Blackjack
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Jesper Bratt, RW/LW 22 years old (7/30/98)
$2.75mm AAV (Devils can retain or take a contract back to make the cap work) Arbitration eligible RFA 2022, UFA eligible 2024
Style: Pure skill player with excellent offensive tools that excels in transition and in the offensive zone. Tremendous vision and passing, excellent small area skill. Near elite skater, though not elite speed. Can get pushed off the puck easily and not the most effective forechecker. Highly intelligent in the offensive zone and can drive a scoring line through his creativity.
Upside: Elite or near-elite analytics. Multiple statheads (MBM and JFresh) have him as a top player, offensive and defensive impacts, 5v5 scoring rates are also excellent. Talented shooter and finisher, although inconsistent. His somewhat underwhelming point totals should be considered in the context of ice time and very limited special teams deployment (I'll get to this in the downside). 3 more seasons of team control after this one, although arbitration hits after next season.
Downside: Whatever it is that the coaching staff sees that I do not and limits his ice time. He has not been effective on the power play recently, although he also hasn't gotten much opportunity. NJ's powerplay has major problems whether Bratt is on the ice or not, I think there's a good chance that he could plug in to an effective unit and improve his impacts here tremendously as his skillset is a great fit. He does have some consistency issues, but outside his rookie year (when I believe he was physically overwhelmed), it's usually just a game or two before he's playing well again. Has some frustrating moments when he bobbles pucks that he shouldn't or makes dumb passes, but these are pretty minor issues.
Return: NJ is clearly not ready to compete and would prefer futures, will consider established players with years of team control that address needs like RD or scoring winger (yeah, I know, but maybe your team also has a good player that the coaching staff inexplicably hates).
Would want at least a protected 1st round pick (prefer 2022) a la Kase, but hoping for a little more as I think Bratt has some advantages WRT age, injury history, and 5v5 scoring results.
$2.75mm AAV (Devils can retain or take a contract back to make the cap work) Arbitration eligible RFA 2022, UFA eligible 2024
Style: Pure skill player with excellent offensive tools that excels in transition and in the offensive zone. Tremendous vision and passing, excellent small area skill. Near elite skater, though not elite speed. Can get pushed off the puck easily and not the most effective forechecker. Highly intelligent in the offensive zone and can drive a scoring line through his creativity.
Upside: Elite or near-elite analytics. Multiple statheads (MBM and JFresh) have him as a top player, offensive and defensive impacts, 5v5 scoring rates are also excellent. Talented shooter and finisher, although inconsistent. His somewhat underwhelming point totals should be considered in the context of ice time and very limited special teams deployment (I'll get to this in the downside). 3 more seasons of team control after this one, although arbitration hits after next season.
Downside: Whatever it is that the coaching staff sees that I do not and limits his ice time. He has not been effective on the power play recently, although he also hasn't gotten much opportunity. NJ's powerplay has major problems whether Bratt is on the ice or not, I think there's a good chance that he could plug in to an effective unit and improve his impacts here tremendously as his skillset is a great fit. He does have some consistency issues, but outside his rookie year (when I believe he was physically overwhelmed), it's usually just a game or two before he's playing well again. Has some frustrating moments when he bobbles pucks that he shouldn't or makes dumb passes, but these are pretty minor issues.
Return: NJ is clearly not ready to compete and would prefer futures, will consider established players with years of team control that address needs like RD or scoring winger (yeah, I know, but maybe your team also has a good player that the coaching staff inexplicably hates).
Would want at least a protected 1st round pick (prefer 2022) a la Kase, but hoping for a little more as I think Bratt has some advantages WRT age, injury history, and 5v5 scoring results.
