Thoughts on Thoughts: New Jersey Devils edition

I dove deeper into Elliotte Friedman's comments regarding Pavel Zacha, Miles Wood, and the 2nd overall pick.

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Elliotte Friedman penned a new edition of 32 Thoughts on Thursday and, believe it or not, there were quite a few New Jersey Devils tidbits.

Let’s dive into them.

There are a lot of eyes on qualifying offers. Cap space is tight, and the arbitration walk-away number this summer is $4,538,958. (Teams can’t “walk-away” from any award below that number.) If they’re not convinced a player’s production matches, teams may choose to let them go free in July rather than risk an arbitration award they can’t escape.

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Others to watch include: Ethan Bear (Carolina), Denis Gurianov (Dallas), Kasperi Kapanen (Pittsburgh), Dylan Strome (Chicago), Miles Wood and Pavel Zacha (New Jersey). It’s not to say all of these players are guaranteed to hit the market. It’s more like, teams are watching to see what decisions are made. 

We’ll start with Miles Wood. I would be very surprised if he doesn’t get a qualifying offer. I think he’s a better player than the counting stats suggest but, be it injuries or otherwise, Wood hasn’t produced more than 25 points in a season since 2017-18. I can’t imagine a potential arbitration case would lead to an uncomfortable number coming off a season in which he played three games.

I get there is some uncertainty about him after his hip injury. But, again, I don’t think he is going to command much money. Whether he goes to arbitration or not, the end result is surely going to be a reasonably priced one-year extension.

The Devils – and everyone around the team – spent the entire year talking about how much Wood’s energy was missed on the ice and in the locker room. I simply can’t see the organization walking away from him for nothing.

I expect the two sides will come together on a one year deal and let him re-establish himself. If he plays well, the Devils can determine whether they want to pay him or let him go next summer.

If he doesn’t play well, or his hip prevents him from dressing every night, the Devils can walk away after the year.

I just don’t see any benefit to a) not qualifying Wood or; b) trying to trade him now for pennies on the dollar.

Even if the team doesn’t want to re-sign him long-term, they could surely get more at next year’s deadline – once he has proven he can still play – than they would now.