The NHL offseason is well underway, and the New Jersey Devils have already made several moves to reshape their roster ahead of next season. As usual, on paper, basically all the moves that general manger Tom Fitzgerald and staff have made are strong ones.

You can read our full draft review and grades here. As for the rest of the offseason, and the additions New Jersey have made, read all about them below.

Moving On From Haula

Even before the draft, the Devils made the decision to move on from center Erik Haula. The now 34-year-old veteran had arguably the worst season of his 12-year NHL career in 2024-25, posting only 21 points and owning on-ice even strength metrics that were one of the worst in the league. Haula, though, was still one of the best penalty killers in the NHL, as evident by owning a shorthanded defensive goals above replacement (GAR) rating that was the fourth-highest in the league.

The Devils needed cap space, and, in sending the Finnish forward to Nashville, it freed up $3.15 million. Usually, in cap-dump deals, the team sending off the salary does not get assets in return. However, to complete the deal, Nashville sent over a 2025 fourth-round pick (used on goaltender Trenten Bennett) and defensive prospect Jeremy Hanzel.

Hanzel, 22 years old, was a sixth-round pick in 2023 by Colorado. Hanzel was acquired by Nashville in March of 2024 in the Yakov Trenin trade with the Colorado Avalanche. The 6-foot-1 defenseman had a monster final season in the WHL (2023-24), posting 60 points in 66 games. He has since played in nine AHL games over the last two seasons, but spent the majority of his first full professional season with Atlanta of the ECHL last year (61 games).

Hanzel is by no means a prospect that should be valued in the upper echelons of the system, however, acquiring him as well as a draft pick, in a deal that also shedded an extremely valuable $3.15 million in cap space was a solid first move of the offseason by New Jersey.

Re-signing One Of Their Own

For the longest time, it appeared that the Devils were going to lose veteran goaltender Jake Allen to free agency. Due to an extremely weak goaltending free agent class, several projected that Allen may receive a deal in excess of $5 million annually. However, the night prior to free agency, continuing into the morning, the reporting changed citing that the Devils were doing everything they could to bring Allen back to New Jersey.

Right before free agency opened, the Devils got their wish and it was announced that Jake Allen signed a five-year contract worth $9 million in total. This translating to a minuscule $1.8 million annual cap hit. Given the pre-free agent rumors of a potential deal in excess of $5 million annually and AFP Analytic’s projection of a deal worth $7 million over two years, the contract signed by Allen surprised. This given how strong of a value it is to New Jersey.

Of course, the main factor enabling the deal to happen was the term of five years. Allen is 34 years old and by the conclusion of the contract will be 39. That term enabled the team to decrease the average annual value of the contract to under $2 million. Even by doing so, with a rising cap, that deal by 2029 will only be worth around $1.3 million, according to Advanced Hockey Stats. Even with Allen does regress, and goalies typically regress at older ages than others, his cap hit will be so minuscule it won’t exactly matter. Additionally, if New Jersey really needed to, a buy-out of a contract so small would bring with it minimal penalties.

Numbers aside, another reason this deal is strong is how good Allen was for the Devils last season. The former St. Louis Blues’ netminder posted a 19.07 goals saved above expected (GSAx), according to Evolving Hockey, and a 0.906 save percentage across 31 games. That GSAx figure raked 14th among 98 goaltenders last season. After posting a positive GSAx in 2024-25, Allen has now done so in four of the last six seasons and over this time ranks 24th (of 165) in the league at a plus-26.46.

A goaltending duo of Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen for a combined $5.93 million, when considering value, is arguably the best in the league. Locking down Allen at the cheap rate also provides insurance in the event that Markstrom does not return next season after his deal expires. Another great piece of business by the Devils.

Dipping Into NHL Free Agency

The Devils made two notable NHL-level additions on the first day of free agency. They brought in help to their middle/bottom six by signing forwards Connor Brown and veteran Evgenii Dadonov. Brown was signed to a four-year deal worth $3 million annually. Meanwhile, Dadonov was signed to a one-year deal worth $1 million plus a plethora of incentives.

Brown, 31 years old, has a resurgent year in Edmonton this past season, posting 30 points to go along with an additional nine (five goals) in 20 games during Edmonton’s second-straight run to a Stanley Cup finals loss. The analytics really given Brown his due, as he has been one of the stronger defensive wingers in the league in recent years. Specifically, on the penalty kill.

According to Evolving Hockey’s expected goals above replacement metric (xGAR), Brown ranked 17th among forwards last season in shorthanded xGAR. In all, his on-ice metrics ranked in the league’s 67th percentile and defensively was in the 89th percentile. Brown played an extremely valuable role for an Edmonton team that once again went to the Stanley Cup.

Overall, throughout his career, Brown has scored at a 35-point and 15-goal pace. He has surpassed the 20-goal mark twice across his 10-year NHL career. He stays out of the penalty box (averages about 15 minutes of penalty time per season), doesn’t hit a ton, but excels a great bit in transition and chance generation for others. He is a perfect fit for any team’s third line, while also having played up the lineup in his career. Additionally, he was signed at a rate right around expectation (AFP Analytics projected three years at $2.9 million annually).

Meanwhile, Dadonov also had a resurgence of sorts last year in Dallas. He posted 40 points (20 goals) over 80 games while spending some time on the Stars’ second line. In his previous season, despite it being cut short, he scored at a 20-goal pace as well. Most notably, over the last two years, 86% of his points have been at five-on-five, an area the Devils must improve in.

One of the keys of Dadonov’s game, which is likely an area the Devils targeted to improve given their struggles last season, is his speed. Last season, Dadonov was in the 92nd percentile in speed bursts over 20 mph and 96th percentile in top skating speed, according to NHL EDGE. A speedy, even strength point producer, who has posted 65-plus points twice in his career, at a rate of only $1 million-plus, is a great bet to make by the Devils.

Bringing Back Glass

A lot was made prior to Monday’s qualifying offer deadline regarding center Cody Glass. Prior to the deadline, it was widely reported that the Devils were not going to qualify him, making Glass an unrestricted free agent, with the hope of bring him back on a cheaper deal. That report was then followed with speculation that Glass would have a lot of suitors, and, New Jersey eventually changed their stance and ended up qualifying the restricted free agent come Monday evening.

Needing to bring back Glass was an underrated key to this offseason. The Devils acquired the 26-year-old center from the Pittsburgh Penguins, last season, in exchange for forwards Chase Stillman and Max Graham, as well as a third-round pick in 2027. He played quite well down the stretch for the Devils, posting seven points in 14 regular season games; a 41-point pace over 82 games. Glass ranked first on the team in Corsi-for percentage (CF%) and fifth in expected goals-for percentage (xGF%). The area Glass really excelled was defense, ranking in the league’s 96th percentile.

A couple days following the qualifying of Glass, the Devils officially announced a new contract, a two-year deal worth $2.5 million annually (figure equal to his qualifying offer). He will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the contract. AFP Analytics projected Glass’ new deal at three years and $2,903,836.99 per season. So, once again, the Devils did well in the contract they handed out.

It’s One-For-One

General manger Tom Fitzgerald completed his second trade of the offseason, a minor one, on Wednesday. The team announced that they sent forward Shane Bowers to San Jose in exchange for forward Thomas Bordeleau. Bordeleau is a restricted free agent, so a new deal is needed.

Bordeleau is an intriguing prospect as he is listed at only 5-foot-10 and 174 pounds. He is 23 years old and was a second-round pick in 2020. After playing his college hockey at the University of Michigan (67 points in 61 games total), he debuted professionally in 2021-22, posting five points in eight NHL games and three points in two AHL games.

Despite only playing 44 games in his NHL career, Bordeleau has posted 18 points in extremely limited play time. A majority of his professional career has, of course, come in the AHL where he has 107 points in 161 games. Last season, he had 38 points in 59 games for the Barracuda.

On the flip side, the Devils acquired Bowers from Boston in exchange for defenseman Reilly Walsh in 2023. The 25-year-old went on to play 108 games with the Utica Comets (AHL) after the trade, posting 31 points and a minus-26 rating. He skated in 12 NHL games for the Devils over this time and was unable to post a point.

Certainly not an earth-shattering deal by any means. However, with the Sharks seemingly wanting to give Bordeleau a change of scenery, the Devils capitalized and landed the player that certainly had a lot more potential than the one they gave up.

Depth Signings

The Devils also made a plethora of depth signings, mainly for the AHL, on Tuesday. The one individual that has the best chance to appear in a game next season is Dennis Cholowski.

Cholowski signed a one-way, one-year deal to return to the team worth $775,000. The 27-year-old came over from the New York Islanders last season, in exchange for forward Adam Beckman, and skated in six regular season games and two playoff games for the Devils. Unfortunately, despite being a smaller sample size, he struggled, owning the third-worst Corsi-for percentage (CF%) and third-worst expected goals-for percentage (xGF%) on the team in the regular season.

Despite being a one-way deal, an individual like Cholowski would likely pass through waivers without issue. As a seventh defenseman, bringing back the left-handed Cholowski is a fine move. Cholowski will enter this season with 156 NHL games played and 241 AHL games under his belt.

In three other moves, New Jersey gave out two-way deals to forwards Marc McLaughlin and Angus Crookshank as well as defenseman Calen Addison.

McLaughlin was acquired by the Devils last season, in exchange for defenseman Daniil Misyul from Boston, and had six points in 16 AHL games for Utica while also playing two for New Jersey. McLaughlin, 25 years old, has played in 185 career AHL games (64 points) and 28 games at the NHL level.

Crookshank, 25 years old, was a fifth-round pick in 2018. He had spent the entirety of his professional career in the Senators’ organization, playing in 202 AHL games (77 goals, 149 points) and 21 NHL games (four points). Over the last three seasons, he has averaged 24 goals per season, posting at least 22 in each one. His career-high point total was 47 in 2022-23, he had 40 in 62 games last season.

Addison, the only defenseman of the group, also has the most NHL experience. The former second-round pick in 2018 has played in 152 NHL games between the Minnesota Wild and San Jose Sharks. The on-ice metrics are not kind at all for the young defenseman, as his total impact ranked in the sixth percentile. As far as his AHL career, he has played in 139 games, posting a strong 94 points. Last season, he had 31 assists and 36 points in 62 games. He has not played in the NHL since 2023-24 with San Jose.