One week ago, the New Jersey Devils tendered an offer sheet to Mammoth RFA Barrett Hayton. We talked about the merits of whether or not Utah might match it while waiting out the seven day period that Utah had to ultimately make a decision.
Today, they made their decision. According to Elliotte Friedman, Utah has indeed matched the offer sheet for Hayton and will retain his services for the next calendar year. The Mammoth confirmed the news themselves on Twitter so it’s official.
Hayton is now signed
for one year at $4.775M and the Mammoth will essentially walk him to UFA next summer as they’re not allowed to trade him per the CBA, so he may be a name to mentally file away for a year from now when it comes to players Sunny Mehta will target moving forward. But for the Devils, this simply means that for the 2026-27 season, Hayton will not be a member of the Devils.
I hesitate to use the phrasing that the Devils “lost Hayton” when they technically never had him in the first place. But they are missing out on a player that they were hoping to have play for them and could’ve played an important role. Sunny Mehta certainly knew this was a possibility when he decided to tender the offer sheet, but it is now officially a reality. Let’s look at how Sunny Mehta might pivot now that he’s knows Hayton isn’t coming to New Jersey.
The Devils Current Situation
With the Hayton offer sheet being matched, the Devils currently sit at $7.627,500 in cap space according to Puckpedia. With only Topias Vilen remaining among their RFAs, that number is unlikely to change all that much since Vilen is likely Utica-bound and won’t command significant money. It should be noted though that it includes David Rittich at $1M AAV and Lenni Hameenaho, who can be sent down to Utica, so that number is a) flexible and b) probably closer to $9.5M in reality.
In addition to the extra first round picks the Devils picked up from the Simon Nemec trade, they also retain the 2027 second-round pick that would’ve gone to Utah as compensation for Hayton. The Devils are short three draft picks in 2027 from previous trades….a 3rd (Cody Glass), 4th (Declan Chisholm), and 6th (part of what they attached to dump Ondrej Palat). It’s not a huge concern that they’re down draft capital in 2027….Mehta has already shown he’ll move down in the draft if the situation warrants and pick up more draft capital. It just means its more likely the Devils begin dipping into their 2028 and 2029 allotment of picks if they’re not moving one of the first rounders.
Of course, there are ways to create more cap space and/or pick up additional draft capital if the Devils want. They could trade away players they deem expendable. I would think the Devils missing out on Hayton makes them less likely to trade a natural center away, so that might be good news for Cody Glass and/or Nick Bjugstad and their chances of sticking around this season. Generally speaking though, I think Dawson Mercer makes sense as a “maximize his value via trade now” candidate. Stefan Noesen has light trade protection and moving him would free up $2.75M. Brenden Dillon is 35 years old making $4M AAV and also has light trade protection. All of them are players that Mehta inherited from the previous regime. I’m not saying the Devils definitely will or won’t trade any of them, but I think all options are on the table.
Unrestricted Free Agency
If there’s one potential positive to come out of the offer sheet saga, it’s that most of the options that were sitting out there in unrestricted free agency at 6pm ET on July 1 are still out there.
Granted, there isn’t a realistic 3C option sitting out there in free agency….I don’t consider an aging Adam Henrique off an injury-plagued season to be that guy at this stage of his career. But there isn’t a shortage of middle six wingers that the Devils may or may not consider.
Anthony Mantha, Patrick Kane, Patrik Laine, Michael Bunting, Vladimir Tarasenko, and Eeli Tolvanen highlight the winger options available. Mantha is probably the best combination of production and age of those options, although he did go on a shooting bender last year. There have been questions about his consistency and he did disappear during the Penguins playoff series loss to the Flyers. He may be a big body, but he doesn’t really play the prototypical power forward game. He’d also be joining his sixth team at the age of 32, which at least raises the question where if he’s so good, why hasn’t he stuck in any one place?
Of those options, I’d probably have the most interest in Tarasenko given his track record of being a consistent goal scorer and his recent track record of taking shorter term deals. But I think there are better options in the trade market.
Restricted Free Agency
While its possible Mehta could look at another offer sheet, I think that route is unlikely.
The July 5th deadline for restricted free agents to elect for salary arbitration has come and gone. Fifteen players have gone that route, a list that includes Jason and Nick Robertson, Connor McMichael, Cole Perfetti, Cole Sillinger, and Trevor Zegras, among others.
Now, I suppose its possible the Devils keep tabs on some of these situations around the league. There’s always the possibility a team ‘walks away’ from a ruling they deem unfavorable if the amount is north of $4,950,080 for player-elected arbitration, which would in turn make said player an unrestricted free agent. Or perhaps the team doesn’t walk away, but they consider trading the player. Or perhaps the team utilizes the second buyout window and another player shakes loose. All of that is covered here.
What I would not count on is the Devils turning around and, say, topping the Leo Carlsson offer sheet by targeting Connor Bedard or Adam Fantilli. Nor do I think they target lesser known RFAs such as Colton Dach or Collin Graf.
Taking Another Look At The Trade Market
This would be my preferred route towards attacking the remainder of the offseason, but it has its own set of challenges.
There’s not an obvious center candidate that comes to mind. Keep in mind, it’s a coveted position around the league. There’s a reason why the Flyers are trying to poach Leo Carlsson from the Ducks at $18M AAV. Top-line centers are almost impossible to find, and even a third line center like Hayton was ultimately retained when the Devils tried going the offer sheet route there.
Obviously, the big name at that position on the trade block is Dylan Larkin. According to reliable Red Wings beat writer Helene St. James, Larkin has not expanded his trade list beyond Florida, Minnesota, and Vegas. Even if the Devils could muscle their way onto that list, Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman is looking for roster players, not futures. There’s a lot of roadblocks that would have to be cleared for this to become a reality.
If you can’t get another center right now, perhaps the best option is to pivot to winger.
One name that might make sense, given recent developments in the league, is Chris Kreider.
Kreider is signed for one more year at $6.5M AAV and can block a trade to 15-teams, so that may be a potential hurdle to clear. But he is a big body winger who has made a living by consistently getting to the front of the net and cleaning up the garbage in front.
I bring him up specifically because I expect Anaheim to ultimately match the Leo Carlsson offer sheet. They’ve already paid Pavel Mintyukov this offseason, they still need to take care of Cutter Gauthier at some point, and they have holes on their blueline once you get past Jackson Lacombe. While I’m not suggesting they simply give away Kreider, that might be a situation where a potential hockey trade could be made to give the Ducks more wiggle room with the cap.
There are other scoring wingers that are out there, such as Kirill Marchenko. It should be noted though that Don Waddell said he’ll be a Blue Jacket when the season starts. I don’t know what Mehta thinks of an underperforming forward like Connor Zary or Kent Johnson, but they’re theoretically available. Most of the obvious available names are big contract, big salaried forwards that Vancouver would probably love to get off of their books such as Elias Pettersson, Jake DeBrusk, and Brock Boeser, but the Devils should probably want no part of any of those commitments.
I leave you with one more center option that I just thought of…..could Tomas Hertl be had?
Vegas is not in the business of looking to subtract from their roster. This is a team that did just go to a Cup Final, after all. But Vegas has shown they will kick any player to the curb if they can improve, and as long as Larkin is on the trade block, Vegas has to be considered a threat to land him despite their lack of tradable assets.
Hertl has 4 years and $6.75M AAV remaining on his deal (San Jose is retaining $1.25M on his original $8M AAV), so he is not a cheap option. He also has a three-team approved trade list that New Jersey (or Detroit for that matter) probably isn’t on, so he’d likely need to be convinced to move.
I can see why Vegas would potentially move off of Hertl if it meant getting Larkin. Larkin is younger and arguably the better player at this stage of their careers.
Hertl isn’t as good defensively as he was in his prime in San Jose, but he does check other boxes in terms of offensive production. I just fail to see what the draw would be for him to consider New Jersey outside of a potential reunion with Timo Meier, as they were productive together in San Jose. If Sunny Mehta wants to maximize Meier, perhaps reuniting him with a player he’s familiar with is the way to do so.
Again, its probably not a realistic option, but I’m trying to look for an off the board option that makes sense if you squint hard enough.
Final Thoughts
I think if I were Sunny Mehta, here’s how I’d approach this situation.
First of all, I think adding another center is probably more of a luxury than a necessity at this point and its not realistic. I’m not saying don’t try to improve over Cody Glass if you can, but there’s just not a lot of options out there. I get why adding another center is an attractive idea, but I do think with the Devils having added Evan Rodrigues and Jesper Boqvist via the Jacob Markstrom trade, they have some options down the middle should a rash of injuries strike.
The Devils have the future assets where going into the season and having flexibility to actually do something in season is probably the smartest thing they can do. You don’t know what opportunities will ultimately present themselves. Just because someone like Marchenko will start the season in Columbus doesn’t mean he’ll finish the season there. There might be a team that has a season so bad they decide its time to blow it up like Vancouver last year.
That said, you do need some help now if you’re the Devils. I don’t know how much term the remaining free agents can realistically command, but if I were Mehta, I’m looking to sign one of them for something in the 1-year, $3-4M range and take the rest of my cap space and assets into the season. I’ve already stated that my preference of the remaining UFA options is Tarasenko, but I suppose I could be talked into the other wingers.
