What I Like And Don’t Like About the Devils Offseason Moves Thus Far

Tom Fitzgerald did a lot of good work this summer. But the work isn’t done quite yet.

Any way you want to slice it, the 2023-24 New Jersey Devils were not good enough.

It almost doesn’t even matter what barometer or measuring stick you want to use. Cup contenders? A playoff team? A respectable team with competent goaltending? A well coached team? A team that had the depth to survive a barrage of injuries? Players regressing? Other players getting injured and playing through injuries? A physically and/or mentally tough team that wouldn’t fold the second they faced any adversity or pushback from the opposition?

The Devils were not only not good enough. They weren’t even close.

GM Tom Fitzgerald said after the season ended that he knew “exactly what this team needs” and attacked the offseason with a plan to fix everything that sunk the Devils last season. And if nothing else, he’s certainly made plenty of changes. But are they the right changes?

Time will tell, but I do believe the Devils are better positioned to compete this season thanks in part to the moves that Fitzgerald made.

The free agency frenzy may have come to an end, but that doesn’t mean the offseason has come to an end. That also doesn’t mean that Tom Fitzgerald can’t continue to make moves to tinker around the edges of the roster and try to find some value deals to fill whatever holes still remain. But for the most part, the heavy lifting is done for this offseason.

With the dust settling, I wanted to write this week about the things Fitzgerald did that I liked, along with the things he either did that I didn’t like or the areas of the roster that I feel need more work.

The Devils Will Be Tougher To Play Against

My biggest complaint with the Devils from one season ago wasn’t with the goaltending or defense or injuries or even the coach. It was the Devils being a soft team that was easily pushed around, and I wrote back in February how it was something that must be addressed before the start of this upcoming season.

Tom Fitzgerald addressed it.

Hits isn’t the best stat to use when it comes to judging toughness. Its a stat that can be subjective and misleading. But it did go noted that the Devils added size, sandpaper, and snarl with their moves. They added size via trades. They added size via the draft. And they added size in the free agency market.

This is how you become tougher to play against. Make moves like this with actual hockey players with discernable hockey skillsets and toolkits. Don’t make moves like this for a guy who is only good at punching faces, and then don’t compound it by giving him a three-year extension when one year for the veteran’s minimum would suffice.

Moves like the ones in Kristy’s tweet above are what you do when you want to raise the compete level. Bringing in respected veterans and professionals from teams that are used to winning is how you take a team that was talented but immature one season ago and raise the standard of what is and isn’t acceptable going forward. Bring in guys who will finish their checks and play like there is no tomorrow. Bring in guys who aren’t afraid to go through the body. Bring in guys who won’t stand for that extra shove or jab after a stoppage in play. The hypothetical “give a crap/60” stat that I made up when I said the team was soft, at a bare minimum, is no longer at zero.

It’s a good start. But there’s a lot of work left to be done.

I’m not saying the Devils are all of a sudden ready to go toe-to-toe, blow-for-blow physically with a team like Florida. But it does go noted how just a couple of years ago, Florida underwent a transformation to their team that culminated with a Stanley Cup championship last month. They went from being a talented team to being a nightmare to play against because of their style of play. Because of how they defend. Because of their compete level. Because of their physicality.

The Devils might not be on that level yet. They still need that buy-in from every last player on the roster and that buy-in ultimately starts with your leaders. But they’re at least better equipped to handle the rigors of an 82-game season. They’re better equipped to deal with a heavier brand of hockey. They’re better equipped to deal with a heavy forechecking team like Carolina or a team like the Rangers that goes through the body. And if they get into a playoff series against the Rangers or Carolina, the two teams they’d be most likely to face in Round 1 of the playoffs, they’re better positioned to match up.

I’m not saying that the Devils did anything here that will prevent Jacob Trouba from doing what he does best, which is throwing a flying elbow. But doing nothing and hoping other teams would take their foot off the gas wasn’t an option either. The Devils added guys who should see to it that they’re no longer bullied and pushed around like they were a year ago. Whether that equates to wins in the standings remains to be seen, but those players should be skilled enough to contribute there as well.

Defense (and Goaltending) Wins

Of course, the other reason I loved the acquisitions of both Brett Pesce and Brenden Dillon, along with Jacob Markstrom, is the simplest one. They will do a better job of keeping the puck from being put in the Devils net than the players they are replacing.

Say what you will about Lou Lamoriello but one consistent theme with him from his time running the Devils was building teams from the net out. It was a basic fundamental belief when it comes to team building, and the proof was in the pudding as their championship teams were built around Hall of Famers and defensive stalwarts. I’m not saying Pesce, Dillon, and Markstrom are Scott Niedermayer, Scott Stevens, and Martin Brodeur 2.0 but they have a strong foundation from the backend to build around going forward, and that’s before considering Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec are already on the NHL roster and they just used the 10th overall pick on a massive defenseman in Anton Silayev.

Its debatable whether or not you believe Brett Pesce is a defensive upgrade over John Marino, but for a modest $1.1M more and three more years on the AAV over what they had, I can see why the Devils would opt for a more experienced defensive defenseman from a defense-first team in Pesce. I can understand why they’d want to get a guy who shuts down passing lanes and is a key part of what was one of the best penalty killing units in the NHL.

It’s very well possible that John Marino bounces back to the player that we saw during the 2022-23 season when he spent a few weeks early in the season as a fringe Norris candidate. It’s also possible that he is what he is and the Devils don’t have the time or patience anymore to hope he bounces back. Not when the Devils are a win now team. Pesce might be a marginal upgrade, but with 300 games more experience than Marino, I can see why the Devils wanted more of a proven commodity.

That said, its not really debatable whether or not Dillon is an upgrade over Kevin Bahl. It’s not a knock on Bahl, who certainly had his moments during his 4 seasons in New Jersey, but adding a veteran in Dillon who has consistently been one of the better and more physical defensive defensemen in the league and getting that kind of experience on the blueline is exactly what the Devils needed. Simon Nemec will be better with a more experienced partner like Dillon (or Siegenthaler, for that matter), just as Luke Hughes will be better with a more experienced partner like Pesce. Add in replacing Brendan Smith with a younger, better defensive defenseman in Johnathan Kovacevic and the Devils are in a much better position depth wise on the blueline than they were a year ago.

Some might suggest that this depth is why you may want to consider trading Jonas Siegenthaler and freeing up his money to be used elsewhere. I can understand concerns about Siegenthaler’s ability to bounce back to the player he was his first few seasons in New Jersey, but I think that move would be short-sighted with most of the quality defenseman options now off the market. If the Devils were to trade away Siegenthaler now, they’d really be in a bind if Dillon, who plays a very physical brand of hockey, were to miss time. And teams with good defenseman depth generally aren’t looking to subtract from it. Not with the NHL players anyways.

Of course, none of this matters if the goaltender can’t get saves. It remains to be seen how all the pieces fit together once the games start for real. But its tough to argue that the Devils aren’t better positioned now versus a year ago. Hindsight is 20/20 of course, but would you rather have Vitek Vanecek, Akira Schmid, Kevin Bahl, John Marino, and Brendan Smith vs. having Jacob Markstron, Jake Allen, Brenden Dillon, Brett Pesce, and Johnathan Kovacevic? After watching the former fail last season, I would much prefer the latter.

If you’re Sheldon Keefe, its an intriguing group to work with. And when it comes to Keefe, its worth pointing out how top heavy Toronto’s rosters were with their Top 4 forwards making most of the money on the salary cap. Did Toronto ever have a 1-7 as talented defensively as Hamilton, Hughes, Nemec, Pesce, Dillon, Siegenthaler, and Kovacevic when Keefe was there? Did Toronto ever have a goaltender as talented as Markstrom when Keefe was there? For a coach who has often been criticized for not doing more with the roster he was handed and getting out of the first round, he’s probably salivating at the thought of working with a blueline and goaltending that, at least on paper, is as talented as this group.

The Devils Didn’t Get a Top Six Forward, But There’s Still Time

There were some reports early Monday morning that the Devils were interested in signing longtime Lightning captain and 2-time Stanley Cup champion Steven Stamkos. There were other reports that the Devils were close to signing former Stanley Cup champion and Conn Smythe winner Jonathan Marchessault away from the Vegas Golden Knights.

Neither of those signings happened, as both players wound up signing lucrative deals with the Nashville Predators. But the Devils did bring back Tomas Tatar for $1.8M next season.

I’m not going to crush Tom Fitzgerald for not getting a deal done with Stamkos or Marchessault, assuming he was actually in on one or both players. I said in the comments of the free agency frenzy post that I preferred Marchessault to Stamkos as I thought his deal would be the more reasonable one between the two (it was) and that Marchessault was probably the better player at 5v5 while Stamkos’s production was reliant on Tampa’s lethal power play (he is). Longtime readers of my work know that I never fault players for securing the bag, but 5×5.5M for Marchessault and 4x8M for Stamkos were non-starters for me with the Devils having more glaring holes and fairly limited resources. Frankly, both of those names always felt like a pipe dream knowing what the Devils needs were and their salary cap constraints were going into July 1.

I can understand the trepidation of a Top Six that will likely feature Ondrej Palat despite the lack of counting stats through the first two years of his contract. I can understand concerns when it comes to counting on Tomas Tatar with him coming off a down year. I can also understand concerns that Dawson Mercer, who is also coming off a down year, might have plateaued and might not have another step to take in his development….leaving the Devils in a precarious position where they might not have enough guys who can put the puck in the back of the net.

This will sound ironic coming from me, a person who destroyed Tom Fitzgerald for being too patient in the past…..but I would preach patience on this one.

While the heavy lifting of the offseason might be over, the offseason itself is not. I mentioned in my free agency preview how quality options like Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi, Evan Rodrigues, and Vladimir Tarasenko didn’t sign on Day 1 of free agency last year. Some guys fall through the cracks once the craziness of the first day of free agency comes and goes. Other teams may trade away players who might no longer be a fit where they are now but could be a fit here. The Devils don’t have a ton of wiggle room with only $4.98M remaining in cap space and a good portion of that covering Dawson Mercer’s next contract, but they do have some maneuverability to create more space if they choose to bury some contracts like Nick DeSimone (who probably no longer has a place on the roster anyways after the trade for Kovacevic), Kurtis MacDermid (who likely goes unclaimed with three years of term on his deal), and Nathan Bastian (a replacement level fourth liner who is making roughly $575,000 more than league minimum). And while the Devils would have to replace these players on the roster, its not like there’s a shortage of league-minimum players who will be available as the summer rolls on.

Still, I would preach patience when it comes to the Top Six. Scoring goals shouldn’t be a problem for this Devils team assuming they stay healthy, and they have enough good forwards where they can pair off certain players together (such as Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt) and keep the third winger spot on those lines interchangeable depending on how Sheldon Keefe wants to match up. And while I can understand concerns with Tatar, it should be noted that the Devils got off to the great start they did two years ago without Timo Meier (who wasn’t on the team yet) and without the improvements they’ve made on D and in net. Lets see what this team looks like through 40 games and then reevaluate.

If the Devils are the team we think they can be and they’re in the mix for a playoff spot, going into the season with some cap space left over and letting it accrue over the course of the season isn’t the worst plan in the world. The Devils have plenty of draft pick ammunition to go out there and trade for a winger if they need to do that, thanks in part to their trades during the draft to pick up an extra 2nd (from Utah for John Marino) and 3rd (from Vegas for Alexander Holtz and Akira Schmid), as well as the Tyler Toffoli trade last year that netted the Devils an extra 2nd round pick at last year’s deadline.

The Devils Still Need a Center and I Don’t Know Where They’re Getting One From

Fitzgerald was smart to address premium positions like defensemen (particularly, right-handed defensemen) as soon as the market opened.

What he hasn’t done as of this writing which is still a concern is address another premium position….center.

Obviously, the Devils are set in the top six with Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes. Erik Haula will be in the mix as well, assuming that Keefe doesn’t do what Lindy Ruff frequently did and staple Haula to Hughes’s wing. Haula theoretically is the third line center.

Who is centering the fourth line? Because if its Curtis Lazar, who is arguably better at wing than center, I’m not sure that’s good enough.

The Devils lost a lot last season when they lost Michael McLeod, as he was a speedy, faceoff-winning machine who killed penalties and was improving as a two-way center. And they don’t seem to have an adequate replacement plan for him at the NHL level. Sorry, Mike Hardman, but I’m not a believer.

There were not a lot of quality bottom six center options on the open market, and the few that were available got scooped up quickly. Blake Lizotte, who wasn’t qualified by the LA Kings, signed for 2×1.85M in Pittsburgh. Kevin Stenlund, who might not be all that great if you go by the charts, signed for 2x2M in Utah. Adam Henrique is off the board as well, staying in Edmonton for 2x3M. Even trade options like Radek Faksa are now unavailable, moving from Dallas to St. Louis.

There are still options out there. Maybe the Devils continue with their theme of size and tough to play against by bringing in a former Panther like Steven Lorentz. Or maybe there’s a trade that can be made for another big boy like Nic Roy where it might be tough for Vegas with their current cap situation. Or maybe they just wind up bringing back Chris Tierney for another year, even though he mostly played wing last year. Regardless, the options aren’t great and its a concern if the Devils suffer a rash of injuries at the NHL level.

Considering its not officially a Nico Hischier game if he’s not grimacing on the bench in pain, Jack Hughes has missed significant time in two of the last three seasons, and Erik Haula is entering his age 33 season, the Devils should probably have a better plan for their center depth, or lack thereof, at the NHL level than whatever they appear to have. Another rash of injuries to the centers will really expose the Devils lack of depth and has the potential to derail the season. I get that there is effectively no replacing a Jack Hughes or a Nico Hischier, but I’d still like to see the depth addressed in some meaningful manner.

UPDATE: Tom Fitzgerald was asked about the center position at his press conference earlier today and confirmed the plan is for Haula and Lazar to be down the middle on the third and fourth lines. You can watch the press conference in its entirety below.

Other Free Agency Thoughts From Around the League

• I’m happy for Tyler Toffoli that he secured the bag, but 4x$6M is not a good contract for the player that we saw last season. And the fact that deal has a full NMC makes it even uglier. I get the Sharks are in a position where they have to overpay guys to get them to go to San Jose….Alex Wennberg getting 2x$5M is another example of that. But the Sharks being willing to overpay veterans is another example of how unnecessary them bailing out the Rangers for the Barclay Goodrow contract actually was. The Sharks had no issues reaching the cap floor, just like every team has no issue reaching the floor because someone will always be willing to take the money. Claiming Goodrow without any sweetener is terrible GM’ing by Mike Grier and the deals he handed out in free agency to get the Sharks over the floor only further hammer home how unnecessary that move was.
• My favorite contract of the day was Will Carrier getting a 6x$2M contract from the Carolina Hurricanes. Not because Carrier is a great player….he’s perfectly fine for the role he’s being asked to play and he is someone I would not have minded the Devils signing, but because its a low AAV with the term stretched out. It’s a trend that I think we’re going to continue seeing moving forward as teams are smartly realizing the AAV (and more specifically, the percentage of the cap that any given player is taking up) is more important than the term. Carrier taking up 2.3% of the Hurricanes cap is more than fair for what he brings as a player, and that percentage will only decrease as the cap goes up in future years.

Normally, having a ton of term tied up in long-term deals is a bad thing, but as I always say, the salary cap is fake and there are ways out of bad deals if you’re creative enough. Its better to get a good player at a better number today and use the money you’re not spending on other good players than it is worrying about Will Carrier making $2M on the cap in 2029-30. By then, Carolina’s competitive window may be long over and they may buy the player out. Or perhaps Carrier’s physical style of play catches up to him and he finishes out his career on LTIR, in which case the Hurricanes can use that money for the next guy. Or they may just ride out the contract if they’re rebuilding because who cares at that point.

We saw a few deals like this the last couple offseasons from Miles Wood in Colorado to Chris Tanev in Toronto and while this won’t work for every player, I think we’ll see more and more smart teams utilize this to maximize the dollars they can spend today.

• I don’t know how the situation between Jacob Trouba and the Rangers ultimately plays out, although I do think its difficult to come back when the team basically openly admits they want to get rid of you. But what I will say is that I’m happy that Trouba held his ground in terms of his no-trade protection and submitting his list at the last possible second, perhaps putting a damper on whatever Gotham’s plans were. And I am happy that the Rangers couldn’t take advantage of any salary cap relief a Trouba trade would’ve provided.

No player should be vilified for using the no-trade protection they earned and got negotiated into their contracts. That includes a notorious dirty headhunter like Trouba. If he doesn’t want to be traded, that is his right as he can block deals to 15 teams. And if the Rangers don’t like that, they only have themselves to blame for giving him that clause in the first place. If Trouba doesn’t want to be traded because of his wife’s residency and he doesn’t want to be away from his nine-month old son, that’s his business, but I respect doing what’s best for your family.

I get NMCs and NTCs are common place when it comes to signing players into their 30s, but if a player can get a NTC negotiated into his contract, he shouldn’t be the bad guy for wielding that power years later when the time comes to wield said power. And anyone trying to make him the bad guy for that reason needs to go outside and touch grass. I get that as fans, we ultimately root for the laundry at the end of the day, but it makes me sick that the Rangers managed to turn Jacob Trouba into a sympathetic figure given his history as a cheapshot artist.

• To bring this back to the Devils, I’m happy they mostly managed to avoid stepping on any landmines in free agency this year.

There were a lot of contracts that when I saw the numbers, my initial reaction was “I’m glad the Devils didn’t do that”. Chandler Stephenson making 7x$6.25M? Bad idea, and I like the player. Seven years for Jake DeBrusk? Bad idea. Nikita Zadorov at 6x$5M? I’m glad the Devils went with Dillon instead. The aforementioned Toffoli deal? I’m glad Fitzgerald was smart enough not to give him that kind of term. And that’s just to name a few.

Final Thoughts

What were your takeaways from the trades and free agent signings the Devils have made thus far? Where would you like to see them improve before Opening Night? Please feel free to leave a comment, and thanks for reading.