Tom Fitzgerald and the Devils were clearly not satisfied with a second round exit and are doing the work to make the team even better in the next few seasons to come.
It is clear that the Devils window to win their 4th, maybe their 5th, and possibly even 6th Stanley Cup in franchise history is WIDE OPEN! The Devils set a franchise record for wins in a season last year and bounced the far inferior organization from Manhattan in the first round of the playoffs. With still plenty of time before free agency opens and seemingly forever until players report to camp, the Devils have doubled down on their strengths while setting out to address weaknesses.
The Devils traded Yegor Sharangovich and the third round pick acquired from Columbus in the Severson deal to the Calgary Flames for Tyler Toffoli. Toffoli is a proven goal scorer in the NHL, with two 30+ goal seasons in his career including 34 goals and 73 points in Calgary last year. Toffoli also brings more playoff experience to the Devils, with 88 career playoff games, including a ring from his time with the LA Kings in 2014. Having another veteran leader there to help guys like Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt will be huge for this team next April and May. Adding Toffoli also means that Tomas Tatar is very likely moving on next season so Toffoli can slide into the top six and produce as much as Tatar, if not better, for a very reasonable cap hit of 4.25 million dollars.
Yegor Sharangovich is a good player and an even better interview and locker room presence (who could forget Santagovich?) But the reality is that he didn’t really have a spot on the Devils anymore. With the additions of Timo Meier and now Tyler Toffoli, Sharangovich isnt good enought to crack the Devils top six and his style of pay doesn’t really suit the bottom six either. Sharangovich is a good penalty killer and has a fantastic shot, but he just didn’t have a spot in New Jersey anymore. That being said, I hope he finally reaches his potential that he showed flashes of during his time with New Jersey and becomes a consistent top six forward with the Flames.
Timo Meier signed an 8 year extension with the Devils! With this news, the Devils now have Nico Hischier under contract until 2027, Jack Hughes under contract until 2030, Jesper Bratt under contract until 2031, and now Timo Meier under contract until 2031. The Devils are set up in these next few years to be one of the best teams in the NHL and be a contender for the Stanley Cup every year. Meier did not have the offensive production we hoped for in the playoffs, but his physical play was much needed on this Devils team, especially in the top two lines. Meier has scored 75 goals in the last two seasons and has compiled 162 hits in that time. The big power forward is an invaluable piece to the Devils success going forward as the team has lacked toughness at times. Let’s take a look at what else this contract proves. Players around the league desperately want to come to New Jersey. Dougie Hamilton signed in free agency a few years ago, Hischier, Hughes and Bratt all signed long term extensions, and now Timo Meier has signed a long term deal with the Devils after playing just 32 games with the team. People around the hockey world can see that what the Devils are building is special and players want to be a part of it. We are just missing one (pretty big) piece now…
Goaltending let the Devils down in the playoffs and there is an outstanding goalie on the trade market right now in Connor Hellebuyck. If Tom Fitzgerald could find some way to bring Hellebuyck to the Garden State, he would a real candidate for GM of the decade and the Devils would have to be one of the top three favorite to win the cup next year. There is still plenty of time left before October for Fitz to make this happen… But even if he doesn’t, Vanecek and Schmid are good enough to get the Devils to a high seed in the playoffs, it is just a serious question of whether or not they can perform once the playoffs start.
The Morning Skate 
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