap for a guy who is no longer factoring into the team's long-term plans. With Johnny Kovacevic set to miss the start of the season though, moving Hamilton might need to wait a bit. If the team does decide to move him, again it would show that willingness by Fitzgerald to what is necessary.

Realistically, that's what all of this boils down to: making the moves that are needed for the betterment of the team. That also means not re-signing pretty much every Devils forward set to enter unrestricted free agency. Maybe Daniel Spring gets one more shot but Nate Bastian, Justin Dowling and (sadly because he seemed like a good locker room guy) Curtis Lazar shouldn't be coming back. Each of the above moves in isolation has had varying levels of discussion here at AAtJ, but now we're entering the time of year where the difficult decisions actually need to be made. The draft is just over a week away and free agency will follow shortly after. If the Devils intend to at least partly remodel their roster in free agency, moves will have to be made before the end of the month.

Maybe more moves are coming this week. Maybe a deal materializes at the draft. Perhaps something gets done between the draft and free agency if original plans fall through. The Haula trade brings hope that Tom Fitzgerald is willing to make the difficult decisions necessary to improve this roster this summer. This is supposed to be the window for this Devils core to be competing, not flaming out early in the playoffs or missing them entirely. If they can't comfortably qualify and make some noise in 2025-26 then maybe there will be different changes (read: general manager changes) made next summer.

What are your thoughts on the Devils front office making the needed moves: will Haula be the only trade? Do you see Palat and/or Hamilton being dealt? Would not re-signing the UFA forwards be enough evidence for you that the club is moving in a different direction? Leave any and all comments below and thanks as always for reading!

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...-moves-this-summer-haula-palat-tom-fitzgerald

 

[New Jersey Devils]

DitD & Open Post - 6/20/25: Farewell Edition

Carolina Hurricanes right wing Jackson Blake (53) and New Jersey Devils left wing Erik Haula (56) battle during the third period in game five of the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Lenovo Center. | James Guillory-Imagn Images

New Jersey Devils & Related Hockey Links for 6/20/25

Here are your links for today:

Devils Links​

Erik Haula gets shipped to Nashville:

#NEWS: We've acquired Nashville’s own fourth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft and defenseman Jeremy Hanzel in exchange for forward Erik Haula.

: https://t.co/vDqRNXK3Ov pic.twitter.com/siDwyIKv18

— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) June 18, 2025​

Not surprisingly, the Devils appear to be poking around in the goaltending market:

#Canucks

Recap of Frank Seravalli's interview with Halford & Brough. https://t.co/IqJ2zqncOy pic.twitter.com/OTH8mv3rY8

— Canucks News Summaries (@VCanucksNews) June 18, 2025​

Hockey Links​

Dallas making moves:

Dallas Dutchy ain't leavin'

We have signed Matt Duchene to a 4-year contract extension through the 2028-2029 season.

MORE: https://t.co/iSHP8opLBS@shift4 | #TexasHockey pic.twitter.com/jaHSLyiNlr

— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) June 19, 2025​

The #SeaKraken have acquired forward Mason Marchment from the Dallas Stars in exchange
for Dallas’ 2025 4th-round pick (previously acquired by the Kraken) and Seattle’s 2026 3rd-round pick pic.twitter.com/50WX5lmxkK

— Seattle Kraken PR (@SeattleKrakenPR) June 19, 2025​

Ryan Donato gets a deal:

FOUR MORE YEARS OF RYAN DONATO

➡︎ https://t.co/dmJ0ENjlc0 pic.twitter.com/cScsQdCZJo

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) June 18, 2025​

What’s next for Connor? “McDavid has only the 2025-26 season remaining on his existing contract. He is eligible to sign an extension in Edmonton as soon as July 1, but that doesn’t require a decision on his next deal to be made this summer. Choosing to wait, though, would invite speculation and heavy scrutiny, especially if a new McDavid contract isn’t in place by the time Oilers training camp opens in September.” [The Athletic ($)]

Has Evander Kane played himself out of Edmonton? “The 33-year-old had a decent-enough post-season, posting six goals and 12 points in 21 playoff games. That’s an improvement on his 2024 playoff production of four goals and eight points in 20 games, when he played through an injury. The problem, though, is Kane’s discipline.” [The Hockey News]

Who’s going to get bought out? [The Athletic ($)] [The Hockey News]

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

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2025/6/20/24452541/devils-in-the-details-6-20-25-farewell-edition

 

[New Jersey Devils]

The Solutions To the Devils Problems Aren’t Sitting Out There in Free Agency

Can Fitzgerald bring in the pieces that Keefe needs to get this team to the next level? | Photo by Rich Graessle/NHLI via Getty Images

The Devils don’t have a lot of money to spend in free agency, and even if they did, they’d be better off exploring the trade market instead of paying UFA prices in a rising cap environment.

The New Jersey Devils simultaneously accomplished a lot and little in 2024-25.

There were certainly positives, as core players such as Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, and Jesper Bratt had strong individual seasons. Luke Hughes took another big step in his development and will likely be the Devils #1 defenseman sooner rather than later, unless the Devils swing a trade for his older brother. The team got good goaltending, which is a welcome change, and they were overall solid defensively thanks to the additions they made on the blueline last summer. And the team managed to clear the very low bar of getting back to the playoffs, which they did thanks to a strong start to the campaign.

The problem is that as the season went on, the team’s flaws got exposed. Guys like Paul Cotter and Stefan Noesen who got off to hot starts cooled off in the second half, drying up the secondary offense in the process. The team never really had a quality 3C or 4C all season long and the bottom six suffered as a whole. Key players like Dawson Mercer and Simon Nemec took a step back in their respective developments, while Timo Meier was frustratingly inconsistent until he heated up in March. The team struggled to string together winning streaks of longer than a few games, and that was before they lost Jack Hughes to a season ending shoulder injury in early March. Add in a few more key injuries on the blueline once the playoffs actually started, and Carolina made relatively short work of the Devils in five games.

I wouldn’t call this past season a failure though, despite the team’s play post-Christmas break. A failure is what we saw the previous season when everything that could go wrong did go wrong and they missed the playoffs. I highlighted all of those when I wrote this very article one season ago. This past season wasn’t THAT. With that said, I wouldn’t exactly throw a parade over what the Devils did this year either. Just getting to the playoffs should be the bare minimum for this group at this point. They accomplished that, so they get some credit for doing that, but there’s still plenty of work to do going forward.

The 2024-25 season is in the books for the Devils, and has been for some time. With trade season, buyout season, the draft, and free agency all coming quickly over the next few weeks, this is a busy time for GM Tom Fitzgerald as he tries to find the right pieces to help this group take that next step.

The Devils have just over $11.2M to spend in free agency, but with a key RFA in Luke Hughes who needs a new deal and a bottom six that needs to be revamped, that money will dry up fairly quickly and that’s before we start talking about making legitimate upgrades to the forward group. Sure, they can do some things to create more space like get rid of some of the dead weight on the roster. But even if you subtract, you still need to add to replace what you’re losing. Even with the most optimistic, rose-colored glasses projections for guys like Arseni Gritsyuk and what they might do on a league-minimum salary, you need a little more than that.

I do think there is a path though for Tom Fitzgerald to jettison the dead weight, add to the forward group, and build a roster that should fare better in 2025-26. But it is a tight needle to thread.

Tom Fitzgerald Might Have Already Tipped His Hand in Regards to Bargain Bin Hunting​

Chris touched on this when he did the write up on the Juho Lammikko signing but it bears repeating. If the Devils are going to add any significant talent towards the top of the roster, they need more minimum salary (or close to it) players at the bottom of the lineup to counterbalance that. Lammikko is certainly part of that discussion.

I don’t know how Lammikko will fare in his return to the NHL after three seasons of playing overseas, but I do find it interesting he’s agreeing to what is essentially a minimum salary two and a half weeks before UFA opens and in a rising cap environment. UFA prices can get out of hand quickly and the Devils aren’t in a position to even go upwards of $2M to sign a fourth line type if they’re serious about making improvements elsewhere in the lineup. I use that $2M number as an example, as that is what some notable fourth liners like Ryan Lomberg and Kevin Stenlund got on July 1 last year. I’m not suggesting the Devils are being cheap, rather, I bring it up to illustrate how cutthroat they probably need to be with the back end of their roster and how they need to get creative in order to find players that fit the current cap structure. Paying the Nate Bastians of the world $1.35M and Tomas Tatar $1.8M are luxuries the Devils can’t afford anymore, hence, outside the box signings like Lammikko. Juho Lammikko might turn out to be not much of a fit at all, but for a one-year deal, its tough to say its a bad deal even if it doesn’t pan out.

I would consider the Devils to have seven viable candidates to be on the 2025 Opening Night roster who all make under $1M AAV. Lammikko, Paul Cotter, Seamus Casey, Simon Nemec, Nico Daws, Arseny Gritsyuk, and Lenni Hameenaho.

I don’t know if the Devils are in a position to ship out any middling contracts and adding more minimum salary players to the mix without hurting the team in the process. Just to use Stefan Noesen as an example, you’re probably not trading him for a draft pick and then getting the same level of production or better from an external UFA making under $1M. But it’s something to keep in mind with where the Devils currently are with their salary cap situation. It’s also yet another reason I wouldn’t expect them to go crazy in UFA, and that’s IF they find takers for Erik Haula or Ondrej Palat via trade this summer.

Next week, I’ll touch on some potential bargain bin options that might make sense for the Devils, but keep in mind that there will be some level of disappointment in the Devils having to shop for those types of options on the clearance rack when the better, higher-end options are the ones who will go early off the boards in free agency.

Regardless, The Answers For the Devils Probably Aren’t Sitting Out There In Free Agency​

Its fun to daydream about Nikolaj Ehlers or Sam Bennett or Brad Marchand or Mitch Marner and what they might be able to do in a Devils sweater.

The problem with daydreams is that eventually, you have to wake up and snap back to reality.

The Devils aren’t in a position to make Marner an offer that he might actually accept, and that’s assuming one thinks putting all of your eggs in the Mitch Marner basket is a good idea in the first place. I do know that if I had bottomless resources and my goal was to add the player who gives me the best chance to win a playoff hockey game, I’m going with Sam Bennett or Brad Marchand 10 times out of 10 over Marner. Why? Because I’ve seen them deliver in that spot, time and time again. This line of thinking probably also goes for some of the higher end RFAs available (example, J.J. Peterka), as well as any pricey veterans on other teams who might be available via trade (example, Jason Robertson).

The Devils have already handed out their share of $7M+ contracts the last few years....five of them, in fact. Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Timo Meier, and Dougie Hamilton all make salaries north of $7M AAV per season. If they hand out a sixth, its probably going to be for Luke Hughes and rightly so.

While that isn’t a problem in and of itself.....paying your star players what they’re worth isn’t a problem....it does make things tighter elsewhere and it does exacerbate why giving Ondrej Palat $6M AAV wasn’t a great move. And we are probably at the point now where that Palat $6M salary is another ‘luxury’ preventing the Devils from doing other things that they’d like to do. At least, until they find a way to clear that number from their books.

Yes, the Devils might be able to find a couple bargains in UFA to fill out the roster and replace some of what they lost in speed and skill these last few years. But generally speaking, they’ve already spent their money on external guys the last few years between Hamilton, Palat, Brenden Dillon, Brett Pesce, and Stefan Noesen. They’re not really in a position to do it again, and certainly not to the level of the top UFAs that will hit the open market. Its why I keep saying that instead of paying top of market rate for THE Sam Bennett, they’re better off trying to find THE NEXT Sam Bennett via trade. Instead of paying for Ehlers, find the next Carter Verhaeghe before he blows up into one of the top scoring wingers in the league.

Obviously, this is all easier said and done, but in the case of Bennett and Verhaeghe, its a big part of the reason why a team like Florida is back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions and the Devils are not. They were able to find those players to supplement their core and get huge contributions from them at a discounted price.

For 2025: Short Term > Long Term (For the Most Part)​

The salary cap ceiling is expected to rise to upwards of $113.5M by 2027-28 and perhaps even more beyond that in future years.

The Devils have already positioned themselves where, with the exception of captain Nico Hischier, most of their deals for their supporting cast are set to expire after the 2026-27 season. Yet, most of their core pieces will still be in the middle of their long-term deals, particularly Jack Hughes, Timo Meier, and Jesper Bratt. One would assume Luke Hughes as well, if the Devils sign him long-term this summer.

I say that to say that with a weak UFA class overall and limited resources anyways, the Devils would be better off exploring short-term deals that align with the rest of the short-term deals that expire after the 2026-27 season. Instead of handing Brock Boeser a silly contract and locking him in until 2030 or beyond, they’re better off taking a stab on someone like Vlad Tarasenko via trade and hoping he is closer to his 2023-24 form than he was last year in Detroit. Instead of living in fantasy land and hoping for Ehlers, see if you can pry Alex Tuch out of Buffalo with a year left on a team-friendly deal. Instead of giving a 37-year-old Brad Marchand multiple years on a new contract at his peak value, take advantage of Dallas’s cap crunch and swing a deal for Mason Marchment.

The core of this Devils team is already in place, so I’m less concerned about giving term to the supporting cast right now, especially when the Devils will need that space in the future to resign Hischier. Going year-to-year with shorter term deals are better now instead of getting locked in for 3, 4, or 5 years for players and limiting your flexibility down the road to retool or adjust later. Sure, you risk “losing the player for nothing” if he walks as a UFA in a year, but when the tradeoff is gaining that cap space to replace said player, those are the types of moves the Devils should be making.

Why The Devils Should Prioritize 3C Over a Top Six Winger​

The Devils got a first-hand lesson on how fortunate they are to even have Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes, two legitimate Top Six centers, to build around in the first place this past season.

Finding a quality center is hard. And when you need to go pay for one in season, they’re not gonna be cheap. Case in point, go look at what the Avalanche gave up for Brock Nelson as a rental. And no, it doesn’t make it better that Colorado ultimately re-signed Nelson to a multi-year deal because there was no guarantee of that happening when they made the deal to acquire him.

I mentioned this a few weeks ago when I profiled the UFA centers and it bears repeating. It is not a coincidence or an accident that the teams that go deep in the playoffs every year are deep down the middle. Teams that have a legitimate 3C like Florida does with Anton Lundell. Or Dallas with Wyatt Johnston. Or Carolina with Sebastian Aho, Jordan Staal, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi. Tampa didn’t start winning Stanley Cups until they had that depth down the middle. Neither did Vegas. Colorado hasn’t gotten back to the Cup Final in part because they STILL haven’t replaced what Nazem Kadri brought to the table. St. Louis had Brayden Schenn, Ryan O’Reilly, and Tyler Bozak down the middle when they won the Cup. There are countless examples of this.

The backbone of championship-caliber rosters begins with your depth down the middle, and until the Devils find a better solution for their 3C and 4C, they’ll be facing an uphill battle when it comes to taking that next step.

The Devils might’ve thought they had a potential solution in Erik Haula at 3C but he had a dreadful season in 2024-25 and may or may not be at a point in his career where he’s more of a wing than a center. At least, that’s what his usage suggested this season. They gave far too many opportunities to the Justin Dowlings of the world out of necessity, and they had too many guys like Curtis Lazar who weren’t up to the part this season. Cody Glass was a solid in-season addition, and he has a good mix of size and speed where he might be a good 4C option. But he’s also another example of how expensive finding a quality center actually is. A future 3rd round pick, a lottery ticket in Max Graham, and a failed former first round pick in Chase Stillman is actually a lot to pay for a player with Glass’s resume and level of production, or lack thereof. Keep in mind, Glass is a former first round bust who is on his 4th NHL team at the age of 26. That’s not to say he can’t play well or carve out a role at the NHL level, but even THAT guy went for a Top 100 pick and two magic bean prospects.

I don’t think the Devils will be able to solve their 3C issue in UFA, but I do think they need to turn over every stone in the trade market to get a more legitimate option at 3C than what they had last season. Building a deeper, better lineup starts there, and you can’t expect your bottom six wingers to do a whole lot of anything if they’re playing with AHL-caliber centers like Dowling and Lazar. It’s for this reason I would prioritize a 3C over a Top Six winger. To be clear, I’m not saying scoring wingers aren’t important. But history has told us time and time again you can find those guys on the trade market at the deadline. There will always be rental options on the wing. And I’m willing to bet that prices won’t be as astronomical as they were this past deadline and more in line with the last few years where deals like this happened on the regular. Especially as teams begin to strip things down to improve their odds for Gavin McKenna in 2026.

The Devils should try again on Ryan O’Reilly. They should see if the Kings want to shed Phillip Danault’s $5.5M salary so they can chase Mitch Marner. Maybe Detroit makes JT Compher or Andrew Copp available with the emergence of Marco Kasper. Maybe the new Islanders GM makes J.G. Pageau available. Or Vegas finally makes William Karlsson or Nic Roy available. Maybe you offer sheet Mavrik Bourque knowing Dallas’s cap situation is tight. I dont know where the Devils turn to for an upgrade at 3C, but they should leave no stone unturned in the process. It’s too important to just assume Cody Glass will be good enough or hope that Erik Haula bounces back or pretend once again that a guy who isn’t a center in Curtis Lazar is indeed a center.

If I’m Fitzgerald and I have limited dollars to work with, that’s where I’m starting my heavy lifting this summer.

How Can The Devils Stretch Every Last Dollar Available To Them?​

Let’s put on our fantasy GM hat and get to work, thanks to PuckPedia’s PuckGM mode.

The Devils currently have a hair over $11.2M in available cap space thanks in part to their latest signing, Juho Lammikko, which was announced over the weekend. Lets increase that to $15.54M right off the bat by burying Kurtis MacDermid in Utica and shipping Erik Haula out via a cap dump trade. Since Haula can only block trades to six teams, let’s send him to a place he’s familiar with and probably won’t be one of those six teams.....Haula to Minnesota for a 2026 5th round pick.

We still need a little more operating room though, which means we really need to find a taker for Ondrej Palat. Palat has a 10-team trade list, and he has a $6M AAV, so its a limited market. One potential fit though? How about a trade sending him back to Anaheim, reuniting him with a few familiar faces from his Tampa days....most notably one-time Lightning assistant GM and current Ducks GM Pat Verbeek? Devils trade Palat to the Lightning for a 2027 7th round pick.

That increases our available cap space to $21,544,167 to fill six spots on the NHL roster.

I think you start with the money earmarked for a Luke Hughes extension, and while you could argue that if Luke takes a bridge, it gives you even more room to operate this summer, I’m going to stand by my previous statement when I did the Hughes RFA profile that the short-term benefits of a bridge aren’t worth the tradeoff long-term. If I can get Hughes signed to a max-term deal now, I will, and I think the Brock Faber deal is the comp of which to base a deal off of. Devils sign Luke Hughes to a 8-year, $8.6M AAV deal.

Next, I’m penciling in Arseni Gritsyuk and Lenni Hameenaho in for NHL roster spots, which I am reluctant to do since we haven’t gotten to training camp yet. But the Devils will need a few minimum salary players to fill out the roster, and I doubt there’s any outcome where Gritsyuk doesn’t make the team out of camp. I’m a little less bullish on Hameenaho being ready to jump right into the NHL at his age and contribute, but when considering some of his traits as a prospect (ability to get to the net, hockey sense, compete level), I do think its possible he shows enough in camp and the preseason to earn a spot, even if its as an energy fourth liner type to start out. Even if he’s on the occasional shuttle to and from Utica, I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing.

Those moves would leave $11,069,167 to fill four spots on the NHL roster.

Addressing 3C first, while it’s a bigger AAV than I’d like to commit to, the guy I’d be targeting, if available, is Phillip Danault.

Why Danault? He’s an elite defensive center who is good for 45-50 points every season. He had 43 points this past season despite a career worst shooting year at 6.6%, so I’d gamble on that rebounding closer to his career norms. He can play in all situations, which is ideal for me as I’d like to take a few of those defensive responsibilities off of Nico Hischier’s plate and give the Devils another option for certain situational hockey moments that pop up in game....such as protecting late leads.

Danault, who has 2 years left on his deal at $5.5M AAV, can block trades to ten teams, so there’s a decent chance NJ wouldn’t be on his list. Would they move him though? That is something I’m less certain of. Anze Kopitar is a franchise icon who isn’t going anywhere, and neither is former #2 overall pick Quinton Byfield. They do have a big body center in Samuel Helenius who might be ready for a larger role. But the Kings in general strike me as a team that probably could stand to make a splash in UFA this summer under new GM Ken Holland after they failed to once again get past Edmonton in a playoff series. They’re not short on cap space as they have $21.7M available, but perhaps they look to add a little more by shipping out a veteran like Danault.

The one “yeah, but” for me in regards to Danault is a reasonable compensation package. I don’t think that the deadline trade for Brock Nelson is a direct comparable since that was a rental trade at the deadline, and while part of LA’s motivation for maybe moving Danault would be to dump salary, I don’t view this as a straight cap dump either. The Scott Laughton trade might be a reasonable comp in terms of stylistic players, but he’s also on a cheaper contract and the Flyers retained 50%. I’ll propose the Devils trade the Edmonton 2025 2nd round pick and a conditional 2027 2nd round pick that can become a first if the Devils reach the Stanley Cup Final for Danault. And since that $5.5M is a bit much, finding a third party to eat a portion of the Danault deal would help with the cap moving forward. How about the Devils paying the Sabres the Dallas 2026 4th to retain $1.5M AAV, knocking Danault’s cap hit down to $4M.

That would leave the Devils with $7,069,167 to add a Top Six winger and a 4th line center. Fortunately, the Stars happen to have a big body top six wing theoretically available in Mason Marchment who is typically good for .67 PPG over the last four seasons. Marchment would be well worth the 2026 2nd round pick. All that leaves is the 4C spot, which we can take care of with $1.6M AAV for one year of Cody Glass.

CREDIT: PuckPedia’s PuckGM

Now, is any of this perfect? No, other than its a cap compliant roster by just under $1M for next season that should be better than the one the Devils trotted out for most of the second half of last season.. Maybe the Ducks don’t want Palat after making the Chris Kreider trade and the Devils have to find another trade partner. If they can’t move Palat, they’re probably not doing much of anything to improve the roster other than tinkering around the edges anyways. Maybe the Devils have to retain to move him elsewhere, or take on someone else’s bad contract, or they have to.....gulp....buy him out. Maybe the Kings want to hold on to Danault and the Devils have to look elsewhere for a 3C. Maybe the Wild don’t want Haula. Maybe the right combination is Reilly and Tarasenko instead of what I just wrote. Or they swing a deal for Ross Colton or Nic Roy someone else in that $4M-ish AAV range.

That doesn’t matter much though at this moment, as the point of this is to illustrate which players need to be on their way out and what type of players the Devils might be able to get to replace them. But it also more or less confirms what I wrote earlier about not being able to be players on the top UFAs that will hit the market. Obviously, Sam Bennett would be an ideal fit at 3C, but the Devils don’t have $8M to spend on him and that $8M number is probably overly conservative considering he just won a Conn Smythe as Florida’s MVP for the postseason. They don’t have $7M to spend a year on an Ehlers or Boeser or Marchand.

This also doesn’t touch the defense at all (which is more or less set for next year anyways) and operates under the assumption that Nico Daws is the backup next season. Your mileage may vary on whether or not Daws will be up to the task and if the Devils will need to add a veteran goaltender at some point to replace Jake Allen, who I think probably walks as a UFA.

There is a path to building a better, more well-rounded team without dipping into UFA. It requires a little creativity. But it can be done.

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...oblems-arent-sitting-out-there-in-free-agency

 

[New Jersey Devils]

Eric Nilson: 2025 NHL Draft Prospect Profile: A US-Bound Swedish Center Who Steps Up in High-Stakes Games

Nilson has a lot of room to fill out, but he could be a third-line force once he does. | Photo by Leila Devlin/Getty Images

A Canadian-born exceptional skater and two-way center, Nilson will attend Michigan State beginning 2025-26 after playing through the Swedish juniors system.

Who is Eric Nilson?​

Eric Nilson was born on May 11, 2007 in Calgary, Alberta. His father, Marcus, was playing for the Calgary Flames at the time, though he found himself in the KHL by the 2008-09 season before going back to Sweden after that year. Therefore, Nilson, while listed as a Canadian-Swedish player, grew up in Sweden with his family. His younger sister, Alice, is already playing professional women’s hockey at just 15 years old in the Nationella Damhockeyligan, which occupies the same space in Swedish women’s hockey as the HockeyAllsvenskan does for men, after she proved too good for U20 hockey. His uncle, Patrik, played for 10 professional and minor professional seasons between the Allsvenskan, Elitserien, AHL, CHL, and ECHL. Amidst such a solid mix of hockey players, Eric seeks to be the second NHLer in his family after working with Örebro HK and Djurgårdens IF over the last two and a half seasons. Per Alice (in a Swedish article), playing for the Djurgårdens association is a point of pride in the family.

Elite Prospects

Where is Nilson ranked?​

All rankings are sourced through Elite Prospects.

• 7th by NHL Central Scouting (EU Skaters)
• 18th by The Hockey News — Ferrari
• 23rd by McKeen’s Hockey
• 29th by Dobber Prospects
• 35th by The Hockey news — Kennedy
• 36th by TSN — McKenzie
• 37th by Daily Faceoff, FloHockey — Peters, and TSN — Button
• 43rd by Draft Prospects Hockey
• 44th by Sportsnet — Bukala and Recruit Scouting
• 45th by Smaht Scouting
• 60th by Elite Prospects
• 65th by FCHockey

What Others Say About Nilson?​

The Neutral Zone posted this article about Nilson in January, highlighting his 200-foot game, hockey IQ, and center—wing versatility. Offensively, they mark Nilson’s passing and ability to create opportunities for teammates as his greatest skill, in addition to his “tenacity along the boards” that should make him capable of competing in North America. However, they do note a few areas where Nilson needs to improve. First there is his weight, which should take care of itself. Beyond that, they write,

Averaging only 3.6 shot attempts per game and 1.2 grade “A” scoring chances, Nilson needs to become more assertive in driving offense. Developing a more aggressive mindset in the slot and taking more shots in high-danger areas will elevate his scoring impact....Nilson takes 0.76 hard hits per game, a high number considering his current size and the larger European ice surface.

In all, they project Nilson to be an all-situations middle six forward, comparing him to Mikael Backlund for his style of play and hockey IQ. Beyond The Neutral Zone, we also have Matthew Zator’s article for The Hockey Writers. Agreeing with takes that gaining weight should help Nilson play up to his attitude along the boards, Zator points out how well Nilson plays in the international games, writing,

Overall, it appears Nilson has the clutch gene and the innate ability to step up his game in the playoffs and for his country. His game lends itself to those situations, as he’s the exact archetype that always seems to thrive beyond the regular season and on the international stage.

With his heightened performance on big stages, Nilson could be the kind of supporting player the Devils are looking for to go with their core. He could end up filling a third-line center role as Nico Hischier approaches his 30th birthday in four years. Or maybe he will end up at wing, projecting something like the kind of player prime Ondrej Palat was — a big-time playmaker who will step up in the playoffs. Either way, it seems like Nilson follows the archetype of player that will help the team’s offensive drivers in the top six play their game.

A Little Video​

I usually start with a prospect shift video, but this time, I looked at Nilson’s highlight package first, which includes a lot of international play. Below, you can see Nilson’s four-point game against Team USA, where he scored a hat trick in a bronze medal game. International highlights then pick up again at 4:48 in the video, and again at 7:30, where it continues for the remainder of the video.

Something I really see in his international play is how well Nilson plays the puck from the goal line and below it, as well as along the wall near the corner. He often looks for the netfront play from those areas, whether he banks the puck off the goaltender or finds a teammate in front of the net. But Nilson makes sure to get in front of the goaltender, too, scoring goals — at times emphatically — and making a good first impression on me. But now, let’s look at what he does at the professional level in one of his Allsvenskan games against Mora IK.

In this game, Nilson plays right wing: a change from what he does in juniors. Nilson stays on his assignment pretty well, and helps get the puck out of the defensive zone. Even at wing, Nilson is going back into his team’s defensive zone and helping them break the puck out. He strides well with the puck off a defensive zone retrieval halfway through his shift, making a smart pass to the wall for the breakout ahead. He keeps churning up the ice, taking the puck below the goal line, where he gets worked into the boards by a couple opponents as his team begins a line change.

In his second shift, Nilson is quick to move a pass from his defenseman quickly up the wall, avoiding a defensive zone turnover under pressure. He then picks up a secondary assist off an offensive zone draw, batting the puck to the blueline for a shot that was deflected in by Hampus Larsson.

Impressively, he continues the theme of great defensive play in his shift a couple minutes later in the game, watching from near the net and anticipating a play developing along the wall, completely sealing Gustav Olhaver, a 6’7” and 236 pound Allskensvan veteran, out of the play behind the net, allowing his team to take possession. In transition, Nilson zips around his opponents on a dump-in play, retrieving the puck and backhanding a shot off the goalie’s pad with traffic building in front. Late in the first period, he again makes a good play by the net by sealing Petter Vesterheim from the crease, preventing Vesterheim from being able to deflect a point shot toward the net. Nilson pursues the puck, chips it in the corner, stick lifts his man, and chips the puck out while taking a hit. In all, I thought Nilson played very well, though his team used his line less and less after Mora tied the game, with Nilson seeing his last shift with seven minutes left in the third period.

Lastly, if you want to see how Nilson did in a J20 Nationell game, click here.

My Thoughts​

Currently, the New Jersey Devils are not positioned to pick Nilson if he is picked in line with where he is usually ranked. However, he may not be unattainable if Tom Fitzgerald trades up in the draft. This describes a few of the players profiled so far on All About the Jersey, but it is the truth that the team will need to be aggressive if they want to solve some of their roster issues sooner rather than later.

I am a huge fan of how Nilson plays the game. He held his own against professionals in the game I saw, and he won't weigh 160 pounds forever. He has the correct mindset to play NHL hockey, and I think he will make an impression in the NCAA this season. In Devils terms, I think he would be a great fit for some players like Nico Hischier and Timo Meier, who make a living scoring around the net, as he creates offense from the wall in a manner similar to Jesper Bratt.

As a future second-generation NHL player, Eric Nilson should have a long career. In the Draft Combine, Nilson graded best among all 2025 NHL Draft-eligible process in "fatigue index" and was tied for the second-best pull-ups count, which is impressive, considering his lighter build at this point. What this translates to in on-ice terms is that you can expect Nilson to churn harder, take hits better, and stay in the play longer than his peers, and the Devils can always use players like that.

Your Thoughts​

What do you think of Nilson? Do you think he would be worth trading up for? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...und-swedish-center-middle-six-right-shot-wing

 

[New Jersey Devils]

DitD & Open Post - 6/18/25: The Champs Edition

The Florida Panthers pose for a photo with the Stanley Cup after winning game six of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers at Amerant Bank Arena. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

New Jersey Devils & Related Hockey Links for 6/18/25

A champ has been crowned, and the season is over. Here are your links for today:

Devils Links​

“The Devils made a push for the two-way pivot (Ryan O’Reilly) at the deadline. Will they restart discussions with the Predators looking toward the future?” [Infernal Access ($)]

A look at a few free agent options who could help to upgrade the top end of the roster: [Devils on the Rush ($)]

Some early names for the Olympics:

The fellas punched their ticket to Milan. https://t.co/7Ux8qDNAfY

— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) June 17, 2025​

Hockey Links​

The Panthers are back-to-back champs:

THE FLORIDA PANTHERS ARE YOUR 2025 #STANLEYCUP CHAMPIONS pic.twitter.com/GU5wNe4pKL

— NHL (@NHL) June 18, 2025​

The Conn Smythe goes to Sam Bennett:

BENNETT IS THE CONN SMYTHE WINNER!

After leading the League with 15 goals through the postseason, Sam Bennett has been crowned the MVP of these #StanleyCup Playoffs. pic.twitter.com/2qzd8MwhmK

— NHL (@NHL) June 18, 2025​

An impressive final for Sam:

Sam Reinhart, FOUR GOALS in Game 6 and SEVEN GOALS in the 2025 #StanleyCup Final

The @FlaPanthers forward finished the series on a four-game goal streak.#NHLStats: https://t.co/MWhGgvryMX pic.twitter.com/RARWbeA1eT

— NHL Public Relations (@NHLPR) June 18, 2025​

A brutal run for one Corey Perry:

Corey Perry loses his 5th Stanley Cup Final in the past 6 years

One of the most heartbreaking runs in sports history... pic.twitter.com/CgIaEREqHx

— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) June 18, 2025​

“The Panthers, who were playing in their third straight Stanley Cup Final after winning the Presidents’ Trophy in 2022, join the 2020 and 2021 Tampa Bay Lightning and 2016 and 2017 Penguins as the only repeat champions in the cap era. It’s rare to do it in a league full of parity.” [The Athletic ($)]

“Of the 23 players to play at least one postseason game, 11 were signed in free agency, seven were acquired via trade, four were selected by Florida in the NHL Draft, and one was claimed off waivers. Nineteen of the 22 skaters have at least one goal in the playoffs and 21 at least one point.” How were the champs built? A look at the roster: [NHL.com]

“The men’s hockey tournament at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 will begin Feb. 11 with Team Slovakia playing Team Finland followed by Team Sweden against host Team Italy. The tournament, the first with NHL players since the 2014 Sochi Olympics, will feature all 12 teams playing three preliminary games in their respective groups, then all 12 moving on to a single-elimination playoff that will conclude with the gold medal game Feb. 22.” [NHL.com]

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

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...ils-in-the-details-6-18-25-the-champs-edition

 

[New Jersey Devils]

Finding The Next Unexpected Trade For The New Jersey Devils

Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images

Every NHL team dabbles in trades few saw coming, and the Devils are no exception. Let’s take a look at some potential options

Andreas Johnsson. Ryan Graves. John Marino. Paul Cotter.

What do those names have in common? They were all acquired via trade by Tom Fitzgerald, and more specifically, they were moves that few people saw coming.

That’s only a partial list too. Jonas Siegenthaler probably qualifies as a surprise move, and this past season we could include players like Cody Glass and Daniel Sprong as well. And heck, if you want to go back to Fitzgerald’s time as an Assistant GM for the late Ray Shero, the Taylor Hall trade certainly qualifies as one that came out of nowhere.

Big trades that everyone could see coming a mile away like the ones that brought Timo Meier and Jacob Markstrom to the Garden State are important. But sometimes those unexpected depth moves can make a big difference as well. To go back to the names we led off with at the top, Johnsson had a solid 2021-22 in New Jersey, Graves and Marino combined to form one of the best shutdown pairs this franchise has ever seen (which is saying something) in 2022-23, and Cotter provides speed, physicality, and goal-scoring touch at a league minimum salary, which is massive for a team like the Devils who are close to the salary cap ceiling.

Every team in the league pulls off these trades that few anticipated, and the Devils are no exception. In fact, I feel very confident that Fitzgerald will give us at least one of these types of deals this offseason.

For who? Well that’s what we’ll explore today.

Let’s take a look at some players around the league that might be good trade targets for the Devils. The catch is we’re going to limit ourselves to players that don’t have much, if any, smoke around them when it comes to trade talks. Yes, these are admittedly loose parameters. Rumors swirl around so many players across the league that it can be hard to find ones that have little to no speculation surrounding them. To make it a little more concrete, let’s disqualify players on the following trade target lists from some of the bigger outlets in hockey media:

Frank Seravalli of The Daily Faceoff (Published June 20th)

Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet (Published June 2nd)

Chris Johnston of The Athletic (Published May 29th, Updated May 30th)

Again, just because a player doesn’t wind up on these lists doesn’t mean there aren’t trade winds blowing around them. Guys like William Karlsson, Alex Tuch, and Mason McTavish are good examples of this. But this at least provides a baseline for what I mean by “unexpected trade”, and I’ll do my best to avoid players like Karlsson, Tuch, and McTavish too.

And one last thing: We’ll only be looking at forwards today. The Devils’ defense corps is pretty much all set for next season. Yes they still need to get Luke Hughes’ name on a contract, and there’s even a small chance they trade Dougie Hamilton. But outside of replacing Johnny Kovacevic for presumably a short amount of time to begin the season, there really isn’t any room on the blue line for a trade. Plus the Devils desperately need to upgrade their offense anyway, so we won’t be looking at defensemen.

With all that out of the way, let’s begin:

Centers​

Nicolas Roy, Vegas Golden Knights​

Age: 28 (turns 29 in February)

Height/Weight: 6’4”, 201lbs

Shoots: Right

Contract Details: Two seasons remaining at $3m AAV

We’ll start with a player that Jared actually mentioned in his article last week. While his teammate William Karlsson has trade rumors floating around him, Roy has remained a little under the radar. He’s been Vegas’ fourth line center for a few years now, and he might just be what the Devils are looking for.

Why The Devils Would Make This Trade: For his cap hit, Roy provides some solid value. Over the last four years, he’s been a shockingly consistent producer, scoring 15, 14, 13, and 15 goals from 2021-22 through this past season. He’s also a big body at 6’4”, 201lbs, which you know Fitzgerald loves to see. He’s also a Cup champion with Vegas, which any team loves to see. Roy doesn’t appear to be a drag on possession either, as according to Natural Stat Trick, he’s got 5-on-5 Corsi For%, Scoring Chances For%, High Danger Corsi For%, and Expected Goals For% numbers all around 50%. His cap hit might be a bit high for a fourth-line center option, but with the salary cap expected to explode over the next two seasons, that $3m AAV will be much more palatable. Especially for a team like New Jersey who is in desperate need of depth scoring.

Why The Golden Knights Would Make This Trade: Vegas is in a bit of a cap crunch. According to Puckpedia, the Knights have just a shade under $10m to work with. But rumors are circling Vegas that they’ll be going all-in for pending free agent Mitch Marner, who alone would probably eat up $13-$14m in cap space. Even if they don’t target Marner specifically, we all know how aggressive Vegas likes to be with their pursuits of star players. Plus they need to extend Jack Eichel after this season, which will cost a pretty penny. With that in mind, the Golden Knights need to shed some salary, and while Karlsson has been a name floated as a possible cap casualty, they’ll probably be much more inclined to deal Roy than one of the most beloved players in their franchise’s history.

What It Might Take To Acquire Roy: Considering he’s a fourth-liner on a team that actively needs to find salary cap space, I would say it’s the Golden Knights that need to throw in a sweetener for the Devils to take him. I wouldn’t expect New Jersey to have to give up more than a 5th-7th round pick in either this year’s or next year’s draft to acquire Roy and a pick.

Sam Steel, Dallas Stars​

Age: 27 (turns 28 in February)

Height/Weight: 6’0”, 189lbs

Shoots: Left

Contract Details: Two seasons remaining at $2.1m AAV

Another fourth-line pivot on a top Western Conference team, Sam Steel hasn’t found himself in trade rumors, but his team as a whole sure has.

Why The Devils Would Make This Trade: Steel’s cap hit is very manageable, and while he doesn’t provide a ton of offense (he’s been in the mid to high-20’s the past three seasons), he’s got great defensive impacts according to some of the public evaluation models out there. His puck possession numbers at Natural Stat Trick tell us he’s pushing play forward well for a fourth-liner. And while he isn’t big (though he’s not small either), he’s a terrific skater according to NHL Edge, with a top speed in the 86th percentile while being in the 72nd percentile in speed bursts over 20 mph. If there’s one thing the Devils need more of among their forwards, it’s speed in the bottom six. The Stars have made three straight trips to the Western Conference Final primarily because of their incredible forward depth, and Steel has been a part of that depth for two of those runs. He’s a strong fourth-liner.

Why The Stars Would Make This Trade: Of all the teams in the league, Dallas is by far the one with the tightest cap situation. Puckpedia has them at a miniscule $2.75m in cap space, and that’s after offloading Mason Marchment and his $4.5m AAV last week. Meanwhile they still need to re-sign captain Jamie Benn, along with Evgenii Dadanov and Mikael Granlund. Their cap situation is so bad, it’s even gotten to the point where rumors are flying about them having to trade franchise cornerstone Jason Robertson. Needless to say, I think Dallas would much rather deal a player like Steel than a superstar like Robertson.

What It Might Take To Acquire Steel: The Stars did get assets back in the Marchment trade, but Marchment is a stronger player, plus I think Seattle really blew it by not playing hardball with Dallas considering the cap bind they’re in. I think the Devils could actually get a sweetener in any trade for Steel, say a 3rd or 4th rounder, while only having to give up a 7th round pick or maybe even just “future considerations”. Either way, the acquisition cost should be next to nothing.

Alex Kerfoot, Utah Mammoth​

Age: 30 (turns 31 in August)

Height/Weight: 5’11”, 185lbs

Shoots: Left

Contract Details: One season remaining at $3m AAV

Once upon a time, Alex Kerfoot was a New Jersey Devils draft pick (150th overall in 2012). He didn’t end up signing with the franchise, has bounced around the league, and now finds himself in Utah on a young Mammoth squad. Could the Devils bring him home?

Why The Devils Would Make This Trade: Kerfoot has spent the last two seasons with Arizona/Utah putting up respectable numbers (45 points in 2023-24, 28 points last season). While his scoring did drop, he can still chip in some offense while playing in a depth role. He’s excellent defensively, puts up very strong play-driving numbers per Natural Stat Trick, and is a fantastic skater according to NHL Edge (90th percentile in top skating speed, 80th percentile in speed bursts over 20 mph). His $3m cap hit is great value if he’s your third line center, and while it’s a little rich if he’s your fourth line center, he has the potential to be among the best 4C’s in the league. He can also play the wing higher up the depth chart if need be, so he offers versatility as well.

Why The Mammoth Would Make This Trade: This one is a little trickier than the previous options, as the Mammoth aren’t under a cap crunch. Utah extended Kerfoot back in March, and everyone seemed quite happy about it. Then again if the Mammoth really love Kerfoot that much, they probably would have given him more than a one-year extension. If Utah is inclined to deal Kerfoot, it will probably be to make room for the many youngsters they have coming through their system. The Mammoth hold the fourth overall pick in this year’s draft, where they are most likely going to take a center to go with emerging star Logan Cooley and former top pick Barrett Hayton. A log jam is emerging, and while Kerfoot being in Utah for one more year might not be a huge deal in this regard, if the right offer comes along, I think the Mammoth could be persuaded to let Kerfoot go.

What It Might Take To Acquire Kerfoot: Let’s assume that if Utah does have an appetite to trade Kerfoot, it will be for either a young player or two who is close to NHL-ready, or for a slight overpay in draft capital, or both. As mentioned, Kerfoot only has one more season under team control, so I don’t think we’re talking about an A-level prospect and/or a first round pick here. But let’s say a package of Shane Lachance, a 3rd round pick, and a 5th round pick gets the job done. Maybe Utah could even retain a little on Kerfoot’s AAV for that package. That’s probably a bit of an overpay, but it really isn’t much to give up for a player that can be a very strong depth contributor.

Kirby Dach, Montreal Canadiens​

Age: 24 (turns 25 in January)

Height/Weight: 6’4”, 221lbs

Shoots: Right

Contract Details: One season remaining at $3,362,500 AAV

We’re already a little out there with these players, but let’s get really out there with this one. Dach’s career has certainly not gone as planned after being selected third overall by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2019 draft. After three seasons with Montreal, is there still a high-end player left in there?

Why The Devils Would Make This Trade: A former top prospect, Dach’s career has been derailed by a number of things, including the pandemic, playing on a woeful Blackhawks team to start his career and a bad Canadiens team the last few years, and injuries. But despite all that, Dach has posted 121 points in 269 career games, which is an 82-game pace of roughly 37 points. That’s solid production in a depth role, which Dach would find himself in behind Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier. Dach is also massive at 6’4” and 221lbs, so that would be a huge plus for Fitzgerald. He’s not just a lumbering giant though, as NHL Edge has him in the 72nd percentile in top skating speed and the 73rd percentile in speed bursts over 20 mph. His underlying numbers are pretty bad according to Natural Stat Trick, which is of course a warning sign. But considering Montreal was one of the worst puck possession teams in the NHL, Dach really doesn’t look so bad compared to what he was surrounded with. Getting him onto a team like the Devils with a better supporting cast and system could do wonders for him. If Fitzgerald and the Devils are looking for a potential buy-low reclamation project that they’re confident they can fix, Dach might be a good target.

Why The Canadiens Would Make This Trade: Montreal is another team that is brushing right up against the salary cap ceiling. According to Puckpedia, they only have about $6.1m of room left to work with. Their big UFA’s they need to focus on are Christian Dvorak, Joel Armia, and David Savard. Even if they don’t bring back any of them, they would still need to be replaced on the roster, and $6.1m is not a lot to work with at all. Trading Dach, who might be fourth on the depth chart behind Nick Suzuki, Dvorak, and Jake Evans (and maybe even behind Alex Newhook), would give them some cap relief while also helping ease a log jam at center. I don’t think they would be looking to ship Dach out for a bag of pucks, but I don’t think they would ask for the moon and the stars either. Especially considering Dach missed almost all of 2023-24 with a knee injury, and then had his 2024-25 cut short again in February due to another injury in that same knee.

What It Might Take To Acquire Dach: I have to admit, I’m having a hard time settling on Dach’s theoretical value in a trade. There are plenty of negatives: The lengthy injury history, the poor play driving numbers, and the relative lack of production. But there are plenty of positives too: The potential of a former top prospect, the production isn’t that bad, and the fact that he’s still quite young and would still be under team control as an RFA after his contract expires. If I’m the Devils, I would be careful about overpaying, but I think I could live with giving up a 4th or 5th rounder and a middle tier prospect like Topias Vilen. Again, it all depends on if Fitzgerald thinks he could unlock something in Dach, perhaps even giving him a chance on the wing with play drivers like Hughes or Hischier. It wouldn’t be the first time we see a former top pick get out of the gate slowly and eventually become a quality player thanks in part to a change of scenery. Just look at guys like Sam Bennett, Dylan Strome, or (sigh) Pavel Zacha.

Wingers​

Evan Rodrigues, Florida Panthers​

Age: 31 (turns 32 in July)

Height/Weight: 5’11”, 182lbs

Shoots: Right

Contract Details: Two seasons remaining at $3m AAV

We’ll begin our list of wingers with a player from the two-time defending champs. Rodrigues could be an interesting option if Florida is inclined to deal him.

Why The Devils Would Make This Trade: Rodrigues has spent the last two seasons with the Panthers riding shotgun with Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart. Obviously it’s Barkov and Reinhart driving the bus on that line, but Rodrigues has provided proof of concept that he’s a player who can be an effective third fiddle on the top line of a championship caliber team. He won’t provide a huge amount of offense, with 39 and 32 points in his two years with Florida, but he could be what the Devils hoped Ondrej Palat could be: A utility player with some skill that can compliment a top line and put up strong play driving numbers. And he can do it at literally half the cap hit of Palat as well. He also provides speed, with NHL Edge ranking him in the 82nd percentile in top speed, and the 68th percentile in speed bursts over 20 mph.

Why The Panthers Would Make This Trade: At exactly $19m in cap space according to Puckpedia, Florida might not seem to be in cap trouble at first glance. But they have three major UFA’s to bring back: Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad, and Brad Marchand. If you believe the numbers being thrown out there about Bennett and Marchand, they might only be able to bring back two of those three, and even that might be tough to do. Heck, they were only able to afford Marchand (and Seth Jones) in the first place because Ekblad got caught using PED’s back in March, got suspended for 20 games, and conveniently had his cap hit taken off the books until he returned just in time for the playoffs where cap hits don’t count. Teams circumvent the cap all the time, but I don’t think Florida can count on something like that happening again next year. The margins are thin in Florida, and they might have to shed some cap to bring their big guns back. Rodrigues is a prime candidate to be a salary cap casualty.

What It Might Take To Acquire Rodrigues: Probably not much. Rodrigues is a useful player for sure, but considering Florida might have to find a taker for his contract to keep the band together, they’re not exactly negotiating from a position of strength. They might not have to throw in a sweetener, but I don’t think it would cost the Devils more than a 4th-6th round pick.

Warren Foegele, Los Angeles Kings​

Age: 29 (turns 30 in April)

Height/Weight: 6’2”, 204lbs

Shoots: Left

Contract Details: Two seasons remaining at $3.5m AAV

Of all the players we’re looking at today, Foegele is probably the best one. He’s not a household name, but he could provide a huge boost to the middle of New Jersey’s lineup.

Why The Devils Would Make This Trade: Because Foegele is really, really good, that’s why. This past season was his first in Los Angeles, where he put up 24 goals and 46 points (the second year in a row he’s hit the 20-goal and 40-point plateaus). He did that in 16:10 of ice time per game too, so he’s proven to be a very efficient producer. Give him a few more minutes of ice time per game and he might be able to hit the 60-70 point marks. Aside from the counting stats, Foegele is an analytics darling. His offensive and defensive impacts are borderline elite, and he’s a play driving monster per his NST numbers, To top it all off, he’s a rare mix of size and speed, coming in at a whopping 6’2”, 204lbs while being in the 92nd percentile in top speed and 83rd percentile in speed bursts over 20 mph according to NHL Edge. All this for a paltry cap hit of $3.5m over two more seasons for a player in his prime. Adding Foegele to the mix would be massive for a Devils team starved for forward talent outside of the core.

Why The Kings Would Make This Trade: Ok, so if Foegele is really that good, why would the Kings want to trade him? Well much like the Vegas Golden Knights, Los Angeles has been linked to pending free agent Mitch Marner. They currently have about $21.7m in cap space according to Puckpedia, but they also need to find a way to bring back Vladislav Gavrikov, who is set to become a UFA himself. AFP Analytics currently has Gavrikov projected to sign a seven-year, $7.6m AAV contract, but there has been talk around the league that Gavrikov could get a number as high as $9m AAV. He’s an elite shutdown defenseman who, while far from an elite offensive force, did score a respectable 30 points this past season. Teams pay through the nose for a player like that. Even if he signs back in LA for around $7.6m, if the Kings really want to go after Marner, that would take up just about all of their remaining cap space, with still more holes to fill. Los Angeles was a very strong defensive team this past season, arguably the best in the league, but word is they’re desperate to add more offense to the mix. Hence the Marner discussion. If the Kings really do want to sign Marner and keep Gavrikov, they’ll need to shed some salary. Looking at their roster, Foegele is probably one of two players (hold that thought) who they can realistically move to make room for a big time UFA signing.

What It Might Take To Acquire Foegele: Unlike every other player we’ve looked at so far, Foegele does have a partial no-trade clause. But it’s only a five-team no-trade list according to Puckpedia, so unless Foegele really hates The Sopranos or Bruce Springsteen, I think it’s a safe bet that New Jersey is not on the list. But I do want to mention it just in case. With that out of the way, it will take a decent amount to acquire Foegele. He provides so much value for his cap hit. If the reason Los Angeles is dealing him is to get some cap space, then the return is going to have to be picks and/or prospects, not NHL players. It might not cost something like multiple first round picks or a prospect like Anton Silayev, but I would say something along the lines of a 2nd and 3rd rounder this year, plus a prospect like Cam Squires or Matyas Melovsky. Maybe throw in Nolan Foote or Shane Lachance as well.

Trevor Moore, Los Angeles Kings​

Age: 30 (turns 31 in March)

Height/Weight: 5’11”, 195lbs

Shoots: Left

Contract Details: Three seasons remaining at $4.2m AAV

Remember when I said Warren Foegele is one of two players who the Kings could realistically move for salary cap relief. Well, here’s the other player.

Why The Devils Would Make This Trade: Because Moore is sort of like diet-Foegele. Moore has spent the last five-plus seasons with the Kings after being traded there by Toronto in the middle of the Covid-shortened 2019-20 season. In 364 games with Los Angeles since 2020, Moore has posted 89 goals and 202 total points (an 82-game pace of roughly 46 points). In addition to good production in a middle-six role, Moore has great offensive and defensive impacts while being able to drive play well according to Natural Stat Trick. He isn’t a burner, but his speed is still above average per NHL Edge. He’s in the 55th percentile in top skating speed and the 64th percentile in speed bursts over 20 mph. His cap hit is a little steep, and for a team like the Devils who aren’t exactly in a position to take on bigger contracts, that could be problematic. But Moore provides enough value to make his cap hit worth it, and the Devils certainly need more talent among their forward ranks.

Why The Kings Would Make This Trade: You can pretty much take everything I wrote in this section for Foegele and apply it here. The Kings will need cap space if they want to bring Gavrikov back and go after Marner (or another big time free agent forward), and Moore is probably the number one candidate to get moved if the Kings go that route, even ahead of Foegele.

What It Might Take To Acquire Moore: Certainly not as much as Foegele. He’s not quite as good of a player as Foegele is, he’s got a higher cap hit, he’s one year older, and he’s got one more year on his contract than Foegele does. That being said, $4.2m is not a massive hit, especially with the cap rising dramatically over the next few seasons. Think of it this way: This past season, the cap ceiling was $88m. Two seasons from now, in 2026-27, the cap ceiling is projected to be $104m. This year, Moore’s contract took up around 4.8% of the cap, whereas in 2026-27, he will take up around 4% of the cap, the equivalent of $3.52m today. That’s still not nothing, but it’s perfectly acceptable for a solid middle six winger, and the cap will only increase from there. At the end of the day, I don’t think it would take a lot to pry Moore out of Los Angeles. Maybe something like a 3rd round pick this year and a 4th round pick next year.

Jason Zucker, Buffalo Sabres​

Age: 33 (turns 34 in January)

Height/Weight: 5’11”, 195lbs

Shoots: Left

Contract Details: Two seasons remaining at $4.75m AAV

There are lots of trade rumors surrounding the Buffalo Sabres. Players like JJ Peterka, Ryan McLeod, Jack Quinn, Bowen Byram, and Alex Tuch seem to be popular trade targets this offseason. But Zucker is not a name I’m seeing get brought up much, if at all. Could he be on the block, and if so, what can be provide?

Why The Devils Would Make This Trade: Zucker is getting on in years, but he proved this past season that he can still be effective. On a terrible Sabres team, Zucker posted 21 goals and 53 points in 73 games. His underlying numbers aren’t great (though his offensive impact is quite strong), but this could simply be a case of Zucker getting dragged down by the complete chaos of the Buffalo Sabres organization. If New Jersey were to acquire Zucker, I think he could be very effective as the third-best player on one of the top two lines. Think Evan Rodrigues, but with less defensive upside and more offensive upside. It’s possible he could thrive on a sheltered third line as well. His cap hit is the highest we’ve seen so far at $4.75m AAV though, which might be a little too rich for Fitzgerald.

Why The Sabres Would Make This Trade: Buffalo has a ton of RFA’s to re-sign, so while their roughly $23.2m in cap space might seem like a lot at first glance, there isn’t actually that much to go around. Plus it’s reasonable to expect Buffalo to want to retool, as they endured yet another miserable, playoff-less season in 2024-25. They’re not going to tear it down and start over from scratch, but a player like Zucker, who doesn’t exactly fit their window, might become expendable.

What It Might Take To Acquire Zucker: Zucker does have a five-team no-trade clause like Foegele does, but I doubt New Jersey is on it. Assuming that’s the case, I think the Sabres might be interested in a package of an NHL-ready prospect or two as opposed to draft picks. Maybe Shane Lachance and Nolan Foote get the job done. And maybe the Devils can throw in a 3rd or 4th round pick to get the Sabres to retain some of Zucker’s cap hit.

Final Thoughts​

Outside of maybe Foegele, none of the players we’ve looked at today are a perfect match for New Jersey. Whether it be cap hit, offensive production (or lack thereof), acquisition cost, or some other factor, each one has a downside. But that’s the reality of the NHL, and when you’re talking about unexpected trades involving middle-to-bottom of the lineup players, there are always going to be flaws.

But as detailed, these sorts of trades have the potential to be the biggest heists in the world. Ryan Graves and John Marino didn’t cost much, and while they didn’t maintain their 2022-23 peaks, their 2022-23 peaks were something special. They were a huge part of the Devils setting a franchise record in regular season points and winning a playoff round against the rival New York Rangers. Jonas Siegenthaler, acquired for next to nothing, has had his ups and downs in New Jersey, but does anyone really question whether that was a good trade or not? It was an unquestioned home run for Tom Fitzgerald.

Maybe none of these players get moved, there’s little to no smoke around them after all. But as fans of a team that has seen surprising trades occur on pretty much a yearly basis, I do think it’s worthwhile to take a look at some under the radar players around the league and see who might be next. There are always diamonds in the rough, and it’s Tom Fitzgerald’s job to mine them.

Your Take​

Of the players listed above, who would you be most in favor of acquiring? What about the player you would most want to avoid? Would these trades fit your definition of unexpected, or have you seen a lot of rumors around any of them? Aside from these players, who else around the league do you think has been flying under the radar that might be a good trade candidate? As always, thanks for reading!

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...xt-unexpected-trade-for-the-new-jersey-devils

 

[New Jersey Devils]

The Devils Will Need To Hunt For Bargains This Offseason

Tom Fitzgerald might need to bargain hunt this summer | Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

The Devils can’t afford most of the higher end UFAs this summer, but there’s a path to them building a better lineup overall by adding several players in the $3.5M AAV or less range.

One week ago, I wrote that the solutions to the problems the New Jersey Devils are facing this offseason aren’t sitting out there in free agency.

The purpose of that article was twofold. One was to pour cold water on the idea that the Devils could realistically make a big free agency splash this summer, which is something I absolutely believe. Every time I read any article or listen to any talking head so much as soft-link the Devils to a Brad Marchand or Mitch Marner, I think to myself “did you bother to see what their cap situation was before putting this out there”. Because if they did, you’d quickly see why that won’t work from a salary cap perspective.

The other point of that article was to illustrate that there is a smarter, more efficient way of building a roster, and its the one that requires scouring the trade market for veterans already under contract rather than paying UFA prices in 2025. Essentially, I want the Devils to pay the UFA prices of 2021 or 2022 instead of this year, and the only way to realistically do that is to make trades for those players still under those deals.

The Devils cap situation is what it is, and until it’s addressed, it will hamper the extent of what Tom Fitzgerald can do to add to this roster. And while the Devils took a positive step in the right direction by trading Erik Haula to the Predators and freeing up an additional $3.15M in cap space, that’s just a start.

Or is it?

It’s always possible that there is simply no market for a trade involving Ondrej Palat. Palat has a fairly restrictive trade-list, after all. The Devils can’t place him on waivers as a workaround a la what the Rangers did with Barclay Goodrow one year ago. And I know if I were running an NHL team, I wouldn’t be going out of my way to take on the final 2 years and $6M AAV of Palat’s deal when he’s posted point totals of 23, 31, and 28 the last three years. Maybe if I were being paid to do so I’d consider it, but it would have to be worth my while.

It’s also possible that the Devils might be done in terms of “cap dump” trades. There’s a hockey argument to be made towards keeping Hamilton. I wouldn’t be looking to move someone like Dawson Mercer, Brenden Dillon, or Stefan Noesen unless it was a so-called hockey trade. It’s possible that that $14,394,167 in cap space that the Devils have to work with is all they’re going to get and they’ll need to make the most of it.

I would think that in regards to Palat, we should get an answer one way or the other this week. After all, the NHL Draft is this weekend. If the Devils are going to have to pay for someone to take Palat on, one would think that said team would want that pick this weekend to use it. And if there is no market, the buyout window is only open until June 30th. They’ll need to know sooner rather than later if the Palat money will be available to use, whether that would be via draft day trades on the draft floor or for next week when free agency officially opens up.

To bring this full circle though, your options are still limited even if you find a taker for Palat. If you move Palat, you might be able to afford two players in that $4M-ish AAV range to replace both him and Haula on the roster. This ultimately depends on what Luke’s AAV comes in at and whether or not Fitzgerald might have something else up his sleeve we aren’t privy to.

While I stand by my belief that the answers aren’t out there in free agency, I don’t think that means they should sit free agency out entirely. Rather, I think Tom Fitzgerald should try to stretch that money as far as he can by trying to find bargains where he can.

Let’s take a look at each positional group and see if there’s an avenue towards Fitzgerald doing exactly that.

Could the Devils Add a Veteran Goaltender?​

Jake Allen will be a free agent, and it would not be surprising if there was a high demand for his services.

Allen is coming off of a strong season as the Devils backup goaltender, it’s a thin market for UFA goaltenders in general, and there is no shortage of suitors. If Allen wants to simply make as much money as possible or get a starter’s workload, the Flyers could provide that. If he wants to ring chase, Allen would be an upgrade over Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard in Edmonton.

I did find it interesting that Frank Seravalli mentioned that the Devils were poking around on the goaltender market though on an interview with SportsNet 650 Vancouver.

Reading between the lines, that would suggest to me that the Devils already know keeping Allen probably isn’t happening. It also suggests to me that they might not be all that enamored with the idea of Nico Daws being the #2 goaltender next season despite him being on a team-friendly deal, which is understandable. The Devils can’t afford to have another season sunk by poor goaltending and Jacob Markstrom, who missed time this season with an injury, is entering his age 36 season. Another prolonged injury-related absence by Markstrom has the potential to put the Devils in a precarious position.

I would guess the Devils are comfortable with the idea of the backup goaltender making something in the $2M AAV range. After all, they just played a season with Allen’s cap charge being $1.925M.

If they explore the trade market, guys like Scott Wedgewood ($1.5M AAV for 1 year, 3.2 GSAx), a 50% retained Alex Nedeljkovic (currently $2.5M AAV for 1 year, -1.0 GSAx), or a 50% retained Laurent Brossoit (currently $3.3M AAV for 1 year, 13.1 GSAx in 2023-24 with WPG) make varying degrees of sense. Health permitting on Brossoit though, as he missed the full season after undergoing surgery a meniscus repair in his right knee and then needing a second procedure in November due to complications.

If they opt to explore the UFA market, guys like Ilya Samsonov (1 year, $1.995M AAV projection by AFP Analytics | 0.6 GSAx), Dan Vladar (1 year, $1.463M AFP projection | 0.9 GSAx), Anton Forsberg (2 years, $1.69M AFP projection | 2.2 GSAx), and Alex Lyon (2 years, $1.798M AFP projection | 2.4 GSAx) could make sense in the Devils price range.

The last thing I’ll mention with the goaltending is that I could see the Devils wanting an option that is more than a year-to-year solution. It’ll be awhile before Mikhail Yegorov or Jakub Malek become legitimate options for the NHL team, assuming they ever get to that point. I’m not saying the Devils are going to all of a sudden go trade for Thatcher Demko, but I could see the reasoning behind kicking the tires on him as a buy-low candidate and extending him past this upcoming season. I’m not saying the Devils should pursue John Gibson, but they’ve been linked to him in the past and he’s coming off of a strong season as Anaheim’s backup. Gibson at $6.4M is far too expensive, but Gibson with 75% retention for 2 years? I think that’s a discussion worth having.

Could the Devils Add A Bargain Defenseman?​

On the surface, I’d say probably not as there doesn’t appear to be an immediate need on the blueline for the Devils. Dougie Hamilton, Brett Pesce, Brenden Dillon, Johnathan Kovacevic, Jonas Siegenthaler, Seamus Casey, and Simon Nemec are all signed for next season, and Luke Hughes is an RFA who isn’t going anywhere. That’s eight defensemen right there.

With that said, I don’t think anyone can rule out the possibility that Hamilton is traded to free up his cap space. Nor do I think anyone can rule out the possibility of one or both of Simon Nemec and Seamus Casey being flipped for help up front. We also know that Kovacevic won’t be ready for the start of the season, and until Luke Hughes is signed, he’s not an option for the NHL lineup. So I think its a possibility they look to add on the blueline.

The question for me would be what type of defenseman might they be looking to add that could fall in their price range.

I would recommend adding a mobile defenseman who has some puck-moving ability.

Florida has done a really nice job of this the last few years adding guys who are plus skaters and have some offensive touch to their game at minimum salaries the last few offseasons in Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Nate Schmidt. And while Florida is certainly in a position to offer veteran castoffs a league-minimum salary to Cup chase, they’re on the right track in regards to the type of player I’d be looking for to fill that role.

The problem with this market in general is that its pretty thin, particularly on the UFA side. Someone like Schmidt can probably get a couple years of term and decent money after being a part of Florida’s title run, but if Fitzgerald is saying “never say never” in regards to keeping someone he knows fits here in Brian Dumoulin, its probably not a great sign for any external UFA defensemen either. Dumoulin is projected for 2x$3.189M, while Schmidt is projected for 2x$2.995M, so we’re talking about veteran defensemen who are around the same age being projected to make similar money on their next deals.

Maybe its something that could be addressed via trade? I’m spitballing a couple ideas in Ty Emberson (two more years at $1.3M) and Sam Malinski (RFA) knowing Edmonton and Colorado are in tight cap situations but I’m not sure either one has enough offensive touch to really be an upgrade. Frankly, the answer is probably something along the lines of “we already have Seamus Casey at home”, assuming they hold on to him.

Could the Devils Add a Bargain Center?​

Given the lack of quality options available in the first place and the importance of the position, I’d say probably not. If they Devils spend any money this offseason, it probably needs to be at the center position.

We haven’t even reached the draft yet and a lot of center options are already coming off of the board. Brock Nelson is staying in Colorado. Matt Duchene and Mavrik Bourque are staying in Dallas. I didn’t consider Jonathan Toews to be a legitimate option anyways for the Devils, but he’s going to his hometown Winnipeg Jets.

I can’t stress enough the importance of adding CENTERS (emphasis on the plural). I said plenty about this last week. Since I hit publish on that article last week, Erik Haula has since been traded. Elliotte Friedman has said the Devils are not expected to extend the qualifying offer to Cody Glass. This only further illustrates how much the Devils need centers, plural, in their bottom six.

Now, Glass might still be an option and this could simply be Fitzgerald not wanting to pay Glass his $2.5M qualifying offer. I’d agree with Fitzgerald’s assessment that Glass isn’t worth $2.5M. But even if you bring him back at your desired price point, you still need another center. And if you don’t, you need two.

Jackson did a good job breaking down some of the potential trade options in his article on Monday, so I’d recommend giving that a read. I know I’ve advocated for Nic Roy for several years now but he’d make a ton of sense as a big body 3C, and he might be a luxury for a team that is already loaded down the middle with Jack Eichel, Tomas Hertl, and William Karlsson. Sam Steel is one of the better 4Cs in the NHL and Dallas too is loaded with center options between Roope Hintz, Matt Duchene, Wyatt Johnston, and Mavrik Bourque, so maybe they make Steel expendable.

Since the Penguins appear to be to be the only team actively selling, Kevin Hayes should probably be mentioned as an option as he’s entering the final year of his deal at just over $3.5M AAV. Hayes and Fitzgerald are cousins, after all, and I don’t doubt that the Penguins would move him fairly cheaply. But Hayes has never been the greatest skater in the first place and has only produced 29 and 23 points the last two seasons, so that’s probably more of a last-resort “check in with me in August” sort of option. Noel Acciari might be an option as well (1 year, $2M AAV) but he too is coming off a dreadful season.

I would continue to look at the cap-strapped teams for potential trade options. I’m less bullish on Adam Henrique now that he’s 35 years old, but Edmonton did just re-sign Trent Frederic, there’s some chatter about him playing center, and they have their own tight cap situation, so maybe that makes Henrique expendable. Henrique has a NMC, but one would think that wouldn’t necessarily stop a trade back to where it all began for him.

I don’t know that there will be a lot of bargains out there in UFA, particularly at the center position, but Adam Gaudette (1-year, $1.025M AFP projection) could make some sense as a 4C option as long as you don’t expect him to shoot 21.1% again. He’s got good size, he’s right-handed, he wins over half his faceoffs, and would bring some speed and skill to the bottom six. Radek Faksa (2 years, $1.33M AFP projection) would also make a lot of sense as a 4C option as he’s bigger, better in the dot, and has a reputation for being a strong defensive center. Signing either one of them for under $2M makes more sense than qualifying Cody Glass.

What About A Bargain Winger?​

I think this is probably the area where the Devils could do some good work if they pursue bargain options.

There’s an abundance of winger options available throughout the league, and unlike center or RHD, winger isn’t exactly a premium position. You can generally find guys and plug and play them into your lineup if you’re strong enough elsewhere in your lineup, which is another reason why I’d prioritize center this offseason.

I liked Jackson’s suggestions of Evan Rodrigues and Warren Foegele as cap casualties elsewhere but I do have reservations about Rodrigues contributing enough offensively to warrant a Top Six spot. I’d add Ross Colton (who is probably more of a winger than a center) to the list but I don’t really view $4M as a bargain, per se. I’m more or less adding him simply because I like the player and what he brings to the table.

Anthony Beauvillier (3-years, $3.22M AFP projection) could make some sense as he has the versatility to move up and down the lineup as needed and play either wing position, but he’s bounced around an awful lot the last few years and I’d like to see a little more consistent offensive production from him. Otherwise, he would feel like another Stefan Noesen-esque signing.

I think I’d be looking more towards a player the Devils have supposedly had interest in in the past in Brandon Saad though.

Saad (2-years, $2.58M AFP projection) had a bit of a down year last year but performed better once he got to Vegas. He brings a lot of big game experience and can feasibly slot in anywhere in a Top Nine while playing a responsible game.

His former Vegas teammate Victor Olofsson (3-years, $3.4M AFP projection) could also make sense to some degree. He’s not the biggest player and isn’t going to do a lot of the dirty work, but he can put the puck in the back of the net, with 105 goals in 370 career games.

If you want a “swing for the fences” upside play, I don’t know that I’d consider Andrei Kuzmenko a bargain, per se. His AFP projection of $4.5M over 3 years is probably reasonable given his level of production over three seasons, and I’d consider him to be an all-offense, no-defense type of winger that I don’t think the Devils need any more of. But he’s another guy who can put the puck in the back of the net when he’s running good, and he was solid for LA after coming over at the deadline this year. I don’t know that I expect him to flirt with 40 goals again like he did two years ago in Vancouver, but maybe he’s the type of winger who can keep up with Jack Hughes and bury a lot of the scoring chances he creates.

Final Thoughts​

The Devils won’t have a lot of money to play with this summer, so its imperative they’re smart with the money they do have.

If they can find a taker for Palat’s $6M, they could potentially do some damage adding two or maybe three forwards in that $3-4M range. It’s not the type of offseason where pundits would be saying that once again that the Devils won the offseason championship, but considering the Devils already have their high end talent in place, they’re in a position where they need more of those depth pieces to fill certain roles instead of having a bunch of spare parts in their bottom six who just don’t fit together. Assuming they can, I’d like to see a combination of a bargain center (let’s say Roy for argument’s sake), along with a cheap 4C (maybe Gaudette) and pair them with a sub $4M winger and perhaps another guy versatile enough to slide over to center if needed. I came up with this.

Do I think this lineup (which is cap compliant by roughly $320K) will happen? No. But I think its a much deeper team than the one the Devils rolled out there for most of last season, with multiple options that can shift to center if needed. Which, considering Jack’s injury history, might want to be something you plan for going forward to some extent.

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...will-need-to-hunt-for-bargains-this-offseason

 

[New Jersey Devils]

Tommy Lafrenière: 2025 NHL Draft Prospect Profile: A Scrappy, High-Motor, Skilled Center Flying Under the Radar

Photo by Bill Wippert/NHLI via Getty Images

Whether Lafrenière ends up a top six forward or a bottom six center, some team is going to benefit from his attitude and speed.

Who is Tommy Lafrenière?​

Tommy Lafrenière was born on January 16, 2007 in Saint-Sauveur, Quebec, a town about an hour northwest of Montreal. While Lafrenière was born in Quebec, he grew up in Western Canada and eventually moved to Abbotsford attend Yale Hockey Academy. Now playing in the Western Hockey League, rocking the Kamloops Blazers jersey for a bit over the past year, he has shot himself from non-consideration for the Draft just a year ago to where he is now. Playing for one of the worst teams in the CHL in 2024-25, Lafrenière was fourth on his team in scoring as the team played to a 24-39-5 record. Listed at 5’11” and 170 pounds on Elite Prospects, Lafrenière has made an impression on the few scouts who have seen him with his drive to get to the front of the net.

Elite Prospects

Now, hopefully the Blazers, who are owned by a team of Dallas Stars owner Tom Gaglardi, Shane Doan, Jarome Iginla, Mark Recchi, and Darryl Sydor, make an effort to really improve their team over the next couple years. I would think that it would be difficult for a prospect like Lafrenière — who has not played much in the CHL to this point — to garner interest from NHL teams when his junior team apparently plays rotten hockey.

Where is Lafrenière Ranked?​

Rankings are sourced through Elite Prospects except where linked. Tommy is ranked:

• 57th by NHL Central Scouting (North American skaters — 86th in Mid-Term Rankings)
• 71st by Dobber Prospects
• 76th by McKeen’s Hockey
• 86th by FloHockey — Chris Peters
• 89th by FCHockey
• 110th by Daily Faceoff
• 124th by Elite Prospects
• 161st by Draft Prospects Hockey
• 209th by Recruit Scouting

Lafrenière’s rankings have a bit of range to them.

What Others Have to Say About Lafrenière (and What He Says About Himself)​

For The Hockey Writers, Dayton Reimer points out that Lafrenière had some of the best fitness testing results in the recent scouting combine, combining elite endurance with strength above his weight class. However, Reimer still writes that Lafrenière can struggle to win some puck battles, but falls back on great stickwork to create turnovers when he cannot outmuscle larger players. Reimer also says about his skating ability,

Another concern is Lafrenière’s agility. Despite his good top-end speed, the Blazers’ rookie isn’t the cleanest skater, limiting some of his effectiveness without the puck. Once again, he relies heavily on his awareness and active stick to compensate for some of those gaps, and once he gets up to top speed, he is very difficult to catch. Adding another dimension to his skating will take his game to the next level.

If Lafrenière cannot improve his edgework, he may limit himself to a bottom six role in the future. Given his noted intensity, offensive creativity, and shot, Lafrenière has the tools to at least contribute as a bottom six goal scorer. And while Reimer writes that Lafrenière is weaker on defense and in transition (Mitchell Brown and Lassi Alanen’s CHL tracking data agrees with the transition concern, but not so much the defensive), I imagine a good coach would be able to use that popping top speed to the team’s advantage.

Lafrenière’s production profile actually marks him as a potential draft steal, if the third-to-fourth round expectation proves true. When I looked at his card on Byron Bader’s Hockey Prospecting, I found some of his listed similar draft year comparisons to also be real late-round steals, including Ondrej Palat, Lee Stempniak, and Henrik Zetterburg. Of course, there are a lot of busts and replacement-level producers in that mix as well.

Hockey Prospecting

When players like this get to the third round or later, it almost instantly becomes a good idea to pick them — scouts just have to account for how he looks on the ice. For those who watch Lafrenière, they usually rave about his speed, shot, and ability to get to the front of the net, so I do not see an obvious reason why his production cannot continue to improve as he advances to leagues that more and more value the ability to work the puck down the middle. And while Reimer knocked Lafrenière’s agility, his speed is enough on its own to give defenders and goalies fits when he carries the puck with speed through the slot.

In an interview on the WHL This Week radio show, Lafrenière was asked what clicked for him this year to vault himself into consideration for the NHL Draft, considering he was not even drafted in the WHL Draft until the eighth round. He replied,

Yeah, I think it was just kind of just an understanding of just how hard I need to work. I think it’s just kind of clicked inside of me that I need to do more than everyone else and keep pushing myself to be better. And so I just kind of gone the weights a little bit more and gained some weight and took a little bit of height, so it’s definitely helped a lot.

Lafrenière agreed that he took his WHL Draft selection as inspiration to have a chip on his shoulder. He also talked a bit about living a life full of hockey, growing up no, and you can hear the passion in his voice about how much he wants to be on the ice. If a team is looking for someone with the intrinsic motivation to round out his own game and mend some of his weaknesses before even working with an NHL coach, Lafrenière sounds like he has a good head on his shoulders.

A Little Video and My Thoughts​

Unfortunately, I was unable to find a full shift-by-shift tape from a game on YouTube for Lafrenière. If you read these profiles, you may know that I really like to see the full games. But we work with what we have in the blogosphere, and we can watch his highlight package from HSD Prospects.

This video, more than anything else, shows that Lafrenière has the skill and offensive attitude to play in the NHL. He might not be an amazing playmaker, but he has the speed and shot to get there. This is a guy who (see: 5:45 in the video) can burn multiple defenders for a breakaway at the end of a long shift (perhaps there is something to that fatigue testing the Combine does). This is not a guy who feeds on bad junior goaltending with long-range shots and peripheral plays that won’t work at higher levels. Lafrenière creates offense in the way you would expect someone in the NHL to. Even on the power play, Lafrenière finds himself in the netfront position, and his renowned ofensive stick does him a lot of good here. Given his size and production, you might expect Kamloops to stick him on the wall or on the bumper. But no: this is a netfront player. He screens, he bats at pucks, he controls the puck well by the goal line, and he takes no time to get shots off around the net.

If Tommy Lafrenière is available when the Devils are on the clock at 90, I would be thrilled — thrilled — if they picked him. I am a big fan of speed and shot combos, and while I am not sure he can play center in the future (not having that shift video hurts me here), I am pretty sure that he can at least be a bottom six spark plug and a monster on the rush and forecheck in addition to his netfront offense. I have seen far too many players come through and play for the New Jersey Devils, only to struggle to pull the trigger when they have the puck with open net to shoot at, but I do not think Lafrenière will fall into that trap when he makes the NHL.

Give this guy two more years with Kamloops and a year or two in the AHL, and I have full faith that Tommy Lafrenière will have built the size and strength necessary to play the game he does now in the NHL. He already has the speed and quickness with the puck, but he needs time. With just a year and nine games under his belt in the WHL, Lafrenière may have been kept out of upper-level competition longer than he should have. But if he played like that as a CHL rookie, I can see him continuing to rise and show his worth to teams.

Your Thoughts​

What do you think of Tommy Lafrenière? Do you think he might be one of the mid-round steals of the Draft? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...rappy-high-motor-skilled-center-flying-devils

 

[New Jersey Devils]

2025 NHL Draft: New Jersey Devils Select Sigge Holmgren at 178th Overall in the Sixth Round

The 2025 Draft is over for the New Jersey Devils, but they made sure to get a defenseman before their finish.

Well, after five forwards and a goaltender, the New Jersey Devils have finally picked a defenseman in the 2025 NHL Draft. A teammate of Gustav Hillström, Holmgren should spend the 2025-26 season in the Swedish J20 Nationell league after playing well in their U18 league in the 2023-24 season. Yes, 2023-24 — Holmgren missed his entire draft year with an injury. I will be looking for what happened there, but I have not seen anything yet. Below, you can see his statistics from Elite Prospects.

Elite Prospects

So, this is a pretty difficult pick to evaluate. I cannot find video of him on YouTube. Information on him online is scant. He will have to show that, whatever his injury was over the last year, that he will not be deterred from making the NHL. If nothing else, it would be a hell of a story for a guy who was unranked being selected, coming off a completely lost year, to make the NHL. And if he ever plays with Jonas Siegenthaler, you can call it the Siegs-Sigge pairing. I guess there’s that.

I cannot hate on it for the same reasons I cannot say I love it. For all I know, Holmgren might be someone the scouting department has had an eye on since last season, and they may just be taking this shot in case he got attention as an overager next year. If it turns out that they made a shrewd move in that regard, that would be amazing from the scouting department. But if it turns out that this injury derailed his career, it will be a head scratching use of the pick. But I really feel like this cannot be properly evaluated until we know more about Sigge Holmgren. At the very least, I have a good amount of trust in Brynäs IF to prioritize professional development as one of the historical great Swedish teams, and I wish them the best of luck getting back to the top with Hillström and Holmgren in their system.

Now that you know what I think about the pick, please feel free to give your reaction to the pick in the comments. Please also vote in our flash poll (ends at 7:00 PM tomorrow), that will lead to a later post describing what you, the People Who Matter, thought of the pick. Thank you for reading.

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...n-at-178th-overall-in-the-sixth-round-injured

 

[New Jersey Devils]

Centers, Centers, and More Centers: The New Jersey Devils Restocked the Forward Pipeline in the 2025 NHL Draft

Ben Kevan seems seriously thrilled to be a New Jersey Devil. | Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NHLI via Getty Images

With seven picks in the NHL Draft, the Devils used five on forwards as they strongly targeted their needs.

As is tradition here at All About the Jersey, it is time to recap what the New Jersey Devils did in the NHL Draft. While I wrote short posts about each of the selections yesterday, the team cannot be evaluated on a single move. The team, unfortunately, did not have a first round selection, and were a bit at the mercy of what other teams left them at 50th overall. But while other teams seemed to put a premium on size in the 2025 NHL Draft, the Devils did not. You may be wondering how that is, considering the team’s repeatedly expressed desires to become “tougher to play against,” but the Devils’ scouting department did not go in that direction.

This is in strong contrast to last year’s Draft, when John wrote,

Throughout the NHL Network broadcast of the second day of the draft - and parts of the ESPN broadcast of the first round - was the theme of size. You cannot teach size. Big is back...The New Jersey Devils were very much a part of selecting large players. Their entire draft class stands at an official height of at least 74 inches. It would have been 75 if Matyas Melovsky, their final pick of the day, was an inch taller instead of a mere 6’2.”

In complete contrast to the 2024 NHL Draft, the largest players the New Jersey Devils selected yesterday, aside from the 6’8” goaltender Tristen Bennett, were Mason Moe and Gustav Hillström, who are both listed at 6’2”, though Moe has about 16 pounds on Hillström. However, I will also note that the Devils did not pick any small players, with their shortest selection being Conrad Fondrk, who is either 5’11” or 6’0”, depending on who you ask. Elite Prospects has him listed at 6’0” and 203 pounds. But, to their credit, Tom Fitzgerald’s crew did not fall into the copycat thinking like so many teams this year, who prioritized size over everything. With that said, these were the selections:

• Second Round, 50th Overall: Center Conrad Fondrk, USNTDP, Boston University commit
• Second Round, 63rd Overall: Winger Ben Kevan, Des Moines Buccanneers (USHL) and USNTDP, Arizona State University commit
• Third Round, 90th Overall: Center Mason Moe, Madison Capitols (USHL) and USNTDP, University of Minnesota commit
• Fourth Round, 99th Overall: Goaltender Trenten Bennett, Kemptville 73’s (CCHL) and Owen Sound Attack (OHL), St. Lawrence University commit
• Fourth Round, 114th Overall: Center Gustav Hillström, Brynäs IF (J20 Nationell and SHL)
• Sixth Round, 161st Overall: Winger David Rozsíval, Bílí Tygři Liberec (Czech U20 and Extraliga)
• Sixth Round, 178th Overall: Defenseman Sigge Holmgren, Brynäs IF (J18 Region and Nationell, J20 Nationell in 2023-24; did not play due to injury in 2024-25)

Being Patient​

While I was not thrilled with the Devils’ selection of Conrad Fondrk, he is a New Jersey Devil, and I will root for him henceforth. There have been some things I have seen about him that have made me soften on the selection. First, I originally saw him listed at 192 pounds, and now see him at 203. While those 11 pounds might not seem like much, it is just one less thing that he needs to worry about at the next level — being NHL size before even hitting the rink at Boston University is a plus.

Additionally, Devils Chief Scout Mark Dennehy provided context to the pool of players they have, saying, “Because they’ve gone through Covid and had their experience stunted by upwards of 18 months, I think some of these guys will probably need a little bit more, and that’s okay.” This is true: this Draft class was in middle school when the pandemic struck. I am not sure which Draft class will ultimately be the most affected by Covid, but being 12 or 13 years old when that happened had to be extremely difficult for them. That is a turning point age, and they had to spend much of it socially isolated.

As second to sixth round picks, we will not be able to really dig into this Draft, most likely, until a couple years from now. Unless some guys skyrocket or plummet over the next season, these are the kinds of picks you make with the expectation that they will take two to five years to make an impact at the NHL level, if they ever do. This is not a slight on them — the odds are not in most prospects’ favors after the first round.

More Thoughts on Each Pick​

Let’s run down each pick:

Conrad Fondrk: Your mileage may vary depending on who you ask about his two-way game, but the Devils hope they have a big-time shooter on their hands. Mark Dennehy praised Fondrk’s shot, including a one-timer he says can be fired well off of even poor passes. While I am trying to be soft on this pick — I am at least happy about his already-filled frame and his shot — I do not think I could give the selection higher than a C given the players who were still on the board at that time. To me, production profiles matter a lot, and he had a third or fourth round production profile: and his injury came in March, so it’s not like his season stats were hampered by his broken leg. He might have the skills to outplay that, though, and going to Boston University will help a lot. Jay Pandolfo seems like a great coach.

Ben Kevan: I loved this pick when it was made, and that has not changed. Kevan’s enthusiasm for joining the Devils is apparent, and he has the tools and hockey IQ to be an impact player in the NHL. He is a shoot-first winger who gets very involved in transition, while he can work on bulking up a bit and forechecking a little harder. I said in my reaction post that I would call Kevan an A-grade pick, and I stand by that here.

Mason Moe: In Mason Moe, the Devils have said they hope to be adding a two-way power forward. I am not sure I agree with calling him a power forward, as he is not much of a shooter and does not get a lot of netfront opportunities. I think that Moe is not going to be as high-end of a player as either of Fondrk or Kevan at full potential, but he may have a higher floor because of his strong physical game and defensive impact. I liked Moe from the time James wrote about him, so I would give the Devils a solid B+ for selecting him at 90.

Trenten Bennett: When NHL teams start picking goaltenders, they can grab just about anyone. Goaltenders are difficult to evaluate for a reason. You will have goalies with .880 save percentages in juniors being picked around the same time as goalies with .900 save percentages in overseas professional leagues. So if the team had Bennett in mind, I understand grabbing him before it got to be too late. But, coming from the CCHL, having played very few major juniors games, I can only give the Devils a B-/B for this one. I have high hopes for Bennett, though.

Gustav Hillström: I love the Hillström pick. He improved a lot in his second year in the J20 Nationell, and I expect him to play well in the SHL in 2025-26 after making 18 appearances there this season. With Hillström being a right-handed center and probably the tallest player taken by the Devils in the Draft, I have no problem giving the Devils an A+ for picking Hillström where they did. Hillström is also noted to be great in the dot as well as a strong possession player. James also said on Hillström in the comments to the Day Two Open Post:

Probably my favorite selection for value vs. where he was drafted. Hillstrom is a good defensive two-way centerman, the kind of guy who kills penalties and helps your team win and gets little credit for it. I think there’s more offense in his game given his High IQ and once he grows into his frame a bit more he has a chance to unlock it. I’m not saying he’s going to be a big offensive producer at the top level or anything, but I think he can be a capable producer if everything clicks to go along with his defensive talents.

David Rozsíval: As noted by the team, David is the nephew of Michal Rozsíval, the former New York Ranger and two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Chicago Blackhawks. Michal, of course, was a long-time defenseman in the NHL, who may have reached 1,000 games if not for a sucker punch from Nick Ritchie (who is finally out of the league, good riddance) in 2017. Now, David hopes to have a career as long and fruitful as his uncle, and he had a great season in Czech juniors this season, with 37 points in 30 regular season games. I hope he makes the big club for his team in 2025-26, but dominating juniors with top minutes would not be the worst thing for him. In Rozsíval, the Devils have a strong skating possession winger who can play on his off-hand, and I am happy they got someone with an NHL bloodline that late in the Draft.

Sigge Holmgren: Per the team’s release yesterday, they believe Sigge Holmgren would have been an early or mid-round pick as an overager if he went undrafted this year. Since he last played, mostly, in the J18 Region and Nationell for Brynäs IF, I assume that he will play through the J20 league before getting a chance to line up with Gustav Hillström in the SHL. Regardless, the Devils like how well Holmgren handles the puck, in addition to his size-mobility combination. They write on his defensive ability,

Defensively, Holmgren plays a structured game. He keeps good gaps, anticipates well, and doesn’t overcommit. While he’ll need to continue adding strength and refining his play without the puck, the foundation is solid. He already shows strong positioning and an understanding of how to close space without taking unnecessary risks—traits that often take young defensemen years to develop.

Of course, this was based on how Holmgren played when he was 16 and 17 years old. Having been out for the entire 2024-25 season, Holmgren has missed a lot of hockey in his lifetime, but has still apparently looked good almost every time he has been on the ice. Again, I get selecting Holmgren, but I can only give the choice a B- in terms of value because I imagine he would have been there in the seventh round, and it is usually pretty easy to acquire those picks. I understand why they did what they did, though, and it would be a great credit to this scouting department if they turned out to hit a home run here.

Final Thoughts​

In all, I think the 2025 New Jersey Devils Draft Class was solid. It was not spectacular, since I think the Devils failed to pick the best player available on a couple occasions, but it was still solid. Even their picks that looked like a bit of a reach were not egregiously so, as the team tried to balance picking the best players with filling their needs. But, like I said last week: need is rather ephemeral when it comes to picking players who won’t be in Newark in October. These players will take years to develop, by which point the Devils might no longer have a need for a bunch of centers.

But I do appreciate the thought process. Per the Devils’ In the System page on Elite Prospects, Mason Moe (46 points in 24-25) is now the second-highest scoring center prospect in the Devils’ system behind Matyas Melovsky (83 points in 24-25). Before yesterday, Matyas Melovsky (21) and Samu Salminen (22) were the only centers in the Devils’ prospect pool under the age of 25, as a result of Artem Shlaine spurning the Devils after his college career to sign with the Texas Stars, after which he will presumably sign with Dallas this summer.

So, yes, there was a strong need for centers. And if you look through the prospects that the Devils have right now, you should see why they did not trade any of these picks away. The Devils did not have a lot left in their pipeline after the last few seasons, and it has been time to restock the cupboard for awhile. While some may argue that the best teams trade their draft picks for help, this is a double-edged sword, and I do not buy into bandwagoner thinking. Teams who draft well will always be competitive, and the Devils seem to have devoted a lot of manpower to these decisions.

Ultimately, the hope is that at least a couple of these players make the big stage. I have a lot of hopes for Kevan and Hillström, and I will be rooting for everyone to make improvements in their first year after being drafted. The Devils did well to avoid the copycat approach to draft for size, size, and size this year, so that gives me reason to think that they really believe in the prospects they have chosen. With Development Camp beginning today, I do not imagine any of their draftees will be there, but I hope to see them on the ice for the Devils in the Prospect Challenge in September.

Thanks and Looking Ahead​

I would like to thank James and Jackson for helping out with the prospect profiles this year. it is never easy to cover a year where the team does not have a first round pick, so their dedication is greatly appreciated. As always, we are also grateful to the many sources of prospect information around hockey’s digital world, including:

• Elite Prospects
• The Hockey Writers
• Dobber Prospects
• Mitchell Brown and Lassi Alanen
• Bryon Bader at Hockey Prospecting
• Prospect Shifts on YouTube
• HSD Prospects on YouTube
• And all other writers who have profiled draft prospects over the years

And, of course, thanks to all of you readers who have followed along this Draft season. All the coverage at All About the Jersey is for the People Who Matter, and we are happy to continue this work into the future. And, speaking of future — free agency is in a couple days. Expect a final previewing post for free agency tomorrow, and we will be following along intently here on Tuesday.

And of course, be ready for the Top 25 Under 25. It is lurking around the corner.

Your Thoughts​

On the whole, what did you think of the Devils at the 2025 NHL Draft? Do you think they did a good job? Do you see any of the picks yesterday factoring into a Stanley Cup team down the line? What do you hope to see from these prospects over the next year? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.

Have a great Sunday. It is beautiful outside in New Jersey.

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...pipeline-in-the-2025-nhl-draft-tom-fitzgerald

 

[New Jersey Devils]

2025 NHL Draft: New Jersey Devils Select David Rozsíval at 161st Overall in the Sixth Round

Picking yet another forward, Rozsíval hopes to add some opportunism to the Devils’ offense.

After selecting three centers, a wing, and a goalie with their first five selections of the 2025 NHL Draft, the New Jersey Devils selected their second wing of the day in David Rozsíval. I am a huge fan of this one. Rozsíval is a 6’0” left-shooting right wing from Czechia. He was the 22nd ranked European skater by NHL Central Scouting, and he is set to jump to the big club at Bílí Tygři Liberec after a great season in the Czech U20 league. Below, you can see his Elite Prospects page.

Elite Prospects

In Jordan Orth’s profile of Rozsíval for The Hockey Writers, Orth writes that Rozsíval is a bit inconsistent and needs to improve his skating, but has good vision and puck handling skills. Orth believes that he may be able to contribute in a bottom six role in the future, but only if he becomes more consistent. His top production profile comparison on Byron Bader’s Hockey Prospecting is Miles Wood, but do not mistake that for a stylistic comparison. If Rozsíval makes the NHL, I think it will be because he rounds out his game in a way that allows him to play in the middle six. Being a grinder is not, from what I can tell, his style.

In Rozsíval’s highlight package for HSD Prospects, you can see that he works very well with the puck, but perhaps relies a bit too much on the game being a little slower and less physical at his age. But he tries to work around the net, and he will need to keep doing that if he wants to make the NHL. At some point, I will take time to watch a shift-by-shift video (as I will with all skaters drafted by the Devils this year) so I can evaluate him a little more in-depth. But in terms of production and where he was ranked by NHL scouts coming into this Draft, I feel like he is a good value pick.

Now that you know what I think about the pick, please feel free to give your reaction to the pick in the comments. Please also vote in our flash poll (ends at 7:00 PM tomorrow), that will lead to a later post describing what you, the People Who Matter, thought of the pick. Thank you for reading.

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...l-at-161st-overall-in-the-sixth-round-scoring

 

[New Jersey Devils]

The Final AATJ Preview for NHL Free Agency 2025

The guys who will determine our team’s future. | Photo by Rich Graessle/NHLI via Getty Images

As of noon tomorrow, teams will be free to sign all unrestricted free agents in addition to sending offer sheets to restricted free agents.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of Christmas in July, otherwise known as NHL free agency.

AATJ’s UFA Rundowns​

If you would like to read our original free agency and pertinent offseason previews, please click the links below:

• The UFA Centers post, by Jared
• The UFA Winger Post, by Gerard
• The UFA Defensemen post, by Gerard
• The UFA Goalies post, by Gerard
• The AHL Option post
• The Offer Sheet Primer, by John
• The Buyout Primer, by John — note: the buyout window has ended, and will only re-open if a player goes to arbitration and settles with the team or is awarded a contract by an arbitrator.
• The Salary Cap and Roster Overview, by John — note: the Devils are now listed as having $14.394 million in cap space after their June moves, up from the $12.04 million figure cited in the article.

Additionally, we had specific profiles for Devils on expiring contracts.

• The Luke Hughes RFA profile, by Jared
• The Cody Glass RFA profile, by Alex
• The Nolan Foote and Isaac Poulter RFA profiles, by Jared
• The Jake Allen profile, by Gerard
• The Brian Dumoulin profile
• The Nathan Bastian and Daniel Sprong profiles, by Gerard
• The Curtis Lazar and Justin Dowling profiles, by Alex
• The Tomas Tatar and Dennis Cholowski profiles (Tatar has since signed overseas)

Who Has Signed Since Then?​

Of the players mentioned in the UFA target articles by Gerard and Jared, some players have taken themselves off the market by re-signing with their clubs. From the centers article, all of the top four options — John Tavares ($4,388,420 x 4), Sam Bennett ($8M x 8), Brock Nelson ($7.5M x 3), and Matt Duchene ($4.5M x 4) — have re-signed with their clubs. Ville Husso, who was traded from the Red Wings to the Ducks for future considerations in February, re-signed with the Ducks yesterday after Anaheim also acquired Petr Mrazek and two picks for John Gibson. Just within the last couple hours, the reports have been that Aaron Ekblad is re-signing in Florida for eight years and $6.1 million per year, and they also re-signed Brad Marchand to a six-year deal for $5.33 million per season.

Additionally, Claude Giroux re-signed in Ottawa for $2 million, while Columbus re-signed Ivan Provorov to a seven-year deal at $8.5 million per season. Some restricted free agents have also come off the board as well. Matthew Knies re-signed for $7.75 million per year for six years in Toronto. The Islanders signed Alex Romanov to an eight-year deal for $6.25 million per year. Former Devil Kevin Bahl signed a six-year deal with Calgary for $5.35 million per year. It is a good time to be a giant, physical defenseman or a center. Thankfully, the Devils do not need any more high-dollar defenders (as it turns out, the Kovacevic contract is a good deal in this market), but they do need a center.

And, of course, there is Mitch Marner. As Gerard wrote on Marner in his UFA winger article:

Let’s make this quick: Mitch Marner is obviously the biggest forward name set to test unrestricted free agency this summer. There’s going to be a lot of feelings from a lot of fan bases about wanting or not wanting Marner. The long and short of it for the Devils is they absolutely can’t afford him at an expected $13 million per season. With the amount of cap already tied up in long-term deals and raises due to guys coming off of ELCs, Marner is nothing but a pipe dream. Let’s move along to some options that actually could be possible.

As of 5:30 PM, the Vegas Golden Knights acquired Mitch Marner, with an eight-year and $12 million extension, from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Nic Roy. With Marner out of the picture, teams around the league can zero in on remaining free agents, and it is a quickly-shrinking class. It is even worse for the Devils that Nic Roy, a potential trade target, is off that board as well.

The Devils Qualified All NHL RFAs; Did Not Qualify AHLers​

While I was very anxious this morning about the rumors that the Devils would not qualify Cody Glass, the news that came out this afternoon eased my concerns. The New Jersey Devils announced today at 4:54 PM that Luke Hughes and Cody Glass were extended qualifying offers. The Devils, however, did not qualify Nolan Foote, Isaac Poulter, or Santeri Hatakka. While Foote has struggled to stick in the NHL throughout several injuries and short call-ups, Isaac Poulter had an .898 save percentage in Utica after a solid 2023-24 AHL season. Hatakka, acquired in the Timo Meier trade and seen by many as an extra defenseman option going into last year, signed with HV71 of the Swedish Hockey League after a tough, injury-riddled season. The Devils will still be able to retain Foote and Poulter if they re-sign them to two-way deals, but other teams will also be able to negotiate with them starting tomorrow.

Personally, while I like Poulter, I am fine with letting him go. With Jakub Malek already expected to get the bulk of Utica minutes in 2025-26, I believe a Malek-Brodeur duo in the AHL, with Tyler Brennan getting more ECHL starts without Jeremy Brodeur to block him, would be the best path forward for the team. That might leave fans feeling a little too thin at goaltender, but the only real alternative is to re-sign Jake Allen and risk losing Nico Daws on waivers.

The League Has Sent Out Memo After Memo About Tampering​

Ideally, there should be no news this year at 12PM Eastern Time. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly has warned teams time and time again about how deals should not even possibly be done by that time, and that the league will be looking to punish teams if they violate their rules. Daly sent out memos on November 25, 2024 and last week warning teams not to make contact with other teams’ players before free agency begins, and, prior to the very recent news that Vegas and Toronto completing the aforementioned trade swapping Mitch Marner for Nic Roy, it very much sounded like Toronto was ready to pounce on Vegas for violating the rules outlined in those memos. Nic Roy (in the second to last year of a five-year contract) is a pretty decent price to pay to avoid a league tampering investigation.

Elliotte Friedman updated the Mitch Marner, Golden Knights, Maple Leafs situation this morning on “32 Thoughts”.

This is why Friedge is the one of the best to ever do it.

What an update. Like…wow. pic.twitter.com/AnGIbsKwTc

— Sid Seixeiro (@Sid_Seixeiro) June 29, 2025​

Personally, I fully support any aggrieved teams going after GMs who tampered prior to free agency this year. If the league is going to send out memos to the effect of, “do not negotiate with free agents who are not yours prior to July 1” and a handful of teams (contenders, no less) do exactly that, the league should come down with a hammer. NHL insiders obviously do not make keeping the spirit of exclusivity in tact an easy task, but if the GMs actually listened to Bill Daly, we should not see deals right off the bat at noon. I kind of expect it to happen anyway, though, and I hope the league does follow through on their threats to teams.

What Else Has New Jersey Done Prior to July 1?​

The Devils signed Juho Lammikko on June 15. Just a few days later, they traded Erik Haula to the Nashville Predators for a fourth round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft (used on Trenten Bennett) and Jeremy Hanzel. So, they sent out a third-line center option and brought in a fourth-line center option, clearing a fair amount of cap space in the process. That leaves their NHL roster looking something like this (unsigned RFAs in italics, and yes, I am assuming Gritsyuk and Hameenaho make the team):

Meier-Hischier-Noesen
Gritsyuk-Hughes-Bratt
Palat-Mercer-Hameenaho
Cotter-Glass-Lammikko

Hughes-Pesce
Dillon-Hamilton
Siegenthaler-Nemec

Markstrom
Daws

Injured: Johnny Kovacevic
Extra: Kurtis MacDermid

Looking at this, the Devils have a few clear needs. They need, at minimum, two NHL forwards and an extra defenseman. Johnny Kovacevic will not be ready for the start of the season, given his knee surgery, so they need a plan in place to take the team to the New Year or later. Meanwhile, trade protection for Ondrej Palat and Dougie Hamilton drops to 10-team trade lists tomorrow, so the Devils will have more options to create cap space, if they want to make a bigger splash in free agency.

Top Targets for Tomorrow?​

With Luke Hughes and Cody Glass needing contract extensions, the Devils could see their available cap number drop to the $3-4 million range without shedding any additional salary. With 19 healthy players and Kovacevic under NHL contract, they need to jump on any available NHL talent they can afford. In the case they do not move Palat, I can see a few possible options for what they need, including centers Jack Roslovic (expiring $2.8 million deal), Adam Gaudette (expiring league-minimum deal), Nick Bjugstad (expiring $2.1 million deal), and Lars Eller (expiring $2.45 million deal). Signing Roslovic, Bjugstad, or Eller would bring them very close to the cap ceiling, possibly without room for another contract, while signing Gaudette should allow them to continue adding near-minimum contracts. These kinds of signings would allow the Devils to push Dawson Mercer to wing, possibly reuniting him with Nico Hischier or Jack Hughes in the top six.

If the Devils really want to be active, it is practically mandatory to trade Ondrej Palat. Trading Palat would allow them to step up into the next rung of free agency targets, including Pius Suter, who is due a big raise from his $1.6 million contract with Vancouver, which he signed after being non-qualified by Detroit in 2023. Clearing $6 million from Palat’s contract could even set them up to contend for Nikolaj Ehlers or Brock Boeser, if either are inclined to take less money than what they could get to compete for a Stanley Cup. If the Devils added either, I would assume Mercer and Glass stay at center, since Mercer would likely benefit from having a scoring winger on the third line. Aside from the more expensive options, there are also veteran scoring wingers who might be available, including James Van Riemsdyk and Jeff Skinner.

While it would have been difficult to predict these before today, there has been a slew of non-qualified RFAs who will become unrestricted tomorrow. They include:

• Pontus Holmberg, who had 19 points in 68 games at center and wing for Toronto
• Oliver Wahlstrom, who was non-QO’d by Boston after a difficult season
• Phillipp Kurashev, who had 14 points in 51 games with Chicago after a 54-point season the year before
• Nikolai Kovalenko, who had 20 points in 57 games in his rookie season for Colorado and San Jose with decent underlying numbers
• Ty Smith, who did well in limited action for Carolina and may be a 7D option until Kovacevic’s return
• Zac Jones, who played well for the Rangers in 46 games but was often frozen out by Peter Laviolette

Are any of these players perfect? No. But they would fall under the category of players who can be had for a price that the New Jersey Devils can definitely afford. They are also young, have room to grow, and may have shown signs of being more in the not-too-distant past. I might really like to see them grab Pontus Holmberg, who has a history of strong defensive play, to reunite him with Sheldon Keefe and give the Devils’ coach another two-way option at center or wing.

Aside from Zac Jones and Ty Smith, seventh defender options for the Devils include Brendan Smith, Jon Merrill, Calvin de Haan, Mike Reilly, and Oliver Kylington. I would prefer that the Devils keep themselves to cheaper options amongst the blueliners, as they do not really have the roster space for players who will demand top playing time. Tom Fitzgerald has the task of adding offense to this hockey club while dealing with their cap constraints, and the defense is thankfully already set for the 2025-26 season. So, he should focus on the guys up front, for the most part.

All that said, free agency should be fun as always. We will be here at All About the Jersey to cover what happens, and we will have opinions on the moves that Fitzgerald makes tomorrow and over the next couple of weeks. Here is to a fresh NHL season.

Your Thoughts​

What do you think of the free agency picture tomorrow? Do you think the Devils will find themselves outbid in an increasingly small market? Or do you think they will be able to find what they need? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...rald-july-1-keefe-new-jersey-devils-contracts

 

[New Jersey Devils]

Reports: New Jersey Devils Sign Connor Brown to Four-Year, $3M AAV Contract

Photo by Leila Devlin/Getty Images

The New Jersey Devils are now making moves up front, adding Connor Brown to an increasingly tight cap situation.

The New Jersey Devils upset the goaltender market when they re-signed Jake Allen to a five-year, team-friendly contract, and they did not end the day there. Given the state of NHL free agency with so many players returning to their clubs, I was prepared for a quiet day for the Devils, who still need to move salary to fill out the roster effectively. Instead, they made one of the earliest notable signings of the day, bringing Connor Brown out of Edmonton on a four-year contract.

Connor Brown is signing a four-year, $12m contract with the New Jersey Devils, per @GenePrincipe pic.twitter.com/KZQS6dnwPH

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) July 1, 2025​

A Welcome Addition to the New Jersey Devils​

In the 2024-25 NHL season, the New Jersey Devils squeezed a total of 15 goals from Tomas Tatar (7 in 74 games), Nathan Bastian (4 in 59 games), Justin Dowling (2 in 52 games), and Curtis Lazar (2 in 48 games). For Tom Fitzgerald, who wanted to build a tougher team to play against in 2024, this was an untenable situation. He knows as well as anyone that, if the Devils want to compete for the Stanley Cup, they will need to fix their secondary scoring issues. Connor Brown is a good first step for this offseason.

HockeyViz

In HockeyViz’s player evaluation model, Brown lost a lot points by being a poor finisher and a below-average passer, while also drawing close to no penalties. However, he is still a solid player who will not hurt the team on the ice, and he graded out as a low-end third-line winger in Edmonton. Of course, Brown had the severe knee injury after joining the Washington Capitals, and he had a much more productive 2024-25 season (13 goals, 17 assists) than how he played his first year in Edmonton (four goals, eight assists). So, there may be some hope that he is still returning to the form he showed in Ottawa, where he averaged 50 points per 82 games between 2019 and 2022. If he does keep the productivity on the incline, this will turn out to be a great value add for the Devils.

Evolving-Hockey

In Evolving-Hockey’s data, Brown grades as a better defensive player than he does in HockeyViz’s model, but they largely agree on offensive impact. Brown will chip in goals, and will not hold the team back in the offensive end. I compare him above to Erik Haula, as Haula’s contract, which was moved to Nashville, was a tiny bit more expensive. So, if you are looking at this as a swap of Brown for Haula’s roster spot, this represents negligible savings while getting a few years younger and, at this point, a little more productive and a little better on defense.

Brown, most of all, is known as a great skater. This has remained despite his prior knee injury, and I am excited to see it on the Prudential Center ice. Per NHL EDGE’s tracking data, Brown hit a top speed of 22.59 MPH (66th percentile), while recording 145 speed bursts over 20 MPH (85th percentile vs. league average of 76.5 per qualified forward) and a total of 198.77 miles skated (74th percentile vs. league average of 127.08 per qualified forward). So, if you are looking for a well-conditioned player who can keep up with good skaters, Connor Brown is your man. I know I have been writing in the Draft profiles about the need to seek out players who can withstand the full season, and Connor Brown just held strong through 82 + 20.

He had five goals and four assists in the playoffs, so the Devils are hoping to add something there, too. With two years of big-time playoff experience and three Toronto first rounds from 2016 to 2019, Brown has been there and has seen what it takes to win. Hopefully, he can bring that to the New Jersey Devils.

There are some concerns I have about the contract, such as whether it includes trade protection. A partial protection would be fine — these players deserve it. But I would not want to see anything more than a one-year full NTC on this deal, and we will be waiting to see more details about the contract and if he has any such protections. The Devils will already have to figure out a way to navigate the protections they have on the books now to make this deal and their future deals work this offseason, and I do not want to see them run into the same problem in a few years.

All that said, welcome to the New Jersey Devils, Connor Brown! I think Dawson Mercer or Cody Glass will benefit greatly from having a fast winger on their right on the third line, and Sheldon Keefe will love having a defensively responsible player who can kill penalties and chip in somewhere between 10 and 20 goals.

Your Thoughts​

What do you think of this deal? Are you happy to see Brown in New Jersey? Who do you think he will pair best with? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...r-3m-aav-contract-edmonton-oilers-free-agency

 

[New Jersey Devils]

Free Agency Day One Roundup For the New Jersey Devils

Jake Allen’s head is peeking in the back there, but there’s Connor Brown right by him. | Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

The Devils re-signed Jake Allen and some depth pieces while making two important adds up front. It was a good day.

Free Agency Frenzy was not so much of a frenzy this year, with teams worried about being penalized for tampering after Bill Daly sent them memo after memo warning them about making contact with free agents before the beginning of the negotiation period at 12:00 PM today. But the New Jersey Devils still made strong moves, setting themselves up for more moves throughout the summer that should retool them for the 2025-26 season. First on the day, they re-signed Jake Allen to a surprisingly team-friendly deal:

Jake Allen​

While free agency rumors indicated that Jake Allen would make as much as $5 million per season if he hit unrestricted free agency, the veteran goaltender is tired of moving. In his words:

I’m excited to finish my career here.

Rather than sign with a Canadian team desperate for goaltending, Jake Allen chose to stay in New Jersey for five years at an annual average value of $1.8 million, solidifying a goaltending tandem with Jacob Markstrom for the second year in a row. Allen’s decision to sign in New Jersey also gives them long-term goaltending insurance, as Allen has not had a heavy workload in his career and looks to take his career to age-40, which he should be able to do given his good health and proven track record of solid goaltending (Allen was tied with Connor Hellebuyck for second in the league in goals saved above expected per 60 in 2024-25). With multiple young goaltenders of interest in the system, the Devils are in a good place in net for years to come.

Connor Brown​

Grabbing one of the pieces from the Edmonton Oilers’ back-to-back Western Conference Championship victories, the Devils signed Connor Brown to a four-year contract worth an average of $3 million per season. Brown, 31, who had 13 goals and 17 assists last year in addition to four goals and five assists in 20 playoff games, is one of the best skaters in the league, combining explosiveness and endurance to be a consistently tough player to play against. Brown will factor into the Devils’ penalty kill while seeking to regain the level of productivity he hit in Ottawa before suffering a torn ACL his first month in Washington a few years ago. Brown saw his production rise from 12 points to 30 over the last two seasons, so there may be hope that he can get back into the 40-50 range on the right line with the Devils. He will be a fit for the third line, but can play anywhere in the lineup at any time because of his tenacity and details.

Evgenii Dadonov​

This was the one that I did not expect. Considering that the New Jersey Devils paid Tomas Tatar $1.8 million last season, signing 36-year old Evgenii Dadonov, to a one-year, $1 million contract was an incredible value add for Tom Fitzgerald. Dadonov, who had 20 goals and 20 assists last season, has had one of the highest-percentage shots since rejoining the NHL in 2017 with Florida. While Dadonov is not known for his defense, I believe that playing in Sheldon Keefe’s system will help hide those deficiencies, as Dadonov still has the legs and skill to produce even in limited minutes. Dadonov was tracked in the 86th percentile in total speed bursts over 20 MPH during the regular season, and he amped his speed up in the postseason, showing that he still has a lot in him at his age. He should be able to fit in on the third line, or in the top six in offensive situations.

The Depth Signings​

While our attention was focused on the aforementioned three NHLers today, the Devils also did some important business to tend to their organizational depth.

Dennis Cholowski — Acquired in a three-way trade with the New York Islanders and Seattle Kraken, in which the Devils also acquired Daniel Sprong, Dennis Cholowski appeared in six regular season games and two postseason matches for the Devils. In those games, the Devils went 2-5-1, with Cholowski playing to a -4 rating in his six regular season games, while playing the equivalent of seventh defenseman minutes in a six-defenseman lineup when the Devils were playing the Hurricanes in the first round. Per PuckPedia, Cholowski is on a one-way deal for league minimum ($775,000), making him a candidate to be the team’s seventh defenseman while Seamus Casey racks up top minutes in Utica and Simon Nemec fills Johnny Kovacevic’s lineup spot.

Marc McLaughlin — Acquired in a trade with the Boston Bruins, which sent defenseman Daniil Misyul (now with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the KHL) the other way, McLaughlin suited up for two games in a Devils uniform this season, in which he had an assist but did not really look that great on the ice, with the team giving up two goals against in his 18:32 of total ice time. However, McLaughlin is only 25 years old and can play center, so he is not bad to keep around. I had figured that he would have walked away as one of the rare Group 6 UFAs, but he instead took the two-way deal to stay here with a $350,000 minor league salary — a raise from the $120,000 Boston gave him for his AHL time last year.

Angus Crookshank — One of the best names in AHL hockey, Angus Crookshank has been a top six mainstay of the Belleville Senators for a few years now. Like McLaughlin, Crookshank gets a big raise from his time with the AHL Senators (also $120,000 last year) regardless of if he makes the NHL squad, as he will make $425,000 this season and $775,000 in 2026-27 if he stays in the minor leagues. In his career, Crookshank has 77 goals and 72 assists in 202 AHL games, along with two goals and two assists in 21 NHL games. In eight games for Ottawa this year, Crookshank had a 59.4 CF% (+11.6 relative in those games), but could not stick with those Senators. If Crookshank turns out to be more than just an AHLer, this will prove a very shrewd contract from Tom Fitzgerald.

Calen Addison — While I do not believe Addison was under NHL contract last year, he put up 33 points in 49 games with a -24 rating for the Henderson Silver Knights and 3 points in 13 games with a -11 rating for the Springfield Thunderbirds in 2024-25. This followed one year for the San Jose Sharks in 2023-24, in which he had 12 points in 60 games with 66 PIMs and a -35 rating. Prior to being acquired by the Sharks, he had a total of 34 points in 74 games with a -20 rating for the Minnesota Wild across the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. Listed at 5’11” and 172 pounds, shooting right-handed, Addison serves two purposes. First, he will challenge Dennis Cholowski for a roster spot in camp. Second, he will fill in the gap in Utica whenever Seamus Casey may be recalled, or if Casey is traded next season. If Addison makes the team, I would be very interested to see if Sheldon Keefe and Brad Shaw can focus his offensive abilities and improve his defensive play at the NHL level. He will make $325,000 in the minors or league minimum in the NHL this season.

What Now?​

Per the team’s beat reporters, Tom Fitzgerald will speak with the media at 10:30 AM tomorrow. His work, while very good so far, is not done yet. While Jared will respond in part to what Fitzgerald says tomorrow, there are a few points that seem clear now. As far as I can tell, the team will still need to shed salary to afford the Cody Glass and Luke Hughes contracts. If the team were to clear Ondrej Palat’s $6 million cap hit from their books, they may even be able to afford another option at center (Pius Suter is still available), freeing Dawson Mercer up to play wing throughout the season. Not moving salary would mean relying on Johnny Kovacevic’s LTIR exception, which is not likely to last through the entire season, to remain cap compliant.

Additionally, I would like to see the Devils bring in another bottom six winger option, assuming Ondrej Palat is either traded or bought out in the case Cody Glass files for arbitration. Daniel Sprong is still unsigned, and he may be able to build a good relationship with head coach Sheldon Keefe. I would circle back there. Additionally, Curtis Lazar, who was very injured over the last year, may be a two-way option. I think those would be quick and easy fixes to the team’s current depth, as they will still need another extra forward for when Palat (or someone else I am not foreseeing) is moved out.

In all, I give Day One of Free Agency 2025 an A- for Tom Fitzgerald and the New Jersey Devils. Even in a tight market with few places to turn to, they got a good or great value out of the deals they gave to Connor Brown and Evgenii Dadonov while avoiding some of the ridiculous contracts given out, such as those by Boston (Jeannot), Los Angeles (Ceci), and Columbus (Provorov). Of course, the Devils barely had enough cap space to even think about such bad moves, but they still avoided it. And in Brown and Dadonov, Fitzgerald gives Keefe two strong skaters who add both offensive and defensive impacts to the middle six.

I only give an A- instead of an A because, in addition to the salary cap issue, I am not sure what the plan is for Nico Daws, who is waiver eligible in the 2025-26 season, as he is now effectively blocked by Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen. Of course, there is time for that situation to shake out further, but it is a question mark for the front office to solve moving forward. For now, this is a great start, and I look forward to seeing how all the pieces fit together with the moves that are yet to come.

Your Thoughts​

What did you think of today for the Devils? Which move was your favorite? Do you like the AHL and depth deals? Do you think anyone will exceed expectations? Do you think anyone does not fit with the team? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...racts-brown-dadonov-allen-fitzgerald-keefe-nj

 

[New Jersey Devils]

New Jersey Devils Re-Sign Cody Glass to Two-Year, $2.5M Contract

Our favorite Swedish winger will welcome our newfound bottom six center back into the fold. | Photo by Andrew Mordzynski/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Just a few hours after Tom Fitzgerald’s meeting with the press, he has signed Cody Glass to a two-year deal at his QO number.

We have come a long way in a short time, from hemming and hawing about whether the New Jersey Devils would even qualify Cody Glass, to the Devils qualifying him, to them re-signing him today. See the team’s post below:

Our Glass is full for two more years. pic.twitter.com/LgDPoEO3TW

— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) July 2, 2025​

Devils Get Glass For Two Years at His QO Number​

Per PuckPedia, the deal is for two years and an annual average value of $2.5 million. While Tom Fitzgerald was rumored to hope, prior to free agency, that he could sign Glass for less than that qualifying offer, that proved to be an impossibility in this market. With so few options available on the free agent market, Glass could have gotten a nice payday from a team with more cap space, leading to his eventual qualification and the re-signing we see today. And before you go: oh, great, now Cody Glass is getting overpaid, consider that the second year on his deal eats his first UFA season. Had Glass signed a one-year deal at the same price, he likely would have been lost next July. The first year might be a little too pricey for his prior production, but I would much rather the team pay him a few extra hundred thousand dollars than exchange him for an older, slower, worse option at center.

If you say the Devils need guys who win faceoffs, Cody Glass helps out. Over the last three seasons, Glass had a combined 49.7 faceoff win percentage (704 wins and 713 losses), topping out at 51.2% this season. This gives the Devils a bottom six faceoff replacement for Curtis Lazar (51.3% this season), who signed with Edmonton today. The Devils will still be looking for guys to win draws with Haula also missing from the middle six (he had a 52.6% win rate with the second most draws taken, behind Hischier, in 2024-25), but Glass should be able to at least fill the need for right-handed draw wins. Other Devils who took a notable amount of draws include:

• Dawson Mercer, 96 wins and 141 losses (40.5%)
• Paul Cotter, 41 wins and 37 losses (52.6%)
• Stefan Noesen, 41 wins and 44 losses (48.2%)

Over the last three seasons, Glass has also averaged 12 goals and 20 assists per 82 regular season games played. He has historically not been an amazing finisher with an 8.9% career shooting percentage, but showed chemistry with a few Devils last season, putting up two goals and five assists in 14 games. Glass needs to get to the net with a bit more efficiency if he wants to improve his goal scoring, given his below average shot, but he is a good passer and a responsible two-way player. In HockeyViz’s player evaluation model, Glass grades as a high-end third-line center because of his strong defensive impact. Evolving-Hockey’s RAPM model, shown below (compared to Dowling), agrees. And at 6’3” and over 200 pounds, Glass has the size to withstand the burdens of being a bottom six center.

Evolving-Hockey

While Glass showed most chemistry with Jesper Bratt (who doesn’t?), Erik Haula, and Daniel Sprong last year, he will have to work with new linemates this season. Glass would be best paired with offensive wingers who can shoot well, as he handles a lot of other details as a center with a strong two-hundred foot game. He should not hold his linemates back from scoring, given his ability to distribute the puck, and the Devils have been adding players to their roster who can chip in goals in those bottom six roles.

Salary Cap Implications​

The real issue now is the salary cup. According to PuckPedia, the Devils’ roster is all but set, with just Luke Hughes needing a contract. After Seamus Casey ($950,000) is sent to Utica, the Devils will have approximately $7,044,167 in cap space, with 13 forwards, seven defensemen, and three goaltenders. But that number will decrease to about $6,932,167 if Nico Daws is exchanged for Arseni Gritsyuk on the active roster. Does anyone think the Luke Hughes extension will come in at that number?

I have been expecting that, at minimum, Luke Hughes will get an eight-year contract worth $8 million per season, matching his older brother, Jack. Even then, market conditions indicate that $8 million might be too little for a defenseman of his caliber. Of course, Luke Hughes is absolutely welcome to take a team-friendly deal, but I have to wonder what the plan is if he does assert, at least to some extent, that he should be paid in accordance with what other players are getting around the league. As Tom Fitzgerald said in his press conference today, Luke Hughes’s extension is the top priority. If this means signing him to a shorter bridge contract, I expect anxieties to shoot through the roof among Devils fans, especially given Jim Rutherford’s very public comments on the Hughes brothers.

Of course, Jared also mentioned ways to clear cap space in his article today. The first involved moving Palat, and the less savory choice is trading Dougie Hamilton. I do not want to see Hamilton go. I think he is far too important to the team: its identity, culture, and offense. The only issue with Glass’s contract today is that it eliminates the possibility of the Devils having a second buyout window after an arbitration settlement*, which Glass or the Devils could have filed for. At that point, the team very well could have bought out Palat if they deemed it necessary to manage Hughes’s extension.

* 5:00 PM Edit: Jared and Twitter user @kranman85 corrected me here, as I overlooked that the newly-acquired Thomas Bordeleau is arbitration eligible. While I do not expect Bordeleau to elect arbitration (only 14 players did so last year), the Devils are allowed to file for arbitration on their end. Bordeleau would still be able to accept his qualifying offer, which was originally tendered by San Jose, in addition to his right to accept an offer sheet. Either of those outcomes would negate the arbitration filing, which can be made by the Devils on July 5.

So the New Jersey Devils are now (*largely) left with just the trade market as an avenue for clearing cap space. If Tom Fitzgerald’s offseason is to be a true success, I believe he still has to trade Ondrej Palat so he can sign Luke Hughes to that max-term extension and acquire another player who can handle center duties (or, at the very least, someone who can take faceoffs). I know some people will not have the patience to see how this plays out, but there is still time to do what is necessary this summer.

My Last Thoughts​

I am very happy that Cody Glass is back with the team, especially considering how worried I was that the team would lose him for nothing after acquiring him for a third-round pick, among other minor assets. He gives the Devils balance down the middle with a strong defensive game and is still young enough to grow into a better player than he is today. At just 26 years old, Glass is the second-oldest center on the team, as he was born just a few months after Nico Hischier. But, at this level of quality, most teams would trip over themselves to have a center group as young as this one.

Your Thoughts​

What do you think of this contract? Are you surprised at the team getting a second year at that price? Do you think Glass will continue improving in New Jersey? What is next for Fitzgerald and the team? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...ntract-tom-fitzgerald-centers-nhl-free-agency