Why Timo Meier will likely earn more than Jesper Bratt

All signs suggest the star winger will sign a long-term extension with the Devils in the near future – and at a higher price point than Bratt.

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Jesper Bratt opened some eyes – mine included – when he signed an eight-year extension worth less than $8 million per season.

The money was directly in line with what I had heard but I simply didn’t see him signing away max-term at that price – not after the way previous negotiations played out, not with Bratt only one year from unrestricted free agency (barring significant injury, I believe he could’ve easily cleared $8M on the open market), and not with the salary cap expected to rise significantly in the coming years.

At any rate, Tom Fitzgerald managed to get Bratt locked up for the entirety of his prime while falling under the internal ceiling – for forwards, anyway – that is Jack Hughes’ contract.

With Bratt coming in at less than $8 million per, I’ve often been asked what that means for Timo Meier.

He has posted similar counting numbers the past couple years and is also a non-premium position player a year away from free agency. The situations are very similar.

Even so, I don’t think the Bratt deal changes the landscape all that much. I have said all along I expect Meier to clear $8 million per and I maintain that line of thinking even after Bratt’s team-friendly extension.

There are a few reasons I believe Meier will fetch more money than Bratt:

1. Goals! The objective of hockey is to score goals. Finding natural goal scorers is arguably the most difficult thing to do. It’s a hard trait to come by. Over the past two years, Meier is tied with Nathan MacKinnon for 17th in goals. He sits ahead of William Nylander, Sebastian Aho, Elias Pettersson, Mika Zibanejad, Alex DeBrincat, Brady Tkachuk, Kevin Fiala, and many others. Bratt, for comparsion, is tied for 49th in goals and has netted 17 fewer than Meier. Rightly or wrongly, goals cost more. There’s a reason Cole Caufield just landed nearly the exact same deal as Bratt despite having nowhere close to the same overall production rates (or on-ice impacts).