Devils, young star forward agree to eight-year extension

The New Jersey Devils and pending restricted free-agent winger Jesper Bratt agreed to terms on a massive eight-year deal worth $7.875M per season, the team announced Thursday afternoon. The contract, which will see Bratt stay in New Jersey until 2031 and carries a total value of $63M, breaks down as follows:

2023-24: $10M salary
2024-25: $9M salary
2025-26: $9M salary
2026-27: $8M salary
2027-28: $7.2M salary
2028-29: $7.2M salary
2029-30: $6.6M salary
2030-31: $6M salary

The deal opens up what will be a pivotal offseason in New Jersey. After winning their first playoff series in 11 years, the Devils ended their season without extensions for both Bratt and trade-deadline acquisition Timo Meier, who were both RFAs eligible for arbitration. With many more players to re-sign, especially at the bottom of their forward lineup, CapFriendly projects the Devils still have $26.4M in cap space for next season.

General manager Tom Fitzgerald offered a statement on the monumental deal for both Bratt and the team:

"It was always a priority to keep Jesper Bratt here long term and both parties are thrilled that a deal was completed. I value and commend the commitment Jesper made to this organization. We believe that he is a special player and a key member of our core group of talent who will contribute towards the team’s long-term success, and organizational goal of bringing the Stanley Cup back to New Jersey."

Most didn’t expect negotiations between Bratt and the Devils to be smooth sailing. Last offseason, Bratt was also an RFA and nearly required an arbitration hearing to get a new deal signed. The two parties eventually settled on a one-year, $5.45M deal days before the hearing.

That being said, a deal of this magnitude has been a long time coming. The Devils reportedly started negotiations with Bratt as far back as last November, and after a second consecutive 70-point campaign from the Swedish winger in 2022-23, the team was comfortable committing the maximum term.

Bratt’s deal carries the same average annual value and just one less year of term than Los Angeles Kings winger Kevin Fiala, who signed an extension after being traded from the Minnesota Wild last June. Fiala had recorded 85 points in 82 games that season after a pair of seasons that came in close to the point-per-game mark.

Given Bratt’s similar scoring pace over the past pair of seasons, it’s hard to argue the deal is above market value. He’ll be in his early 30s when the deal expires, so the past few seasons shouldn’t age poorly if he continues his progression.

Bratt drew some ire from Devils fans after a disappointing playoff performance, registering a single goal and just six points in 12 games. He’s posted numbers reflective of a true top-line winger over the past two campaigns, though, and it should be a fair bet that the 5-foot-10 Swede can maintain that level of production. Advanced offensive metrics have been kind to him since his breakout 26-goal, 73-point campaign in 2021-22.

The Devils have already gotten way more value than initially expected out of Bratt, who fell to the sixth round of the 2016 NHL Draft. He was in the NHL just two seasons after his draft year, scoring 35 points in 74 games during his rookie season in 2017-18. In 389 games as a Devil overall, Bratt’s totaled 102 goals and 174 assists for 276 points.

He’s now the team’s third-highest-paid player and second-highest-paid forward. His cap hit comes in at $625,000 more than that of captain Nico Hischier, who’s locked in at a $7.25M price tag through 2026-27. Only Jack Hughes ($8M) and Dougie Hamilton ($9M) make more per season on the team.

Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic was the first to report the deal.