The New Jersey Devils have re-signed their next-to-last RFA for the 2024 offseason: winger Nolan Foote. This post is a reaction to the depth forward-like contract given to someone who is currently a depth forward player.
The New Jersey Devils have completed their penultimate restricted free agent re-signing of the 2024 offseason. The team has announced this morning that they have re-signed Nolan Foote to a one-season, two-way contract. In the NHL, he will make a rate for a $850,000 salary. In the AHL, he will make a rate of a $150,000 salary – with a guarantee he makes $200,000 between both.
Nolan Foote has been closely tied to General Manager Tom Fitzgerald’s time as the New Jersey Devils GM. After Ray Shero was fired, Fitzgerald was named the interim GM. He was given the green light to rebuild. On February 16, 2020, he began to do so. First, he traded Andy Greene to the Islanders for a second round pick and David Quenneville. Second, he traded Blake Coleman to Tampa Bay for a first round pick (Vancouver’s first) and Nolan Foote. The pick ended up being 20th overall in 2020. It was used to take Shakir Mukhamadullin, who was traded to San Jose as part of the package for Timo Meier in 2023. As for Foote, he was Tampa Bay’s first round pick in 2019 at 27th overall. He was large. He was strong. He had a good shot. The issues at the time were with his speed and skating. They were not good but perhaps they could be addressed in time.
A bigger one would come about to interrupt that time: health. Foote missed time due to various injuries over the years. He only played in 27 WHL games in 2019-20, the season he was traded to New Jersey. In the COVID-shortened 2021 season, he did get to play in the 24 games Binghamton would play as well as six with the Devils. Foote would play most, but not all, of the next two seasons with Utica. He did receive call-ups to New Jersey, but 55 games with the Comets and 6-7 with New Jersey meant he was dinged up a bit. Last season was a total wash between four games with the Devils and four games with the Comets. Foote revealed it was a disc issue in his lower back. In the four seasons he has been a pro: Foote has played a grand total of 23 games with New Jersey wherein he scored six goals and put up eight points. With the AHL affiliate, he has 138 games with a total of 44 goals and 90 points. While the AHL numbers are not bad, one has to wonder how he would have performed if he was able to be available all season. One also has to wonder how he will perform after dealing with lower back issues before he is even 24.
Still, there are those in the organization that believes he can be someone. Per Kristy Flannery at The Hockey News, Fitzgerald gave this quote when Foote’s upper-body injury was known prior to last season:
“That’s incredible for a kid who has never really played center. He’s got good size, and his skating has improved,” Fitzgerald said. “He’s a real good kid. But he was committed to it. That’s all you ask. When I look at player development, I look at where he started, where he was, and where he’s going. I give all credit to our (Utica) coaching staff. But, most importantly, Nolan should get a lot of credit as well. He accepted it. He’s thriving. We have big plans for Nolan.”
Clearly, those plans did and could not come to fruition last season. I get why Fitzgerald would be a fan of Nolan Foote. He traded for him. He moved a significant player – Coleman – to get him and a pick when he was still an interim GM. Fitzgerald has been all about adding size to the organization in 2024 and so retaining a 6’4”, 200+ pound winger fits his recent fixation. I can kind of see how he just needs to be able to be on the ice to flourish. However, I am not holding my breath. He will turn 24 in November so his development time is coming to an end if it is not already there. His actual speed and pace of play could very well still be issues, hampered further by not being on the ice consistently. It is unknown how much or how little Foote can help when he does not have the puck and when the Devils are not on the attack. It is still unknown if his bits of production hint at something more or if they are just bits of production. Given how loaded the bottom six is full of wingers, Foote is going to have to fight for that job. And fight even harder to keep it should he get a chance.
And to that end, this is the kind of contract that reflects that. A one-season, two-way contract like this shows that the organization sees him as depth at the moment. Because he is a depth winger at this moment. Does this mean he starts in Utica? It might. Probably. Foote lost his waiver eligibility after the 2022-23 season. Unless there are other teams in the NHL that really like the player, I think he clears waivers if he does not make the team outright in 2024-25. He would likely be slotted as one of the first forwards to be called up, especially if a left winger is needed in New Jersey. But if he is not playing like a big scoring winger in Utica that you would expect, then he may remain in that 13th-16th forward role in the organization. Those players do get NHL contracts but relatively small ones. That is what Foote received.
With this signing, Fitzgerald has one more RFA player left to re-sign for 2024-25: Dawson Mercer. The $850,000 for Foote knocks the Devils’ cap down to just over $4.1 million. Should Foote go to Utica, then the Devils are back up to just over $4.9 million. Is that enough to re-sign Mercer to a deal that keeps both sides happy? It may end up being a bridge deal but it will be important to pay him a fair amount to keep the door open for a longer deal in the future. It may get tight depending on how much Mercer and his representation is asking for and how much they are willing to stick to their guns about it.
This is why you may see Fitzgerald look to create some extra space. He could try waiving Nathan Bastian ($1.35 million) or Kurtis MacDermid ($1.15 million) to do so. That Fitzgerald may have to do that is a mark against his roster and cap management. It is also why I will continue to highlight that the MacDermid contract stinks like a dumpster full of used diapers. On its own it may not seem like a lot of money. All those smaller NHL contracts add up other time. LTIR or IR is not a guarantee and the cap is not rising anymore for 2024-25. This is all moot if Mercer re-signs for a cap hit less than $4 million. Or just above it should Foote end up being waived and demoted to Utica. At least Foote gets $200,000 for this coming season.
Now I want to know what you think. Is this a fair contract for Nolan Foote? Do you think he will be able to break into the New Jersey lineup for more than just a few games in a season? Does he end up in Utica and, if so, does he become one of their leading scorers? Please leave your answers and other thoughts about Nolan Foote in the comments. Thank you for reading.