Doubt it. If he's going to succeed, it's probably not going to be with new Jersey.
Any success he'd have elsewhere isn't necessarily 1:1 with what he'd do for the devils
There is an available slot as a top 6 LW. If your expectation is a star winger sure, but a quality sniper making 900k, and then cheap deal for 4 RFA years is something you need to build a healthy cap structure. Give him next year in that role, let him cook. If things don't go well, then you move on and look to replace with Clarke or Gritysuk in that offensive role. We don't have the cap to bring in a high priced UFA winger.
Zucker, Toffoli, Hoffman, Tarasenko types. Teams do need them.
And he has shown he can snipe. He already does his strength EXCELLENTLY at the NHL level. And that does provide value.
If his price rn is a 2nd, who cares if it drops to a 3rd. The risk/reward strongly suggests keeping him. a 900k rental winger for the difference between a 2nd and 3rd is still a steal.
If it's a late 1st, again imo the value of a rental and upside is worth more than whatever his value will diminish by when he's an RFA.
We start getting into the teens, or a piece that helps us now and into the future, and that looks different in my eyes.
Who would you replace holtz with to fill that top 6 role? And if it's a higher priced player, what sacrifices are you making to other parts of the roster?
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