With the Stanley Cup playoffs progressing quickly, it means the official beginning to the offseason is rapidly approaching. Like it has been for the past few offseason, the New Jersey Devils have another massive few months ahead of them. So, what will general manager Tom Fitzgerald have to work with? Who are the players that the team will need to address? What does the current organizational roster look like?

Capital and Assets

Draft Capital

The New Jersey Devils currently own nine draft selections in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. The team has their own pick in the first, second, third, fourth, sixth, and seventh round picks. They also own the Edmonton Oilers’ (Dmitry Kulikov trade) and New York Islanders’ (Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac trade) fourth-round selections. As well as the Columbus Blue Jackets’ (Keith Kinkaid trade) fifth-round pick.

As is well documented by now, the Devils were awarded the second-overall selection as they moved up in the draft lottery. They were suppose to be slotted fifth overall but were able to move up via Lady Luck once again.

In future seasons, the Devils own all of their seven picks in each round in 2023 and 2024.

Cap Space

As for the team’s cap space, New Jersey is projected to have $25,334,167 with 33 players under contract (per CapFriendly). This figure ranks eighth-highest in the league. All the teams who have more space than the Devils have less players under contract.

Pending Free Agents

The New Jersey Devils have six restricted free agents (RFA) and 10 unrestricted free agents (UFA). Of the six RFAs, four of them have arbitration rights. Of the 10 UFAs, three are group six UFAs.

Please note, for those unfamiliar some definitions are below:

• RFAs: players who are free agents, without a contract, but still under team control.
• Group Six UFAs: player who meets unique requirements which qualifies them to be a UFA.
• Arbitration: a tool available to settle some contract disputes. The player and team each propose a salary for the coming season and argue their cases at a hearing. The arbitrator, a neutral third party, then sets the player’s salary.

Restricted Free Agents: Jesper Bratt (Arb.), Miles Wood (Arb.), Pavel Zacha (Arb.), Tyce Thompson (Arb.) Jesper Boqvist, Fabian Zetterlund

Unrestricted Free Agents: Mason Geertsen, Jimmy Vesey, Brian Flynn, Frederik Gauthier, Chase De Leo (G6), AJ Greer (G6), P.K. Subban, Colton White (G6), Jon Gillies, Andrew Hammond

Organizational Roster

As it stands, not including UFAs and including RFAs, the New Jersey Devils have a current organization composition of as follows:

• Left Wings (9): Tomas Tatar, Andreas Johnsson, Yegor Sharangovich, Janne Kuokkanen, Brian Halonen, Nolan Foote, Joseph Gambardella, Miles Wood (RFA), Pavel Zacha (RFA)
• Centers (7): Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Michael McLeod, Dawson Mercer, Aarne Talvitie, Jesper Boqvist (RFA), Fabian Zetterlund (RFA)
• Right Wings (6): Nathan Bastian, Alexander Holtz, Chase Stillman, Graeme Clarke, Jesper Bratt (RFA), Tyce Thompson (RFA)
• Left Defenseman (8): Ryan Graves, Jonas Siegenthaler, Ty Smith, Topias Vilen, Michael Vukojevic, Kevin Bahl, Nikita Okhotiuk, Jeremy Groleau
• Right Defenseman (5): Dougie Hamilton, Damon Severson, Reilly Walsh, Shakir Mukhamadullin, Robbie Russo
• Goaltenders (4): Mackenzie Blackwood, Jonathan Bernier, Nico Daws, Akira Schmid

What’s Next?

The above was a really simple overview of what the Devils have to work with. As well as what they will need to address internally. This is just the beginning of our offseason coverage. As it progresses on, please stick with us as we produce several different articles of offseason content.