The New Jersey Devils signed Kurtis MacDermid to a three-year, $3.45 million contract extension on May 17, 2024. The move was met with some criticism at the time, but now more than ever, the contract is hindering the team’s ability to upgrade in areas of need.
Surface Numbers
It’s clear what purpose MacDermid serves for the Devils: he’s tough and sticks 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 brings 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.
Now, this wouldn’t be as big of a deal if the Devils weren’t dealing with injuries to their bottom-six, but 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 the contract is handcuffing the Devils’ ability to upgrade in the wake of the aforementioned injuries.
Crunching the Numbers
That’s $1.15 million annually that the Devils are on the hook for over the next three seasons. 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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With some recent call-ups, the Devils’ current projected cap space is just $6,518, per PuckPedia. Yes, you read that right. That’s not even enough to add a player posted on the waiver wire, let alone entertain anything during the trade deadline without moving current roster pieces. In fact, it likely wouldn’t cover much more than two months of apartment rent in New York City.
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 (via Natural Stat Trick). If MacDermid was never given the contract, the Devils would have much more flexibility to shake things up. But they can’t and will have to rely on internal options for now – ones that have proved to be inconsistent at best in the past (Shane Bowers, Nolan Foote, Max Willman, etc.)
Playing Devil’s (Ha) 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.
Again, none of this is on MacDermid himself. 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. This is solely on the Devils for dishing out this contract when they knew they were in tight waters with the cap.
The good news for Devils fans is that Fitzgerald has maneuvered tough cap situations very well in the past, so he at least deserves the benefit of the doubt this time. And he has some draft/prospect capital to potentially sweeten a deal and help shed a contract. Nonetheless, it’s going to take some expert work from him once again if the Devils need to upgrade in a specific area at any point this season. In the meantime, they will continue to trot out a fourth line that will likely get caved in and produce suboptimal results.
