After getting into 60 games as a rookie in 2023-24 while averaging nearly 20 minutes a night of playing time, it looked like Nemec had made it.\u00a0 But things went in the wrong direction the following year, resulting in him spending more time in the minors than in the NHL.\u00a0 He became a full-timer on the roster this season and returned to his rookie-season usage while chipping in with 26 points in 68 games.\u00a0 That\u2019s a step in the right direction, no doubt, but is he on his way to being a core piece like the other two?<\/p>\n
The answer to that is uncertain, which is also an apt way to describe his situation in New Jersey.\u00a0 Nemec is a pending restricted free agent and with the rapid escalation of salaries, it\u2019s fair to say he\u2019ll be eyeing a significant raise from the $855K base salary he had this season.\u00a0 Potentially anticipating a tough negotiation, Fitzgerald was listening<\/a> to calls on the youngster at the trade deadline with no deal coming to fruition.\u00a0 Nemec, meanwhile, had expressed frustration about his role in the past with recent conflicting reports suggesting<\/a> that he might still be unhappy with his situation.<\/p>\n With how things went up and down on his rookie deal, it\u2019s hard to see both sides agreeing on a long-term contract at a cap hit that\u2019s comfortable for everyone.\u00a0 A bridge deal makes sense; AFP Analytics<\/a> pegs a two-year bridge deal checking in around $4.4MM per season which is still on the higher side for someone who wasn\u2019t a regular not that long ago.\u00a0 But, in this cap environment, some of these future bridge contracts are going to be on the high side.<\/p>\n If Mehta isn\u2019t sold on Nemec\u2019s upside or they\u2019re too far apart in contract talks, a trade could still be on the horizon.\u00a0 A 22-year-old high pick who\u2019s a right-shot defenseman is bound to have considerable trade value and he\u2019d undoubtedly yield a strong return.\u00a0 Is that more valuable to the Devils than what they believe Nemec will be able to provide?\u00a0 They need to decide the answer to that this offseason.<\/p>\n Work On Hischier Extension<\/p>\n When Nico Hischier<\/a> signed a seven-year, $50.75MM extension after his sophomore year in 2018-19, the move seemed a little risky.\u00a0 The salary cap was much lower back then, bypassing bridge contracts wasn\u2019t as widely common as it is now, and a 47-point showing in his sophomore year wasn\u2019t necessarily screaming \u2018big contract\u2019.\u00a0 That deal has certainly worked out quite well for New Jersey and with the captain set to enter the final season of that deal starting in July, he will be eligible for a contract extension at that time.<\/p>\n What type of price tag could he plausibly fetch?\u00a0 Let\u2019s start by looking at the cap percentage.\u00a0 When he signed his current deal, Hischier received 8.9% of the cap.\u00a0 Forecasting that against the projected 2027-28 Upper Limit of around $113.5MM, that would put him at $10.1MM per season.\u00a0 Considering his current contract had four RFA years on it (his next one won\u2019t have any) and his status in the league as a strong two-way center, it\u2019s fair to say $10.1MM feels like the absolute minimum.\u00a0 Adding a million or two more to that number is a very realistic possibility.\u00a0 If Mehta doesn\u2019t want to pay that (which would be a surprise, given his importance to the team), someone else undoubtedly will.<\/p>\n With Hischier signed through next season, this isn\u2019t something that necessarily has to be completed this summer.\u00a0 But with a mid-September cutoff for an eight-year extension (when the new CBA fully kicks in), that stands as a bit of a pressure point for negotiations.\u00a0 And if the two sides are so far apart that a trade becomes likely (not a likely scenario), it\u2019s better to know that now than in-season.\u00a0 But even with it not necessarily being overly urgent, expect this to be a big item on their summer checklist.<\/p>\n Clear Defensive Logjam<\/p>\n In the NHL, from a roster-building perspective, there are good problems to have and bad problems to have.\u00a0 The state of their back end is a good one.\u00a0 When their defensive group got fully healthy midseason, Keefe found himself rotating a few quality blueliners in and out of the lineup.\u00a0 That wound up seeing Dougie Hamilton<\/a> get scratched with some scathing comments<\/a> coming from his agent soon after, fueling trade speculation although a move never got across the finish line.<\/p>\n In fact, for all of the viable trade speculation surrounding their blueliners in the second half of the season, no moves were ultimately made.\u00a0 The logjam ultimately resolved itself when Brett Pesce<\/a> landed on injured reserve right before the deadline but there\u2019s no denying that the logjam still exists.\u00a0 New Jersey has $34.9MM committed to six blueliners next season, per PuckPedia<\/a>.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t include Nemec so if Mehta doesn\u2019t make a move, there\u2019s a very good chance that the Devils will have the most expensive back end in the league next season.\u00a0 With less than $12MM in cap room and several roster spots to fill, moving out a defenseman works on multiple fronts.<\/p>\n The state of the market should work in New Jersey\u2019s favor.\u00a0 Yes, other teams will know that they probably need to shed a defenseman but with the UFA class not exactly yielding a bumper crop of quality options, demand is going to outweigh supply.\u00a0 That should put Mehta in the driver\u2019s seat to elicit a strong return.<\/p>\n It could be Hamilton getting a fresh start while clearing at least part of his $9MM cap charge off the books.\u00a0 It could be Nemec moving somewhere where he has a chance to play a bigger role to try to grow into the player his draft slot warranted.\u00a0 It could be Johnathan Kovacevic<\/a>, the type of quality depth defender that stabilizes things on the third pairing but is now paid (at $4MM per season) to play a bigger role than that.\u00a0 All three are right-shot pieces, the side in even higher demand.\u00a0 If new management wants to shake up the team a bit, this is a logical spot to try to do so.<\/p>\n Add Firepower<\/p>\n Offense has been hard to come by under Keefe\u2019s watch.\u00a0 They had a drop-off of 24 goals in his first season behind the bench while dropping from 12th to 20th league-wide in that department.\u00a0 This season, there was a similar-sized dip in scoring as they went down another 14 tallies while finishing 27th in goals scored.\u00a0 In two years, they\u2019ve gone from a slightly above-average team offensively to one of the weaker ones while shedding nearly half a goal per game in the process.<\/p>\n Suffice it to say, this is a problem that needs to be addressed.\u00a0 With Jack Hughes<\/a>, Jesper Bratt<\/a>, and Hischier, they have some quality pieces.\u00a0 Timo Meier<\/a> has been more hit than miss since being acquired but he could still be part of the solution while Dawson Mercer<\/a>, extension-eligible himself this summer, is a solid secondary piece.\u00a0 There\u2019s a decent foundation to work off here.<\/p>\n Adding a top-six forward would certainly put them in the right direction toward trying to even get back to the middle of the pack.\u00a0 But beyond that, they need some more firepower in the bottom six.\u00a0 Evgenii Dadonov<\/a>, a UFA pickup last summer, wound up being a flop, Nick Bjugstad<\/a> had just two assists in 26 games after being acquired near the trade deadline, and Maxim Tsyplakov<\/a>, added in the Ondrej Palat<\/a> trade, had four points in 49 games between the two teams.\u00a0 Upgrading one or two of those lineup spots would also go a long way in helping their fortunes.<\/p>\n This is where clearing the defensive logjam should help.\u00a0 At a minimum, they\u2019d shed enough cap space to afford an extra addition of some consequence up front.\u00a0 In a perfect world, it\u2019d come in the same trade.\u00a0 That way, their remaining cap space could be deployed toward upgrading the back half of the forward group, allowing them to hit both parts here.\u00a0 That won\u2019t turn them into a high-end offensive squad but even getting closer to the middle would be a big boost to their playoff odds next season.<\/p>\n Photo courtesy of Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The offseason has arrived for half of the league\u2019s teams that aren\u2019t taking part in the playoffs 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<\/a>Hischier has only surpassed the 70-point mark once in his career (when he reached 80 in 2022-23) but he has notched between 60 and 69 points four times in the last five seasons.\u00a0 That type of offensive consistency is quite coveted, especially for centers.\u00a0 Meanwhile, he has been a Selke Trophy finalist and finished fourth in voting over the past five years as well.\u00a0 That type of defensive consistency is also quite coveted.\u00a0 Between that and the projected salary cap spikes, the 27-year-old is heading for quite a sizable raise on his next contract.<\/p>\n