One of the keys to any team’s contention window is managing the salary cap properly. A few bad contracts and it’s pretty easy for an organization to shut its window before it even opens. Luckily for the New Jersey Devils, general manager Tom Fitzgerald and even former GM Ray Shero have put the Devils in a cap situation many GMs across the league would envy. Let’s look at their best contracts heading into the new season.
Jesper Bratt
One of the Devils’ marquee re-signings this summer alongside Timo Meier, Jesper Bratt will begin an eight-year deal in 2023-24 that carries a cap hit of $7.875 million. He’s coming off back-to-back 73-point years and potted a career-high 32 goals this past season.
But where Bratt has additional value is in his play-driving ability as a winger. He’s a high-volume shot and chance creator, one of the team’s best playmakers, and one of the league’s best facilitators on the rush. He’s also turned into a shooting threat on the power play and at five-on-five, something he didn’t possess in his first few years in the NHL.
Per Dom Luszczyszyn’s model at The Athletic, Bratt had a market value of $9.3 million in 2022-23. That was with a contract that paid him $5.45 million for one year. But if he continues producing at a market value of $9 million-plus in 2023-24 and beyond, he will continue having one of the Devils’ best contracts.
And there’s good reason to believe that will be the case. Evolving-Hockey has Bratt projected to finish with a total goals above replacement (GAR) of 12.5 this coming season, which would make him the 16th-most valuable forward in the NHL. The fact Fitzgerald managed to sign him for a cap hit below $8 million was a tidy bit of business.
Nico Hischier
The last remaining contract on the books that Shero signed has turned into one of the Devils’ best. Nico Hischier is coming off a career year that saw him eclipse the 30-goal mark for the first time to go along with a career-high 80 points. Oh, and he was a finalist for the Selke Trophy as the league’s best defensive forward.
Offensively, Hischier is a high-end playmaker who drives play and can create plenty of offense off the rush. The one area of his game that saw plenty of improvement in 2022-23 was his shot creation, which increased significantly. If he continues putting 250 shots on net, 30-goal campaigns will be a regular occurrence.
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Hischier has always had a reputation as a solid two-way forward, but that was somewhat unwarranted. His style of play showed defensive potential, but the impacts weren’t there until this past season. Now that he’s 24 years old and entering the prime of his career, he should continue being one of the top two-way centers in the league for years to come. And if so, he will provide plenty of value for the Devils moving forward.
Shero took a gamble signing Hischier to a max-term deal at a cap hit of $7.25 million in 2019, but it’s paid off big time. He had a market value of $13 million this past season, and that kind of surplus value should remain for the final four years of his contract.
Tyler Toffoli
The Devils acquired Tyler Toffoli from the Calgary Flames a little over a month ago to give them even more top-six scoring. It’s probably a good bet he’ll add some more pop at the top of their lineup since he’s coming off a 34-goal, 73-point season. And his underlying numbers certainly suggest he’ll thrive alongside Hischier, Bratt and Jack Hughes.
Toffoli was one of the Flames’ best five-on-five scorers this past season, averaging 2.41 points per 60 minutes. He’s a high-volume shot creator, though not off the rush, at least to the level that Bratt, Hischier and Hughes can. Aside from his five-on-five scoring, he’ll put up points on the power play. And his two-way game is quite solid for a winger:
Considering Toffoli has a cap hit of $4.25 million, it should make him one of the Devils’ most valuable contracts. The caveat is he’s entering the final year of his deal and could be in line for a big payday as an unrestricted free agent next summer.
That means the Devils will likely only get one year of him providing incredible surplus value, but they’ll take it. Per The Athletic, Toffoli had a market value of $11.2 million last season. Even if he regresses to a 30-goal, 60-point year, he’ll still be worth more than his $4.25 million cap hit. Trades like these are how teams maximize their window when it opens up, as it did for the Devils in 2022-23.
Jack Hughes
Not only is Jack Hughes the best contract the Devils have on their books, but it’s one of the best in the entire NHL. Coming off a 43-goal, 99-point season, the 22-year-old center is emerging as one of the league’s bright young superstars. And he’s likely to remain there for quite some time.
Everything that Bratt and Hischier do well, Hughes takes a step above them and into elite territory. That’s not a knock on Hischier or Bratt. That’s just how good Hughes has become since a tough rookie season in 2019-20. He’s an elite play driver and playmaker, a high-end skater, and he’s now developed a shot that’s helped him produce at a 40-goal pace in two consecutive seasons.
Hughes projects for a GAR of 16 in Evolving-Hockey’s player projections for 2023-24. The only players who project to have more value are Connor McDavid (duh) and Auston Matthews. That’s it. He had a market value of $13.9 million this season, and the surplus value he adds is only likely to increase as the salary cap rises and his cap hit remains at $8 million.
The Devils certainly got a bit lucky when they signed Hughes to an eight-year, $64 million deal in November 2021. Had they done it even a few months later, he would’ve cost more than $8 million a year. But Fitzgerald and the Devils front office knew what they were doing when they signed him at that time. They knew a breakout was coming and capitalized on the opportunity to pay him before it occurred.
Colin Miller
Another one of the Devils’ acquisitions this summer, Colin Miller has also become one of their more valuable contracts. Like Toffoli, he’s entering the final year of his deal. He won’t play as significant a role as Toffoli, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have value.
Though Miller is a third-pair defenseman, he finished the 2022-23 season with a total GAR of 11.2. That ranked in the top 30 among blueliners this past season, placing him ahead of names such as Charlie McAvoy, Shea Theodore and Brent Burns, to name a few. He’s obviously not better than those defenders, but it shows he’s a valuable player.
While Miller isn’t the puck-mover Damon Severson is, he’ll hold up in that regard. Where he’ll add real value is defensively, even if it’s in a third-pair role, which it likely will be. Because of his success, specifically defensively, as a third-pair defender with the Dallas Stars, he had a market value of $8.3 million this past season. Given his cap hit is $1.85 million, that’s pretty good and another example of how Fitzgerald added more worth through the trade market this summer.
Devils Have One of NHL’s Best Contract Situations
The Devils have one of the best contract situations in the league. And had they not signed Ondrej Palát to a five-year deal at a cap hit of $6 million last offseason, we might be talking about the best cap situation in the NHL. Even then, the Devils are in a position to have no significant problems for the foreseeable future, especially once the salary cap ceiling rises above $90 million.
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Advanced stats from Natural Stat Trick, Evolving-Hockey
