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New Jersey Devils Re-Assign Tyler Wotherspoon

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November 27: The Devils have returned Wotherspoon to the minors, according to the team Sunday morning. Wotherspoon did not spend enough days on the active roster to warrant being placed on waivers to go back to Utica. Wotherspoon didn’t get into any games on his call-up.

November 23: After sending a pair of youngsters down to the AHL yesterday, the New Jersey Devils have recalled Tyler Wotherspoon to take their place on the roster. The minor league veteran shouldn’t be expected to get into the lineup, but a recall is a nice reward for depth players in the organization.

Wotherspoon, 29, signed a new two-year, two-way deal this summer to stay with the Devils organization after a solid year with Utica in 2021-22. He had 21 points in 53 games, and helped the club reach the AHL postseason. While he has a solid minor league salary built into the deal, a few days in the NHL will only help the bottom line for the former top prospect.

Selected 57th overall in 2011, Wotherspoon quickly made his way to the NHL with the Calgary Flames. Over parts of four seasons, starting in 2013, he played 30 regular season games and six postseason contests at the highest level. For the last six seasons, however, he’s been stuck in the minor leagues, playing for the Stockton Heat, San Antonio Rampage, Lehigh Valley Phantoms, and now Utica.

He did get the unique opportunity to play for Team Canada at the 2022 Olympics, recording two points in five games after the NHL decided not to attend.

The Devils play the Toronto Maple Leafs this evening before heading on the road for a Friday tilt in Buffalo. Wotherspoon is likely just an extra body to take along as injury insurance.

Nathan Bastian Leaves Game With Upper-Body Injury

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  • According to a team tweet, the New Jersey Devils lost forward Nathan Bastian partway through last night’s game to an upper-body injury. Bastian left the game during the first period after taking a hit from Capitals forward T.J. Oshie. The 24-year-old is a good defensive presence in the bottom six and is an adept penalty killer. With no extra forwards on the active roster, the team will have to make a recall from AHL Utica if Bastian misses any time.

New Jersey Devils Begin Jesper Bratt Negotiations

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It’ll be 14 straight for the New Jersey Devils if they can pull off a win tonight, and all things are good in the organization. Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier have blossomed into star centers, Dougie Hamilton is back to being an elite offensive defenseman, and Vitek Vanecek is giving the team a stable presence in net. Above all of those performances, though, might be that of Jesper Bratt.

The 24-year-old sixth-round pick is establishing himself firmly as one of the most dynamic offensive players in the league, with 24 points in his first 19 games. That follows a 73-point campaign that seemed to be overlooked by many, thanks to the overall failures of the team. Bratt leads the Devils in scoring and has set himself up for one heck of a restricted free agent negotiation this summer.

With a $5.45MM qualifying offer, arbitration rights, and potentially back-to-back 70+ point seasons, there’s a lot of leverage in the young Swede’s camp. The Devils, for their part, are clear about their intentions – they want Bratt locked up long-term. Speaking with The Fourth Period, general manager Tom Fitzgerald indicated that talks between the Devils front office and Bratt’s agent have now started and that there has been no change to what they’re looking for.

Discussions conveniently have started. You know, with a hello to his agent, actually it was (Monday) night we sat together just to go through some things and what we’ll get going. I just don’t want this to be a distraction to the player. You know, as we go along, we know how we feel about him. And we want to tie him up long-term. We hope the feeling’s mutual.

Fitzgerald did hold up the Boston Bruins as a template, however, noting how there needs to be “enough money to go around” if you want to build a championship team. The Devils already have long-term commitments with Hughes, Hischier, and Hamilton, but none of them are outrageously priced. The Selke candidate and team captain Hischier has a $7.25MM cap hit through 2026-27, arguably one of the better value deals in the league right now. Hughes is only slightly ahead at $8MM, and Hamilton – despite being an unrestricted free agent when the team signed him – is at $9MM.

The team does have other core pieces like John Marino and Jonas Siegenthaler signed long-term, but Fitzgerald isn’t lying when he says there are plenty of other players that need money too. The Devils only have three regular forwards signed for next season: Hughes, Hischier, and Dawson Mercer, still on his entry-level contract. Bratt, Yegor Sharangovich, Michael McLeod, Jesper Boqvist, Nathan Bastian, and Fabian Zetterlund are all arbitration-eligible restricted free agents, meaning there’s a lot of work to do for Fitzgerald and his staff to keep this group together.

Bratt is the key to all of it at this point, and the one that will likely draw much of the front office focus throughout the year. Whatever amount he comes in at will drastically affect the other negotiations and force the Devils into some tough decisions on pending UFAs like Tomas Tatar, Miles Wood, Erik Haula, Damon Severson, and Ryan Graves – all good players in their own right.

New Jersey Devils Send Holtz, Bahl To AHL

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In the midst of a 13-game winning streak, the New Jersey Devils aren’t about to change the lineup. So young players that are unable to get any action will need to play somewhere. Today, Alexander Holtz and Kevin Bahl have both been loaned back to the Utica Comets of the AHL.

Holtz, 20, was the seventh overall pick in 2020 and has shown flashes of offensive brilliance in his limited NHL experience. It has been limited though, with the young forward only making it into four games this season and 13 overall.

Last year, Holtz was a dominant force for the Comets, scoring 26 goals and 51 points in 52 games. He was obviously going to outgrow the minor leagues but with an inconsistent NHL performance, found himself on the outside looking in as things started to go right in New Jersey. While he may already be better than the vast majority of AHL players, he needs to play somewhere.

Bahl, meanwhile, brings a rather similar story. The hulking 6’6″ defender was beating up on AHL competition last season, and ended up seeing 17 games with the Devils. This year, after New Jersey made several additions to the blue line, he’s been limited to just three. It doesn’t do the 22-year-old much use sitting in the press box every night, even if there is some value in practicing with the big club.

It wouldn’t surprise anyone to see one or both back soon, but this will allow them to get back in the swing of things and shake off any rust that may have accumulated.

Nikita Popugayev Traded In KHL

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  • Devils prospect Nikita Popugayev has been traded in the KHL as SKA St. Petersburg announced that they have acquired the winger from Sochi in exchange for cash considerations. The 23-year-old has already set new career highs offensively with nine goals and five assists through 28 games which could get him back on the NHL radar this summer.  Popugayev’s contract in Russia runs through this season with New Jersey retaining his rights indefinitely due to there being no transfer agreement in place with the Russian Federation.

Devils Place Mackenzie Blackwood On IR, Recall Nico Daws

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November 13: 24 hours later, the Devils have reassigned Daws back to Utica. The move suggests Vanecek is now healthy and ready to go.

November 12: The Devils have made a pair of roster moves in advance of today’s game against Arizona, announcing (Twitter link) that goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood has been placed on injured reserve while netminder Nico Daws has been brought up from AHL Utica.

Blackwood landing on IR is no surprise as he has already been out for more than a week with an MCL sprain.  Technically, his placement was backdated to November 3rd which means he could theoretically be activated at any time.  That said, his expected timeframe for recovery is three to six weeks.

New Jersey needed a roster spot freed up as Vitek Vanecek was injured in Thursday’s victory over Ottawa and will not dress against the Coyotes (but is listed as day-to-day) so Daws will come up to serve as Akira Schmid’s backup for this one.  Daws played in 25 games with the Devils last season, posting a respectable 3.11 GAA along with a .893 SV% on a team that battled goalie injuries all season long.  This year, he has platooned with Schmid with Utica and has a 2.41 GAA and a .908 SV% in five appearances so far.

The Devils have enough cap space left using Jonathan Bernier’s LTIR placement to fit in Daws’ contract.  However, if they have anyone else go down with an injury, they will likely either have to push Blackwood or winger Ondrej Palat to LTIR to be able to afford to bring someone else up from the Comets.

Devils Notes: Trade Deadline Plans, Bratt, Ruff, Holtz, Bahl

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October 24th, at home against the Washington Capitals. That is the last time the New Jersey Devils lost a hockey game. The loss brought the team to 3-3-0 on the season, not ideal, but on the heels of a three-game win streak, things appeared to be looking up despite the loss. Fast forward nearly three weeks and the team finds itself 11-3-0, riding an eight-game win streak heading into tonight’s matchup at home agains the Arizona Coyotes. The team’s recent play now has many believing the rebuilding Devils are finally back to the elite squad they were for much of the 1990’s and 2000’s and that has, in turn, made many wonder what the team’s plans are shaping up to be for the trading season. NJ.com’s Ryan Novozinsky sat down with Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald to discuss that topic and several others.

On making trades and the deadline itself, Fitzgerald said he’d like to see more and to evaluate where the team stands after 20 games and 40 games. The veteran executive added that he prefers to build his teams through the offseason rather than through the trade deadline. Still, Fitzgerald didn’t rule out the possibility of trading assets for rentals, but made clear that would have to be dependent on the team’s situation at the time. As Fitzgerald says, “[i]f I can make a hockey trade that improves our club, then yeah, I’ll explore that.”

  • On star winger Jesper Bratt, who is currently signed to a one-year, $5.45MM contract that will leave him a RFA this offseason, Fitzgerald disagrees with the common labeling of the pact as a “prove it” deal. The GM explained that the negotiation this summer was challenging, but that both sides were interested in a long-term agreement. The one-year deal made sense, given a looming arbitration hearing that likely both sides wanted to avoid and perhaps still far apart in negotiations, an amicable agreement such as this one that gets the job done and allows negotiations to start up again this winter, would be a wise one for team and player. In fact, Fitzgerald reiterated his excitement to restart negotiations on a long-term deal come January. Through 14 games this season, Bratt has 18 points, a 105-point pace over 82 games.
  • One topic Fitzgerald is hesitant to discuss is the contract status of head coach Lindy Ruff. During the dying minutes of New Jersey’s home opener loss to the Detroit Red Wings, fans at the Prudential Center began chanting for Fitzgerald to fire the coach, however that tone has of course changed. Still, Fitzgerald isn’t willing to make a move. The GM applauded the coach’s ability to have the team “explode offensively” just as his Dallas Stars teams were able to, but cautioned the eagerness to extend the veteran coach. Given the team’s rocky start, which came on the heels of two difficult seasons under Ruff, followed by an impressive stretch recently, it’s understandable why the organization would wait to make a decision on the future of their coach.
  • Finally, Fitzgerald and Novozinsky discussed the playing time of prospects, namely forward Alexander Holtz and defenseman Kevin Bahl, who have played four and three games this year, respectively. Fitzgerald explained his reasoning for keeping the pair on the roster despite being able to send both to the AHL, where they could play more regularly, saying that he would like them to be able to adjust to the pace of the NHL game, which they can get in practice. In other words, Fitzgerald explained that he believes both are better off practicing regularly in the NHL than playing regularly in the AHL. The executive made clear that this decision was one made with the development of both players in mind.

Devils Exploring Goaltending Options

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Goaltending has been a position that has been in some flux for the Devils recently.  The team struggled mightily between the pipes last season in large part due to injuries.  Things were looking good early on this season but Mackenzie Blackwood is now hurt, Jonathan Bernier is still a long way from potentially returning, and Vitek Vanecek left Thursday’s game with an injury as well.  Speaking with Ryan Novozinsky of the Newark Star-Ledger prior to that contest, GM Tom Fitzgerald indicated that they’re open to making a move when it comes to the goalie front.

We’ll explore anything and everything. If it makes sense to keep us from overworking certain goalies or if we prefer to keep our guys in AHL.

The good news for the Devils is that Vanecek made a brief appearance at practice Friday which bodes well for his short-term availability.  But in the meantime, Akira Schmid finished up Thursday’s contest (picking up his first career victory) and is the short-term starter until Vanecek is cleared to come back.  Blackwood is going to miss another three-to-six weeks with his MCL injury while there is no timeline for if or when Bernier might return as he works his way back from hip issues.  Accordingly, if Fitzgerald wants Schmid back in the minors, he may have to look for another goalie.

The uncertainty with Bernier makes that idea a lot easier said than done.  If they knew that the 34-year-old wouldn’t be back, they could comfortably spend most of his $4.25MM AAV which would give them ample space to add a capable veteran second netminder.  However, since it’s possible he returns, they can’t really do that as they’ll need to be cap-compliant if Bernier is able to come off LTIR and suit up.

Accordingly, it’s possible that Fitzgerald turns to the approach he used last season and looks for a veteran depth option to serve as the backup, a move he made twice in 2021-22 when he added Jon Gillies and Andrew Hammond in separate swaps.  Such a swap shouldn’t cost a lot in terms of acquisition cost and would involve a player that could be waived and come off the cap entirely, presenting no risk if Bernier is able to return.  With that in mind, it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Devils make a small move to add a little more goaltending insurance over the next little while.

New Jersey Devils Extend Martin Brodeur

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The New Jersey Devils are keeping around a franchise icon for a while longer. The team has signed a multi-year extension with Martin Brodeur to serve as vice president, hockey operations. Brodeur had previously been splitting time between hockey ops and the business side of the organization but will now solely focus on the former alongside general manager Tom Fitzgerald. The goaltending legend released the following:

Working with Tom’s group for the past few years, I have seen firsthand what he and our Managing Partners, David Blitzer and Josh Harris are building. I’ve been fortunate to help them in that time, as we move in the right direction toward consistent, sustained success. This decision allows me to commit all my time to the hockey side and focus on achieving the ultimate goal for our players, tremendous fans and entire organization.

There’s no point in listing off Brodeur’s achievements as a player, given how ubiquitous he is with the goaltending position, but some may have overlooked just how much front office experience he has gained since retiring in 2015. He quickly moved into an assistant general manager position with the St. Louis Blues after hanging up his pads, and even served as the team’s goaltending coach for a short period. Hockey Canada then pegged him as AGM for the Karjala and Spengler Cups, before handing him the GM job at the World Championships.

In 2018, he returned to the Devils and has served in various different roles ever since, including helping hockey operations. Now, as he moves fully into that world, it seems likely that he will remain at the head of the team. Whether he ever becomes a true general manager, or skips that step entirely – think Brendan Shanahan in Toronto – Brodeur has the experience and status to be an executive in the league for a long time.

New Jersey Devils Provide Injury Updates

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It’s not great news for New Jersey Devils fans, even if the team is doing well at the moment. Mackenzie Blackwood will be out for three to six weeks with the MCL sprain he recently suffered and, according to team reporter Amanda Stein, Ondrej Palat will miss eight to ten weeks following groin surgery.

While head coach Lindy Ruff did joke that Palat would disagree with that timeline, it’s still a long period to be without your top free agent signing. Palat was supposed to come in and show the Devils how to play like champions and will now miss more than two months with a serious injury. The 31-year-old signed a five-year, $30MM contract with the Devils and makes a whopping $8.25MM this season. He scored three goals before going down.

Luckily the Devils are one of the hottest teams in the league right now, on a six-game winning streak and now 9-1 in their last ten. After a shaky start they have been getting outstanding goaltending, something that will now have to continue with Vitek Vanecek carrying the load. Akira Schmid is up as well to fill in for the absent Blackwood, but Devils fans won’t want to go down that road again.

Because of injuries, New Jersey was forced to ice seven different netminders last season, with Nico Daws actually tying Blackwood for the most appearances. With so much turnover no one was able to perform very well and the team had an .886 save percentage overall. It is vital that Vanecek, who has a .940 over his last five starts (all wins), stays healthy for the next stretch or things could quickly derail for the Metropolitan-leading club.

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