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Devils Notes: Smith, Necas, Pesce

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James Nichols of NJ Hockey Now is reporting that New Jersey Devils defenseman Brendan Smith will likely become a free agent on July 1st. Nichols added that a different source of his told him that if Smith reaches free agency, it will be his choice and not the Devils. Smith was a trade candidate at the NHL trade deadline but ultimately stayed in New Jersey, however, when the season ended, Smith told the media that he hadn’t discussed a contract extension with the Devils.

The Devils have been busy as of late and are expected to make some major moves this summer, Smith has acknowledged that there is a pecking order to things, and it seems entirely possible that he is open to re-signing with the team. The 35-year-old has stated to the media that he loves New Jersey, but the most important thing to him is staying in the NHL.

In other Devils notes:

  • Frank Seravalli has linked the Devils to Carolina Hurricanes forward Martin Necas saying that New Jersey may have offered their 10th overall picks in this year’s draft in an attempt to acquire the 25-year-old. At this point, it’s almost a foregone conclusion that Carolina is fielding a ton of offers for Necas, while simultaneously trying to sign pending unrestricted free agents such as Jake Guentzel. Necas had a solid, but unspectacular year with the Hurricanes, dressing in 77 games while posting 24 goals and 29 assists. He is a pending restricted free agent and is due a $3.5MM qualifying offer.
  • Rumors continue to fly about the Devils signing free-agent defenseman Brett Pesce. The chatter began when Elliotte Friedman of the 32 Thoughts podcast linked the two sides late last week. Devils’ general manager Tom Fitzgerald told The Jeff Marek Show that he was in the market for defensemen to add to his backend. Pesce is a defense-first rearguard who can play in a variety of roles, he posted a career-high 30 points in the 2022-23 season, but that dropped last year to just three goals and 10 assists in 70 games.

Devils Re-Sign Nick DeSimone To One-Year Deal

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The Devils have re-signed defenseman Nick DeSimone to a one-year, one-way contract, per a team announcement Monday. It’s worth the league minimum salary of $775K.

DeSimone, 29, was headed for the UFA market next week. Instead, he’ll stay in New Jersey, which claimed him off waivers from the Flames in late January. This is the first one-way contract of his career.

Given his small role with the Devils, it was doubtful if general manager Tom Fitzgerald would offer him an extension, especially a one-way commitment. He was scratched more than he played, only skating in 11 of New Jersey’s 37 contests after his acquisition. DeSimone was serviceable when iced, though, posting a goal and an assist while controlling 48.4% of shot attempts when on the ice at even strength. He averaged 16:29 per game in a Devils uniform.

The minor-league veteran has only 38 NHL games to his name, 34 of which came this season. Across his stints with Calgary and New Jersey over the past two years, he’s totaled two goals and five assists without being a defensive liability in bottom-pairing minutes. He’s long been a strong puck-moving option in the AHL, totaling 38 goals and 138 assists for 176 points in 341 games in the Flames, Golden Knights and Sharks organizations.

In fact, most of his time under NHL contract has been spent with San Jose, where he signed as an undrafted free agent out of Union College in 2017. However, he never saw NHL ice during his four years collecting a paycheck from them.

A one-way deal indicates DeSimone has an inside track to start next season as the Devils’ seventh defenseman, although he’ll likely face competition for the role from the younger Santeri Hatakka. Their top six on defense is mostly solidified, with Dougie Hamilton, Luke Hughes, John Marino, Simon Nemec and Jonas Siegenthaler all guaranteed spots, plus a UFA signing to replace Kevin Bahl, who was traded to the Flames in last week’s Jacob Markström deal.

With DeSimone in the NHL, the Devils are down to $15.27MM in projected cap space with a roster size of 16, per CapFriendly. He’ll be a UFA upon expiry.

Afternoon Notes: Clune, Devils, Kane, Holloway

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The Anaheim Ducks have hired former player Rich Clune as an assistant coach, shares Chris Johnston of The Athletic (Twitter link). Clune has spent the last two seasons as a development coach with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, joining the team he once captained immediately following his 2022 retirement. Clune added a role behind the bench last season, and will now get a chance to do the same at the NHL level.

Clune was a career minor-league bruiser, who played in just two full NHL seasons as part of his 15-year career in North American pros. He scored a career-high nine points in 47 games during the 2012-13 season, swapping record stats in the following year with seven points and a career-high 166 penalty minutes in 58 games. Clune would go on to play just one more NHL game in his career, though he did total an impressive 593 career games in the AHL – recording 151 points and 1,607 penalty minutes.

Other notes from around the league:

  • The New Jersey Devils have signed a two-year extension with ECHL affiliate the Adirondack Thunder. The two teams have been partnered since 2017-18, following a brief connection between Adirondack and the Calgary Flames. The Thunder have only missed the playoffs once in their six-year connection with New Jersey, though they’ve failed to make it past Divisional finals.
  • The Edmonton Oilers could welcome winger Evander Kane back to the lineup on Friday, with head coach Kris Knoblauch designating him a game-time decision to Dan Rosen of NHL.com (Twitter link). Kane hasn’t played since Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals, and hasn’t scored since Game 5 against the Dallas Stars. In total he has just eight points in 20 games this postseason, though his aggression and grit will be a welcome boost over Dylan Holloway, who’d stand to lose his role should Kane step back in, shares Renauld Lavoie of TVA Sports (Twitter link).

Devils, Wild Swap Graeme Clarke For Adam Beckman

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The Devils have traded winger Graeme Clarke to the Wild for fellow winger Adam Beckman, the teams announced. Both are headed for restricted free agency next month.

Clarke, 23, was a third-round pick of the Devils in 2019. The older brother of Kings top defense prospect Brandt Clarke has knocked on the door of the NHL for the past two seasons but hasn’t gotten much of a shot in Jersey. He played just three big-league games, all coming this season. He was held without a point and had a -2 rating, 2 PIMs, and two shots on goal while averaging 11:23 per game. The Devils sparingly used him in offensive situations, and as such, they controlled less than 42% of shot attempts with Clarke on the ice at even strength.

Given his performance in the minors, he likely deserved more of a chance. Clarke has scored 25 goals in back-to-back campaigns with the AHL’s Utica Comets, leading them on both occasions. His 58 points in 68 games in 2022-23 led the team outright but weren’t enough to earn him his NHL debut. After completing his entry-level contract, he’s now on his way to Minnesota, where he has a feasible chance of cracking the Wild’s opening night roster in the fall. He’s no longer waiver-exempt and would need to be exposed to the remainder of the league for Minnesota to send him down to their AHL affiliate in Iowa.

The Devils land Beckman, a 23-year-old with slightly more NHL experience but less offensive upside. The Wild have given Beckman a brief look in each of the past three seasons, totaling 23 appearances, 11 of which came in 2023-24. However, the points never came for Beckman, who was selected five spots before Clarke in 2019. He’s still searching for his first NHL goal and logged three assists while averaging 10:02 per game.

Beckman has been solid in three full seasons with Iowa, though. Serving as an alternate captain this season, he finished fourth on the club in scoring with 19 goals and 33 points in 51 games. He still hasn’t quite had the impact Minnesota expected after he led the WHL in scoring with 48 goals and 107 points in his post-draft season, though.

Like Clarke, Beckman has lost his waiver-exempt status and will need to hit the wire if New Jersey attempts to assign him to Utica. The Devils owe Beckman a $874,125 qualifying offer to retain his rights before June 30, while the Wild must issue a $813,750 offer to Clarke.

Devils Dawson Mercer Was Never Part of Markstrom Trade

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Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic speculated about how much goaltender Igor Shesterkin will be paid on his next contract with the New York Rangers. The 28-year-old is eligible to sign an extension on July 1st and given his play the last few seasons and his importance to the Rangers, it will likely be a record-breaking deal for a goaltender.

Shesterkin is reportedly looking for an AAV of $12MM, while most of the models Luszczyszyn uses to show his value are in the range of $9MM – $12MM annually. Given the volatility of the goaltending position, it’s fair to believe that Shesterkin could live up to a $12MM salary in some seasons of the deal, however, as he enters his 30s, it’s possible his play could fall off as it often does with goaltenders on the back half of their career.

In other Metropolitan Division notes:

  • TSN’s Pierre LeBrun tweeted that a few teams around the NHL are wondering if an offer sheet is a possibility for Carolina Hurricanes forward Martin Necas. Carolina’s ask for the 25-year-old remains quite high, and the team has reportedly talked to almost every team around the league. Necas is a two-time 20-goal scorer who posted 24 goals and 29 assists in 77 games last season. The former first-round pick is a restricted free agent after making $3.5MM last season and will likely sign a lucrative long-term deal whether it’s an offer sheet or otherwise.
  • Dawson Mercer was reportedly never part of the New Jersey Devils trade for goaltender Jacob Markstrom (as per Elliotte Friedman on The Jeff Marek Show). There was speculation that the 22-year-old was offered at one point, but Friedman poured cold water on that rumor saying that he had multiple sources tell him that the former first-round pick was never in the trade. Mercer took a step back last season but is just a year removed from posting 27 goals and 29 assists in 82 games.

Devils Acquire Jacob Markström

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The Devils have their goalie. New Jersey announced the acquisition of Jacob Markström from the Flames for defenseman Kevin Bahl and their 2025 first-round pick, which is top-10 protected. Calgary is retaining 31.25% of Markström’s $6MM cap hit in the trade, bringing it down to $4.125MM for the Devils.

Speculation about New Jersey picking up a high-end starter had run rampant as far back as midseason. The Devils looked like a team on a meteoric rise after last season’s 112-point showing, but below-average performances from all three goalies they started the season with (Nico Daws, Akira Schmid, Vítek Vaněček) were one of the many factors that brought them back below the .500 mark this year.

After shipping out Vaněček to the Sharks at the trade deadline and getting some stopgap solutions in Jake Allen and Kaapo Kähkönen, they now have their bonafide starter. It took the 2008 second-rounder quite a while to break out, but he took over the crease for the Canucks in the 2017-18 season and hasn’t looked back. The 6’6″ netminder has finished top 10 in Vezina balloting in three of the past six seasons, including a second-place finish in 2022. That was a statement year for him and the rest of the Flames, as he tossed up a .922 SV% and a league-leading nine shutouts in 63 starts as Calgary won the Pacific Division title, just its second since 2006.

Things turned south as he regressed to a .892 SV% in 2022-23, but he put together a nice rebound campaign this season despite battling through a handful of injuries. His 23-23-2 record isn’t impressive at first glance, but he returned to being a top-10 goalie in the league in terms of goals saved above expected with 13.7, per MoneyPuck. He had a .905 SV%, 2.78 GAA and two shutouts behind a Flames team that had its worst season defensively in quite some time under first-year head coach Ryan Huska.

Even still, Markström’s results last year were brought down by a poor stretch of post-trade deadline play – an understandable slump given the trade rumors connecting him to New Jersey at the time and the fact he was playing with a lower-body injury. From March 4 onward, he went 2-8-0 with a .869 SV% without putting up an SV% over .900 in any single game. To put it succinctly, Markström had a better year than a quick look at his results would indicate.

Since signing his six-year, $36MM deal with the Flames in free agency in 2020, Markström has a .907 SV% over 212 starts and one relief appearance. That’s good for seven goals saved above average, indicative of the peaks and valleys he’s shown during his time in Alberta. He’s one of four goalies to start more than 200 games over that timeframe, joining perennial Vezina challengers Connor Hellebuyck, Juuse Saros and Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Landing Markström at $4.125MM against the cap for the next two seasons is a considerable discount for Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald, as it’s much less than he would cost on the open market. He’ll form a formidable veteran one-two punch in net with Allen, who remains under contract with New Jersey next season at a reduced $1.925MM cap hit thanks to the Canadiens retaining salary when trading him at the deadline. The Devils, after dealing with younger, more inconsistent unknowns in Schmid and Vaněček for most of last season, now have an above-average backup and starter for a total of $6.05MM against the cap.

Calling Markström truly elite would likely earn you some pushback, given his year-to-year dips with Calgary, and that pushback would be fair. But he has the most established track record of any goalie the Devils have iced since Cory Schneider’s run of elite play in the mid-2010s. The deal has them much better positioned to make the playoffs next season and embark on a deeper run than in 2022 when they escaped the first round but were dispatched by the Hurricanes in five games in Round 2. The 23-year-old Daws and 24-year-old Schmid are also afforded some additional development time in the AHL after an inconsistent 2023-24 campaign for both.

Markström, 34, has two years left on his deal. He’ll become a UFA in 2026, and ideally, by that point, one of Daws or Schmid will have developed into dependable NHL options. While on the older side, he fits well with their immediate timeline. They’re now left with $16.05MM in projected cap space with eight open roster spots, per CapFriendly. Versatile forward Dawson Mercer is their only notable RFA in need of a new deal.

New Jersey pulling off this deal without surrendering a top prospect or their 10th overall selection in this year’s draft is a good piece of work by Fitzgerald, especially with the Flames retaining a considerable amount of salary.

Losing Bahl isn’t nothing, though. The 23-year-old was a second-round pick in 2018 out of OHL Ottawa. He did well this season, his first true full-time NHL campaign, posting 11 points in 82 games while averaging 17:24 a night. His 6’6″, 230-lb frame obviously draws appeal for Calgary, and GM Craig Conroy said today he was a “priority player” throughout discussions with the Devils (via Sportsnet’s Eric Francis). However, his possession metrics last season were subpar, logging a 48.3 CF% and 48.7 xGF% at even strength that both fell south of New Jersey team averages.

Bahl is still young, however, and carries legitimate top-four shutdown upside. He’s under contract next season at a reasonable $1.05MM cap hit and will be an arbitration-eligible RFA next summer. In 148 career games with the Devils since making his debut in the 2020-21 season, Bahl has four goals, 21 assists, 25 points and a -1 rating while logging 16:14 per contest.

If the Devils’ 2025 first-rounder does land within the top 10, they’ll transfer their 2026 first-round pick to Calgary instead, regardless of its placement.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

TSN’s Travis Yost was first to report Markström was headed to New Jersey.
TSN’s Darren Dreger was first to report the trade return and salary retention.
Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic was first to report the 2025 first-round pick was top-10 protected.

Snapshots: Pinto, Gomez, Demidov

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The Ottawa Senators and forward Shane Pinto are discussing the possibilities of a two-year bridge contract, shares Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen. Garrioch adds that Ottawa still prefers to sign Pinto to a deal closer to five or six years in length, though they’re off-put by Pinto’s request for $5MM-a-year on a long-term deal. Pinto is coming off the end of a year he’ll want to forget quickly, having been suspended for half the season for violating the league’s gambling policy and only scoring 27 points in the games he did play in.

Pinto scored 20 goals and 35 points as a rookie last season, appearing in all 82 games. The performance stamped him as one of Ottawa’s most promising young players, though his extended absence this year kept him from truly breaking out. The Senators will be hoping for that breakout on the first year of his new deal – and get the dreaded task of putting a number to their faith this summer.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Legendary New Jersey Devils forward Scott Gomez has taken to hockey management, assuming the general manager role and head coach for the BCHL’s Surrey Eagles (Twitter link). Gomez played in one season with the Eagles in 1996-97, posting 124 in 56 games as part of a championship-winning Eagles offense. He spent his next two seasons with the WHL’s Tri-City Americans, before beginning an iconic NHL career, including two years as the assistant coach of the New York Islanders from 2017 to 2019. Gomez took a break from the game after that tenure, returning with an assistant coaching role with Surry this season. He’ll now kick off his managerial career in the same place he started his playing career, certainly looking to achieve the same results.
  • Top 2024 NHL Draft prospect Ivan Demidov was dismissive when asked when he expects to move to North America in an interview with Scott Powers of The Athletic, saying only, “We’ll see what happens.” Demidov has been entrenched in rumors early in his hockey career, with many speculating that he and defenseman Artyom Levshunov are the top options for second overall. One of the few knocks against Demidov’s game has been his limited exposure to the KHL – instead playing nearly all of his hockey in the MHL, Russia’s U21 league. He similarly played off the question of whether he expects more KHL ice time next season, saying he wasn’t sure and likely wouldn’t know until after the draft. While neither answer was an outright no, Demidov’s uncertainty certainly doesn’t elicit excitement. He’ll remain an incredibly skilled player, surrounded by a litany of questions, as June 28th’s First Round draws closer.

Devils Have A Long Wishlist This Summer

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It’s well-known that the Devils are looking to upgrade between the pipes this summer.  However, as Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports (video link), that’s hardly the only thing on their wish list.  In addition to searching for a starting goalie, Seravalli relays that New Jersey is also looking for a top-six forward, a bottom-six forward, a top-four defenseman, and a bottom-four blueliner.  That’s a particularly long wish list and is one that they’ll be hard-pressed to fit within their remaining cap room.  Per CapFriendly, they have a little under $20MM in space to work with but a fair-sized chunk of that will go to pending RFA Dawson Mercer.  Accordingly, while GM Tom Fitzgerald is hoping to add that many pieces this summer, he might have to settle for a bit less unless there’s a cost-cutting move coming somewhere.

Markstrom Appears To Be Devils Top Choice

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  • Staying in Calgary, Pagnotta indicates that the Flames and New Jersey Devils are working hard towards a Jacob Markstrom trade. The two sides were nearly in agreement on a trade that would send Markstrom to New Jersey at the trade deadline, but the deal collapsed in the final stages. Although Markstrom remains the ideal candidate for the Devils, there will be other options available this summer if Calgary’s asking price exceeds expectations.

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Free Agent Focus: New Jersey Devils

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Free agency is now just a month away and teams are looking ahead to when it opens.  There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well.  We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Devils.

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Dawson Mercer – For many players and the team, the 2023-24 NHL season for New Jersey paled compared to the prior year. Caught up in this negative trend, Mercer saw a seven-goal and 16-assist dropoff compared to the season he put together in 2022-23. However, under the tutelage of head coach Sheldon Keefe, Mercer should be relied upon quite heavily as a secondary scorer in the lineup. The front office may opt for a bridge deal with Mercer to save cap room for outside additions this summer, given that the team is bogged down with lengthy contracts to star players.

G Nico Daws – In one of the most dramatic goalie carousels of the 2023-24 season, the Devils used five different netminders this past year, with Daws finishing second in games played. In 20 starts, Daws compiled a record of 9-11-0 while posting a .894 save percentage and a 3.15 goals-against average. Daws did not fare much better in the American Hockey League, as he posted a similar SV% of .890 with the Utica Comets. Hoping to revamp their goaltending up and down the organization this summer, Daws may find himself on the open market if New Jersey does not tender him a qualifying offer.

G Akira Schmid – Posting almost identical stats to Daws this past season, Schmid started in 15 games for the Devils. Carrying a record of 5-9-1 in those 15 starts with a .895 SV% and 3.15 GAA, Schmid did not perform adequately enough to keep New Jersey above water. In a similar fashion to Daws, Schmid produced nearly the same in Utica, which makes him a non-tender candidate heading into the offseason.

Other RFAs:  F Nolan Foote, D Callan Foote, F Michael McLeod, D Santeri Hatakka

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

G Kaapo Kahkonen – Brought in at the trade deadline from the San Jose Sharks for a last-ditch effort to make the playoffs, Kahkonen’s solid play for New Jersey failed to move the needle in any meaningful way. After the trade, Kahkonen started in six games for the Devils, posting a 1-4-0 record while earning an exceptional .923 SV% and 2.51 goals-against average. Despite Kahkonen’s strong numbers, New Jersey will likely opt to retain Jake Allen as the backup for next season, while looking outside the organization for a legitimate starting goaltender. Even though his total production from the 2023-24 season was largely depressed during his time with the Sharks, Kahkonen should be able to land a backup gig this summer.

D Brendan Smith – Over the past two years, Smith has been a valuable veteran on New Jersey’s blue line. In one of his best offensive seasons since his time with the Detroit Red Wings, Smith posted five goals and 15 points over 63 games for the Devils this season. Unfortunately for Smith, with New Jersey graduating defensive prospects such as Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec, his time in the Garden State will likely end. Staying on the East Coast for much of his career, Smith should land a deal as a depth defenseman for another team in the NHL’s Metropolitan Division.

Other UFAs:  F Tomas Nosek, F Chris Tierney, D Nick DeSimone, F Kyle Criscuolo, D Tyler Wotherspoon, G Keith Kinkaid

Projected Cap Space

Now that the cap ceiling for the 2024-25 NHL season has officially been set at $88MM, this puts the Devils with just over $19MM to work with this summer. With little of those dollars needing to be spent on retaining internal players this summer, New Jersey should have plenty of flexibility to acquire a top-level netminder. Over the past few weeks, the Devils have been connected to  Juuse Saros of the Nashville Predators, Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins, and Jacob Markstrom from the Calgary Flames.

Although the Devils are looking to acquire top-level talent to return to contention next year, they must be mindful of upcoming extension candidates. On July 1st, L. Hughes will be eligible for a contract extension, meaning New Jersey must factor in a potential long-term deal in their offseason planning.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.  Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

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