New Jersey and its captain’s camp have initiated a conversation.
That conversation, as understood by Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, is so far in the right direction regarding the extension of the Devils’ former No. 1 overall pick from the 2017 NHL Draft. While Nico Hischier is across the pond competing in and for his home country of Switzerland at the 2026 IIHF World Championships, his agent, Allain Roy, made a pit stop to meet with the Devils’ new general manager, Sunny Metha, about Hischier and his future in red and black.
To LeBrun’s understanding, the talks were positive between both sides in their initiation. But it would be beneficial for the Devils to sign their top-line center to a long-term deal before the 2026-27 season. Doing this would ensure Metha and the front office some clear headspace to address the team’s goals to get back to the playoffs and contend. That can be done so long as the new GM can find a number that works for both sides, in the sense that Hischier can be paid handsomely for his services, and the Devils have wiggle room to operate on other areas of the roster.
Although this situation is in its initial stage, that doesn’t mean that other NHL teams have their backs turned with what’s going on in Newark. LeBrun, in his writings, referred to many teams as potential suitors who would benefit from Hischier; The Los Angeles Kings, who lost longtime legend Anze Kopitar to retirement, the Montreal Canadiens, having Hischier as a second center to round out the team’s top-six, the Minnesota Wild, who are also in need of men down the middle, plus around half the league if the Swiss star was made available.
But he isn’t at the moment, so the focus remains on New Jersey alone.
The 27-year-old has a year left on his current contract, which was a seven-year deal that will ultimately add up to $50.75MM ($7.25MM AAV) in earnings at the end of this upcoming season. He ended last year scoring 28 goals for 66 points in his first 82-game season since his rookie campaign in 2017. Playing 400 games total on this particular contract, he’s amassed 353 points and has seen two playoff runs in 2023 and 2025, adding 11 points in 17 postseason games.
Those two playoff appearances came in the last four years, so New Jersey has elevated itself as a team that can make the dance. However, if they want to contend on a year-to-year basis, locking Hischier in would be a great first step, one that Metha would ideally like to have in place this summer before he becomes an unrestricted free agent next year in 2027.
The NHL cap is projected to rise again to what is speculated to be $113.5MM when Hischier will have his next deal in place, per Puckpedia. New Jersey, with the already rising cap, has around just $11.8MM to work with on its current free agent outlook. They need to address forwards Evgenii Dadonov, Zack MacEwen, and defenseman Dennis Cholowski before they hit the open market and have restricted free agents in forwards Arseny Gritsyuk, Paul Cotter, and former second-overall pick, Simon Nemec on the backend.
The Devils have won 42 games in each of the past two years under Sheldon Keefe as head coach. In 2024-25, that granted them a spot in the postseason, this year, it was enough to get the 12th overall selection in the 2026 NHL Draft. If Metha wants to push the needle further towards contention for New Jersey, utilizing that draft pick in either fashion to select a top prospect that could develop into a low-cost, high-reward player or trading the pick for a win-now player could prove worthwhile based on the decision made there.
Regardless, extending the captain seems to be where the signs are pointing. For a player, among Devils since the start of the 2020’s, to score at a 0.88 points per game pace (3rd on NJ), hold a +21 rating (2nd on NJ), win 54.9% of all faceoffs (2nd on NJD), and to be one of three players to score over 300 points up to today (1st. Jesper Bratt, 418 points and 2nd. Jack Hughes, 407 points), that’s an integral peice towards the ultimate goal.