News Article: Status of Devils RFA'S - Dobber Prospects

[Jersey Fan 12]

As in most cases when it comes to RFA's the club has the upper hand when it comes to negotiations. Can't see a scenario where Blackwood isn't signed but less certain about Bratt.

And curious as to why this has dragged into December.

Is it just the uncertainty of when the season begins or are there other factors at play?

November 31-in-31: New Jersey Devils

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[Guttersniped]

There hasn’t been anything reported about those deals by the Athletic Devils reporter who’s embarrassingly the team’s only remaining beat reporter*.

I’m annoyed but not concerned. According to Cap Friendly there’s 34 unsigned RFAs so they aren’t they only team taking their sweet time. It often takes the deadline of training camp to get RFAs without arbitration rights signed. Severson signed his deal on 9/11/17, Wood signed 9/22/18, Butcher signed 7/31/19, Zacha signed 9/10/19 and Nico signed 10/18/19 (a year early obviously),

*Randy Miller, a Yankee beat reporter, is also writing Devils articles now that Chris Ryan was moved to the Jets beat and Dave Rivera covers the ridiculous “Atlantic Region” which includes the Devils (and every other sports team) after Abbey Mastracco was fired.

 

[Forge]

Honestly, Blackwood's deal is already done, you just need to cross out all the instances of the names "Tristan Jarry" and "Pittsburgh Penguins"

 

[Davegarri]

It'll get done as soon as the season announcement takes place. I'm not worried. There's no rush at this point

 

[ninetyeight]

Any guesses on the contract lengths and values? I assume Bratt is gonna get signed same length as Nico, although I guess there is a possibility for a bridge deal if he and his agent also believe he'll be a 60-70pts player. I'm guessing 7yr 4m aav. Blackwood I'm guessing a 2-3y bridge being a goalie and all, 3-4m as well.

 

[ScottyK]

There hasn’t been anything reported about those deals by the Athletic Devils reporter who’s embarrassingly the team’s only remaining beat reporter*.

I’m annoyed but not concerned. According to Cap Friendly there’s 34 unsigned RFAs so they aren’t they only team taking their sweet time. It often takes the deadline of training camp to get RFAs without arbitration rights signed. Severson signed his deal on 9/11/17, Wood signed 9/22/18, Butcher signed 7/31/19, Zacha signed 9/10/19 and Nico signed 10/18/19 (a year early obviously),

*Randy Miller, a Yankee beat reporter, is also writing Devils articles now that Chris Ryan was moved to the Jets beat and Dave Rivera covers the ridiculous “Atlantic Region” which includes the Devils (and every other sports team) after Abbey Mastracco was fired.

Abby should of been fired into the sun the second she even thought of asking the completely ridiculous question if Marty would go into the hall as a Blue

 

[OmNomNom]

Abby should of been fired into the sun the second she even thought of asking the completely ridiculous question if Marty would go into the hall as a Blue

Her insistence on being objective bothered me, bc I felt it was an excuse for subpar reporting. Like, TG (yes, I know we were spoiled) was objective, but he was amazing and you could read it

 

[RyGuy]

Any guesses on the contract lengths and values? I assume Bratt is gonna get signed same length as Nico, although I guess there is a possibility for a bridge deal if he and his agent also believe he'll be a 60-70pts player. I'm guessing 7yr 4m aav. Blackwood I'm guessing a 2-3y bridge being a goalie and all, 3-4m as well.

I like Bratt as much as the next guy, but I wouldnt sign him to a 7 year deal. He still has to put up the numbers to prove hes a bonafide top 6 forward.

 

[glenwo2]

I like Bratt as much as the next guy, but I wouldnt sign him to a 7 year deal. He still has to put up the numbers to prove hes a bonafide top 6 forward.

huh?

He's one of the Devils more talented forwards we got(which aren't many at this moment aside from Nico, Jack, Goose, and Palms).

He's got great vision, terrific hands, has a sneaky first-step that helps him get by the opposing 'D' on a breakaway(full and partial), and an underrated shot.

The 1st half of last season he wasn’t getting top 6 opportunities & being benched while producing practically the most on the team.

They were putting Wood ahead of him and were moving him all over the lineup.

They eventually put Hughes with Nico & Palmieri instead of Bratt.

When they finally gave him consistency with Zacha & Gusev for the last 20 games he put up 8G 8A which is a 32G 32A per 82 pace.

He’s not a 30+ Simmonds hoping to get his scoring back.

He’s 22 expecting to be better so why risk losing him when he's proven more than any of the other young players not named Nico? (Jack is still a work in progress)

 

[Oneiro]

Bratt at 6+ years for 4M, inject that into my veins.

 

[ninetyeight]

I think you have to take some chances with contracts in order to compete in a salary cap era. You pay for potential and if it backfires then you'll just have to deal with that. I'm more hesitant with goalies, but Bratt has already proven he could be a 60pts forward (if he stays healthy), so I don't think any (realistic) deal will be that bad. But if we sign Bratt for a 2-3y deal and he becomes (close to) a ppg player, it might get expensive.

 

[Call Me Al]

i think bratt gets 3-4 years to keep him as an rfa. if i’m him i’m hoping for a breakout that will make his next contract much more lucrative

 

[MartyOwns]

I like Bratt as much as the next guy, but I wouldnt sign him to a 7 year deal. He still has to put up the numbers to prove hes a bonafide top 6 forward.

agreed. let’s see him stick in a top 6 role first, or even just stay healthy for a season. you don’t give a guy who hasn’t hit 20 goals in a season 7 years lol. he’ll get a bridge, and then cash in if he exceeds expectations. that’s how it goes

 

[AfroThunder396]

If you can lock Bratt into a 6-8 year deal right now you do that easily.

 

[Hisch13r]

I'd be surprised if both Blackwood and Bratt aren't like 2-3 year bridges

 

[glenwo2]

^^^ I'd be surprised if Blackwood isn't; not so for Bratt.

 

[Frozen Lake]

If you can lock Bratt into a 6-8 year deal right now you do that easily.

I wouldn’t, but I also would not be mad if we did

Id like to see more consistency from Bratt before signing a long-term deal. I see top-6 potential but some times he plays at a much lower level. Perhaps this was due to Hynes

Id prefer Jesper sign to a 1-2 year deal , and then sign him 5-7 years after he likely had his best season. This costs us a mil or so in AAV but also prevents us from making a mistake signing a guy long term who could end up in our bottom-6 in a year or two if he doesn't take that next step

 

[Frozen Lake]

As for Blackwood, id prefer him long-term as I think him and Carter Hart are comparable (only a year separation).

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

you absolutely just give Blackwood the same deal that Jarry just got

I would be fine locking up Bratt for longer though

 

[Guttersniped]

Every single young RFA goalie coming off his ELC gets a bridge deal, I can’t think of a single example of one who didn’t, so the question is really 2 or 3 years with Blackwood.

I can see wanting to go a longer with Bratt, maybe not as long as some are suggesting here but still longer, but other teams didn’t give their younger RFAs any deals longer than 3 years this off season and 2 years was pretty much the norm. There may be so much uncertainty that teams would rather keep the cost down on RFAs and teams are punting on long term deals right now if they can. I’d be pretty stunned if it was longer than 3 years.

 

[glenwo2]

Every single young RFA goalie coming off his ELC gets a bridge deal, I can’t think of a single example of one who didn’t, so the question is really 2 or 3 years with Blackwood.

I can see wanting to go a longer with Bratt, maybe not as long as some are suggesting here but still longer, but other teams didn’t give their younger RFAs any deals longer than 3 years this off season and 2 years was pretty much the norm. There may be so much uncertainty that teams would rather keep the cost down on RFAs and teams are punting on long term deals right now if they can. I’d be pretty stunned if it was longer than 3 years.

If that's how things are in the league right now in regards to RFAs, then a 3-year deal is likely coming Bratt's way, though he should get a year or two more on that but that's just me.

Like a "5 year, 4 mill per" deal or something.

 

[ninetyeight]

5yr goes to ufa territory, so I think it's either bridge rfa after expire or 7 or possibly even 8yr straightaway.

 

[FooteBahl]

With camps allegedly starting three weeks or so from now, it’s time to get a move on it and these guys.

 

[NJ Fan 12]

If you can lock Bratt into a 6-8 year deal right now you do that easily.

I'd prefer he earns that kind of deal. Nothing in his game to this point suggests that kind of long-term potential. Sounds almost Severson-esque to give a player that kind of deal. Particularly in the current environment.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

I'd prefer he earns that kind of deal. Nothing in his game to this point suggests that kind of long-term potential. Sounds almost Severson-esque to give a player that kind of deal. Particularly in the current environment.

Excuse me but weren't you the guy that said he would rather protect McLeod and Bastian over Bratt in the expansion draft.....?

What does Severson have to do with anything? Severson is signed to one of the better deals for DMen in the league