Devils star could land in $8M-$9M AAV range on any extension

When the New Jersey Devils inked Jesper Bratt to an eight-year, $7.875M cap-hit deal earlier this week, it may have come in a few dollars less than some expected, given his point production. Similar to Cole Caufield’s long-term deal in Montreal, some attributed this to New Jersey’s desire to keep a strict salary hierarchy – at least among forwards – under star center Jack Hughes, who’s locked in at $8M per season.

However, general manager Tom Fitzgerald refuted that notion today in an appearance on The Jeff Marek Show, prioritizing the importance of general market comparables over an internal hierarchy. As New Jersey Hockey Now’s James Nichols notes, that likely generates a clearer range for what we could expect the cap hit to be on a pending extension for winger Timo Meier. The Swiss-born forward notched 40 goals for the first time in his career in 2022-23 in 78 games.

Given Meier’s experience (and, therefore, consistency) advantage over his teammate Bratt, $7.875M per season is likely the floor for any Meier extension, as Nichols says. Previous reports suggested Meier was looking for north of $9M per season when still a member of the San Jose Sharks, but Nichols surmises that may be the max on his negotiation given the comparable to Minnesota Wild star Kirill Kaprizov, who signed a five-year deal for $9M AAV in 2021.

Anything north of $9M, which now seems unlikely for Meier, would make him the highest-paid player on the team, ahead of defenseman Dougie Hamilton. While Meier obviously comes with an esteemed scoring pedigree, he didn’t mesh as well post-trade as some hoped in New Jersey, logging 14 points in 21 games down the regular-season stretch.

A $9M cap hit would leave New Jersey with about $17.4M in cap space to fill eight roster spots – seven among forwards and one on defense, potentially replacing (or re-signing) pending UFA Ryan Graves.