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New Jersey Still Deciding On John Gibson

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Touching on all three of the New York metro teams in a New York Post column, Larry Brooks reports that the New Jersey Devils are indeed interested in John Gibson, but only for the right price. The Devils are still weighing the possible tandem of Vitek Vanecek and Akira Schmid, and determining whether that is the right fit to earn them a Stanley Cup championship.

Gibson, on the other hand, has four years, $25.6MM left on his contract, a term that fits much better with the Devils’ long-term planning. No matter how much the cap increases next offseason, paying a goaltender $9MM a season for the next eight years will be tough to swallow for just about any team.

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New Jersey Devils Sign Three Players

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The New Jersey Devils have signed three players to two-way contracts: forwards Kyle Criscuolo and Justin Dowling, as well as netminder Erik Kallgren. Each deal has an NHL cap hit of $775k.

Dowling received a two-year deal with a $500k AHL salary, while Criscuolo and Kallgren each received two-year deals with $340k and $450k AHL salaries, respectively.

Criscuolo, 31, is a former Calder Cup champion with 367 games of experience in the AHL. He scored 29 points in 60 games last season split between the Grand Rapids Griffins and San Jose Barracuda, and has 16 games of NHL experience on his resume. He’ll be expected to be a top-nine forward for the Devils’ AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets.

Dowling, 32, is also a former Calder Cup champion who has captained an AHL side before as well. Dowling was a longtime top-six force for the AHL’s Texas Stars and spent most of last season with the Abbotsford Canucks, where he scored 46 points in 56 games. He could be counted on as one of Utica’s top scorers if a player like Graeme Clarke spends significant time in the NHL.

Kallgren, 26, has been with the Toronto Marlies for the past two seasons and has seen some NHL time thanks to untimely injuries to Maple Leafs netminders. Kallgren doesn’t have an extensive track record in the AHL but will likely pair with Nico Daws to take up the bulk of Utica’s available starts.

New Jersey Devils Acquire Colin Miller

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The New Jersey Devils have acquired defenseman Colin Miller from the Dallas Stars in exchange for a 2025 fifth-round pick, according to a team announcement.

Having already traded defenseman Damon Severson to the Columbus Blue Jackets in an earlier trade this offseason, and the expected loss of Ryan Graves to the free agent market, the deal for Miller helps the Devils ease the loss from those two defensemen.

Luckily for New Jersey, uber-prospect Luke Hughes is ready for some big-time minutes next season, as well as the eventual callup of top prospect, Simon Nemec. In the meantime, Miller should serve as a decent filler until Nemec gets his chance at the professional level. Last season for the Stars, Miller played in 79 games, scoring six goals and 15 minutes of assists in just under 17 minutes of ice time a night.

Although this move does hurt the Stars’ defense, the $1.85MM generated in cap room allowed for the team to bring in their big-ticket free agent, later signing Matt Duchene to a one-year, $3MM contract for the 2023-24 NHL season. Having the benefit of one of the league’s top goaltenders between the pipes, Dallas had the opportunity to considerably improve their offensive unit.

Michael McLeod Rejoining New Jersey Devils

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Per The Fourth Period’s James Nichols, center Michael McLeod is heading back to the New Jersey Devils on a one-year contract worth $1.4MM.

As fellow Devils fourth-liner Nathan Bastian also re-signed today, meaning even if Miles Wood ends up departing to another club New Jersey will have most of their fan-favorite depth line locked in for next season.

McLeod secures a nice pay raise for himself over the $975k he earned last season, and that’s a solid reward after what was a strong season for the 25-year-old 2016 first-round pick. Not much of a goal scorer, McLeod only potted four during the regular season but did manage to score half that total in 12 playoff games.

He finished with 26 points in the regular-season, a career-high, though he showed the most value on the penalty-kill and in his defensive game. The Devils may have preferred to lock McLeod up for a longer term, but at the very least this deal returns their 4C to their club at an affordable cost.

McLeod was a key piece to a Devils crash-and-bang fourth-line that would spread chaos whenever it hit the ice, and if the team is interested in maintaining that type of line keeping McLeod at an affordable cost was crucial. With this deal, they’ve done exactly that, while McLeod has set himself up for an even bigger pay raise in a year’s time if he can manage to show a little bit more of an offensive game.

Devils Expected To Re-Sign Nathan Bastian

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Yesterday, the Devils opted to non-tender several players, including winger Nathan Bastian, to avoid the risk of them filing for salary arbitration.  It appears as least one of them will be sticking around as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that all signs point to Bastian remaining with New Jersey. PuckPedia reports he’s signed a two-year deal worth $1.35MM per season.

The 25-year-old dealt with a shoulder injury last season that limited him to just 43 games.  However, Bastian still managed to have his second-best season offensively, notching six goals and nine assists.  In the playoffs, he picked up a goal and an assist in 12 contests.

Of course, Bastian is more known for his physicality.  After putting up nearly 200 hits in 2021-22, he managed 99 more last season despite missing nearly half the year.  Between that and a serviceable offensive ability, Bastian has carved out a role for himself as a capable fourth liner in the NHL.

Bastian’s qualifying offer was just under $920K and it seems reasonable to expect that he will get more than that from New Jersey, assuming this deal becomes finalized.  But with 163 games under his belt, he’d have been in line to potentially double that qualifier in arbitration, a price point that the Devils can’t really afford in their cap structure.  We should soon see what middle ground they were able to find.

Devils Likely To Look For Backup Goalie

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  • While the Devils have shown some interest in trading for Connor Hellebuyck, TSN’s Darren Dreger suggests (Twitter link) that they’ll go a different route. Instead of trading for him, he expects New Jersey to target a goalie that is set to play closer to 30-35 games, one that will cost a lot less on their books.  In that scenario, Vitek Vanecek would remain the starter while Akira Schmid, who took over as the starter during the playoffs, would likely return to AHL Utica to start next season; he still is waiver-exempt.  Alternatively, if they don’t find the right free agent fit, they can run with the tandem they currently have, one that would be among the cheapest in the NHL at just over $4.25MM combined.

New Jersey Devils Still Negotiating With Unqualified RFAs

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  • The New Jersey Devils are also still negotiating with former RFA forwards Jesper Boqvist, Michael McLeod, and Nathan Bastian, none of whom were given qualifying offers today, per ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski. New Jersey opted not to qualify any of these players, who likely won’t play any higher than a fourth-line role, out of fear that a potential arbitration award would be too rich for their blood.

New Jersey Devils Extend Shane Bowers

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The New Jersey Devils have announced a one-year, two-way contract extension with recently acquired forward Shane Bowers. Per the announcement, he’ll have a league-minimum $775k cap hit at the NHL level, as well as a $125k salary at the AHL level.

Bowers, 23, was recently acquired by New Jersey in a one-for-one trade that sent defenseman Reilly Walsh to the Boston Bruins. That was the second time Bowers was traded this year, as he was actually dealt to Boston in a one-for-one mid-season trade that sent Keith Kinkaid to the Colorado Avalanche.

A 2017 first-round pick, Bowers has been traded one additional time in his career, when he was sent to Colorado as part of their return for parting with Matt Duchene. A six-foot-two forward with the versatility to play both center and the wing, Bowers had an underwhelming collegiate career as a Boston University Terrier and never quite found his footing in the AHL with Colorado. His best season game in 2019-20, when he scored 27 points in 48 games, but in the following two years he scored just 18 points combined.

Bowers wasn’t horrible with Boston, scoring seven points in 20 games for the AHL’s Providence Bruins, and he even earned his first NHL game this year with Colorado. But until he shows some more consistency and scoring touch at the AHL level, he won’t be a regular consideration for NHL call-ups, and this contract extension reflects that.

He will get a chance to prove himself with the Utica Comets, though, a team that made the AHL’s playoffs and could have some openings up front if players like Graeme Clarke and Alexander Holtz finally graduate to full-time NHL duty.

Tyler Toffoli Eager For Contract Extension With Devils

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  • Lastly, per LeBrun, recently acquired right winger Tyler Toffoli has expressed his desire to begin contract extension talks with the New Jersey Devils at the earliest opportunity. Toffoli, seeking stability after playing for four teams in the past four years, sees the Devils as a team poised for long-term success. However, LeBrun predicts Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald will encourage Toffoli to familiarize himself with the team and market before initiating extension discussions – similar to the team’s approaches with Erik Haula and Timo Meier as recent examples.

Graves, Tatar, Wood All Headed For Free Agency

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  • The New Jersey Devils don’t have a ton of cap space after announcing a max-length extension for Timo Meier, and as expected, they won’t be making any other major re-signings before free agency opens on Saturday. Defenseman Ryan Graves and forwards Tomas Tatar and Miles Wood are going to test the open market, general manager Tom Fitzgerald confirmed today. Per CapFriendly, the team has around $10.2MM in space but needs to re-sign a quartet of restricted free agents and potentially add a goalie to complement Vitek Vanecek.

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