The Devils are closing in on an extension with pending UFA defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports. The team later announced it’s a five-year deal worth $20MM, paying him an average of $4MM per season. The year-by-year salary breakdown is available in the team release. Per PuckPedia, the deal carries a no-trade clause through 2026-27 and a 10-team no-trade from 2027-28 until its expiry in 2029-30.
New Jersey acquired the 27-year-old from the Canadiens last summer in exchange for a 2026 fourth-round pick. It was a prudent move from the Devils, who’ve gotten solid defensive play out of the righty in career-high minutes. Averaging 19:43 per game, he’s posted 1-13–14 with a +11 rating in 63 games.
The hulking 6’5″, 223-lb defender doesn’t play an uber-physical game, but still ranks fifth on the Devils with 81 blocks and seventh with 83 hits. Since breaking into the league with the Jets in 2022, his value has come from strong possession play in defensive-oriented minutes. His pairing with the now-injured Jonas Siegenthaler has been one of the best shutdown units in the league this season, allowing only 1.82 expected goals against per 60 minutes. According to MoneyPuck, that’s ninth-best in the league among pairings with at least 150 minutes together.
The Devils now have their top three right-shot defensemen under contract next season. It calls into question the future of 2022 No. 2 overall pick Simon Nemec, a 21-year-old righty who’s failed to impress in his NHL minutes this season. After posting 3-13–19 with a minus-seven rating in 60 games last year, he’s recorded just one assist in 15 showings in 2024-25 while averaging 15:29 per game. Reports as recent as last week still indicated New Jersey was unwilling to leverage him in a trade, however.
Bye Nemec.