The New Jersey Devils signed Kurtis MacDermid to a three-year, $3.45 million contract extension on May 17, 2024. The early season evaluation of him has been mixed: he’s been a tough, physical presence while also struggling to impact the game otherwise.
Surface Numbers
It’s clear what purpose MacDermid serves for the Devils: he’s an enforcer who will stick up for his teammates when they need it. Many players have spoken glowingly about what he does to protect them. That’s all well and good, but results-wise, he’s brought almost nothing to the table.
MacDermid has just 11 goals in 275 career NHL games, to go along with 385 penalty minutes and a minus-28 rating. Since he joined the Devils, they have given up 30 more scoring chances than they’ve created (22-52) with him on the ice (via Natural Stat Trick). It’s this constant liability that has caused head coach Sheldon Keefe to deploy him for just an average of 5:47 per game.
The absence of Curtis Lazar and Nathan Bastian has meant the Devils have played MacDermid every night. MacDermid himself even knows he’s someone who typically plays sparingly, telling The Hockey Writers after last season, “That’s been my role the past few seasons anyway. It’s nothing new.”
It’s certainly not MacDermid’s fault that he got the term that he did. Or that injuries happened, and he’s been forced into a more regular role. But the bottom line is that an extra $1.15 million per year, if MacDermid remains in the NHL, isn’t going to do any favors if the Devils want to look externally for forward help.
Crunching the Numbers
The good news is that his contract can be buried in the American Hockey League (AHL), but that doesn’t feel like something that will happen given the fact that he was given a three-year contract. And with how much he’s commended for his role by players and management, that further proves to be the case.
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The fourth line has continued to be a cause for concern, posting a 36.86 expected goals for percentage (xGF%) and getting outscored 3-0 since MacDermid became a regular. They currently have Shane Bowers, Justin Dowling, Nolan Foote, Nick DeSimone and MacDermid all called up, which results in some very limited cap space. The Devils can have more flexibility to make moves by sending some of them back down, but if the fourth line continues to struggle, it might make the most sense to try to pass MacDermid through waivers and send him down. His contract carries the largest cap hit of those five. And in the tight-cap world of the NHL, every dollar counts.
Playing Devil’s Advocate
Bringing in MacDermid was a necessary acquisition to protect the Devils’ star players last season. They were one of the least physical teams in the league and were often criticized for not sticking up for each other. Well, general manager Tom Fitzgerald completely changed that around this offseason by bringing in guys like Brenden Dillon, Paul Cotter and Stefan Noesen. Thus, MacDermid isn’t as needed as he was then.
Kurtis MacDermid, signed to a 3x$1.15M extension by NJ, is a physical depth defenceman with a lifelong passion for taking minor penalties and a general disinterest in drawing them. Devils played him sparingly and against the softest competition possible. #NJDevils pic.twitter.com/PSbKAgLyKN
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) May 17, 2024
There is some intangible value guys like MacDermid possess that extends beyond the analytics. Heck, the Devils are 7-1-1 with him in the lineup, but correlation does not imply causation. For further proof of that, goalies have a .818 save percentage when MacDermid is on the ice, so he hasn’t done them any favors. And he is prone to taking some unintelligent penalties – like he did in their most recent contest in Tampa Bay which led to a powerplay goal.
He has fulfilled the role of enforcer perfectly over his career. But there’s a reason he’s played an average of just 38 games per season in his career…he never possessed the talent to get on the scoresheet regularly.
The good news for Devils fans is that Fitzgerald has maneuvered their cap situations very well in the past, so he surely has a plan in place depending on how the next few games (and season) unfolds. He has some draft/prospect capital to potentially sweeten a deal and help shed a contract if necessary. When it comes time to upgrade, there is no move that should be thought otherwise solely because of MacDermid’s contract, if it comes to that.
