Taking stock of the New Jersey Devils' restricted free agents

What might each RFA command on a new deal? Alex Chauvancy used Evolving-Hockey's projections to examine just that.

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By Alex Chauvancy (@AlexC_THW)

The New Jersey Devils have a busy off-season ahead of them. Not only will general manager Tom Fitzgerald be active on the free agent and trade markets, but he'll also have a handful of notable restricted free agents to re-sign. 

With $25,334,167 million in cap space, signing the players that he needs to extend shouldn't be an issue.

What could each player get with their new contracts? Using Evolving-Hockey's contract projections, let's look a closer look.

Pavel Zacha

Evolving-Hockey's most likely predicted deal: 4 years, $4.659 million cap hit. 

After a "breakout year" in 2020-21, Zacha regressed this season, finishing with 15 goals and 36 points in 70 games — an 18-goal, 42-point pace over 82 games. Though his counting totals fell from a season ago when he produced at a 28-goal, 58-point pace, his underlying numbers actually improved. 

Zacha finished 2021-22 with a Corsi percentage of 53.58 percent, ranking second on the team to Bratt, and an expected goals percentage of 53.41 percent. His game off the puck improved, and his defensive impacts were some of the best of his career. 

There's clearly value in a player like that in a team's middle-six. But having said all that, there's next to no chance the Devils end up re-signing Zacha to that kind of contract. In fact, the most likely scenario is Fitzgerald trades Zacha to a new team, where he'll sign a new deal. 

With Jesper Bratt to re-sign, and other holes to plug on the roster, the Devils need to be smart with who they decide to pay to manage their cap space, and Zacha will likely be a casualty as a result. Once their window of contention opens up in the next year or two, that's not the kind of contract Fitzgerald and his front office will want on the books.