Sunny Mehta has just completed the busiest and most impactful stretch of his first offseason as general manager of the New Jersey Devils. With both the draft and free agent frenzy behind us, we now emerge from the vicious waves of the early offseason into the calmer waters of the rest of the summer. Obviously trades and free agent signings can still be made, but the months of July (post-Independence Day) and August are notoriously boring months on the NHL calendar. I’ll never forget how, around this
time last year, we were told over and over again how crazy the 2025 offseason is going to be, only for there to be an embarrassing lack of movement from organizations league-wide. We all complained about former general manager Tom Fitzgerald always sitting on his hands and doing nothing, but to be fair to him, he was far from alone.
But here we are a year later, with a new GM and a new outlook on this team’s future. And while New Jersey’s offseason thus far has not been anywhere close to as transformative as, say, Toronto’s or Edmonton’s or Anaheim’s or Philadelphia’s have been, Mehta has still made some impactful moves. So were the moves he’s made good ones? Any bad ones mixed in? Could things have gone any differently? And perhaps most interestingly, what else might be on the horizon? Let’s break down the first impressions I have of the 2026 offseason.
New Jersey Is In A Holding Pattern
Before we get into the more concrete aspects of this offseason, there is one important piece of business that is still up in the air: The Barrett Hayton situation. On July 1, Sunny Mehta and the Devils signed the Utah Mammoth center to an offer sheet: a one-year deal with an average annual value of $4.775M. Utah has seven days to decide whether they want to match it, or accept the compensation to let Hayton go to New Jersey, which in this case would be a 2027 second-round draft pick. In case you’re as bad at math as I am, that means Utah needs to figure out what they want to do by July 8, this coming Wednesday.
It’s highly likely the Mammoth take the full seven days, in order to jam New Jersey up as much as possible. It’s petty, but I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t do the same thing to a team trying to poach one of my players. So I can’t be mad at Utah for going that route. Nevertheless, this means that New Jersey’s offseason is in stasis at the moment while they wait to see if Hayton will be a Devil, or if they have $4.775M more to work with for the rest of the roster. Of course, moves can still be made during this window, but it’s certainly not advisable considering the uncertainty of this situation.
When I first heard this news, my gut reaction was that Utah would match this, even with the poison pill aspect of this offer sheet that would walk Hayton right to unrestricted free agency a year from now. But as more time has gone on, I find myself thinking more and more that Utah will let Hayton go. As of right now, I still lean towards the Mammoth matching the offer sheet, but whereas I was about 80-20 that they match last week, I think I’m about 55-45 they do it now. Essentially a coin flip.
I can’t sit here and tell you I’m deeply familiar with Hayton’s game. I have his hockey reference page and some resources like Natural Stat Trick and a few other public analytics models to go off of, but that’s about it. But even with my limited knowledge of Hayton, from what I’ve learned about him from all the stats and analytics, I think he would be a solid addition to this lineup. Even if I didn’t have those, my trust in Mehta is very high at this point in time, so I would have faith that this is a good move anyway. I’m rooting for this offer sheet to work, and we’ll have our answer on it by Wednesday.
But until then, the Devils are in a holding pattern, which means whatever additional moves Mehta has cooking up will have to wait. Will we see any other major transactions once the Hayton situation is finalized? I would guess that if the offer sheet works, Mehta will be less inclined to make other big moves. If it doesn’t work, I think he’ll take one or two more swings this offseason to bolster the roster.
Either way, keep an eye out for a resolution on Wednesday.
Sunny Mehta Has A Type
Whether the Hayton offer sheet works or not, it is yet more evidence that Mehta clearly has a certain player archetype that he values. After the draft a couple weekends ago, I wrote about the draft class and came to the conclusion based on the Devils’ picks that the traits Mehta values the most are a strong compete level, hockey IQ, transition skill, and production. It’s possible that Mehta is looking for different things in prospects that he doesn’t look for in current NHL players, but I worked under the assumption that this affinity for certain traits would be present across the board. Now that the initial wave of free agency has passed, Mehta has all but confirmed that these are the characteristics he wants out of his roster.
The most notable additions to the organization over the past couple of weeks have come in the form of Amadeus Lombardi, Declan Chisholm, Evan Rodrigues, Jesper Boqvist, and potentially Barrett Hayton. Meanwhile, the notable subtraction to the roster was Simon Nemec (don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about the addition of David Rittich or the subtraction of Jacob Markstrom. We’ll discuss them later on). Aside from maybe Chisholm, all those other players check a lot of the boxes that Mehta drafted for a couple weeks ago. And while none of these players are stars that we can comfortably plug into the top six or the top defense pairing, they’re all versatile, useful players that add desperately needed depth.
Mehta has thus far not done much to raise the ceiling of this team, but in my opinion, he’s done a LOT to raise the floor of this team. Yes, adding a surefire 30-goal scorer to play with either Nico Hischier or Jack Hughes would be nice. But that was always going to be tough to do considering the mess Tom Fitzgerald left Mehta with. So instead of addressing the top of the roster, Mehta plugged a bunch of holes in the middle and the bottom of the roster. And he did so with a wave of players who are smart, skilled, defensively sound, capable in transition, and, frankly, pains in the neck to play against. If we want to predict which players Mehta might target in free agency or trades moving forward, I think it’s clear we should look towards players that come with this skillset.
Center Of Attention
Aside from infusing this team with much-needed depth in general, Mehta also seemed to target one specific part of the roster to fill out with depth: the center position.
We all know about Jack Hughes’ struggles to stay healthy. Since 2021-22, he’s only had one season in which he’s avoided missing a lot of time: his magical 2022-23 in which he set a franchise record for points in a single season. Nico Hischier used to have a lot of trouble staying healthy as well. And while he did miss a little bit of time in 2023-24 and 2024-25, he still played 70+ games in both years and has averaged 77 games played over the last four seasons. Still, you can usually pencil Hischier in to miss a handful of games every year. Then there’s Cody Glass, who has emerged as a solid 3C for this team, but who always seems to miss time each season. He has never played more than 72 games in a season in his career, and he missed 12 contests in 2025-26 with New Jersey.
The point is, the Devils’ center group has trouble staying on the ice. And while there’s no replacing a player like Jack Hughes, New Jersey absolutely needed to upgrade their center depth chart to better protect themselves from injuries to their pivots. I would say that, if Hayton does not join the Devils, then mission tentatively accomplished. Lombardi is, at the very least, a serious injection of talent for AHL Utica, and at best, a really strong 4C that can actually chip in secondary scoring in a depth role. Meanwhile, Rodrigues and Boqvist can also fill in at center if needed, and while they’re certainly not gamebreakers, I do think they would project as upgrades over the typical injury replacements New Jersey has trotted out over the past few years. And yes, that includes Dawson Mercer in my opinion.
But the key here is Hayton. If Utah decides not to match the offer sheet and the Devils officially acquire Hayton, then the center depth chart takes a HUGE boost from where it was a season ago. Hayton will never live up to his draft pedigree as the fifth overall pick in 2018. But he’s still a more than capable middle six center who has a pair of 40+ point seasons under his belt, including a 20-goal, 46-point campaign just two years ago. And apart from the production, he’s strong defensively, decent in transition, and he’s got serious ability as a net-front scorer. Again, there is no replacing players like Hughes or Hischier. But if Hayton is in the mix, the Devils have ensured that their contingency plans run six or seven deep, and the fall off from Hughes or Hischier to their replacements is a drop to the next floor down, not a fall off a cliff.
And in the event that the Mammoth do match the offer sheet and the Devils can’t pry Hayton out of Utah, I believe that Mehta will pivot (pun intended) to offer-sheeting Connor Bedard adding one more quality center to the NHL roster this summer. Stacking the center position is always a winning strategy, but especially so with injury risks such as Hughes and Glass (and to a lesser extent Hischier) on the roster.
The Goaltending Triumvirate
Moving to the goaltending situation, one of the biggest pieces of news this offseason has of course been the trade of Jacob Markstrom. Somehow, someway, Metha got out from one of Fitzgerald’s biggest blunders before it even had a chance to really hurt the Devils. And not only that, he actually got value out of the deal! Up until the trade, I worked under the assumption that if Mehta was miraculously able to get Markstrom off the books, he would have to attach serious draft or prospect capital to the package to make it worth the while of the acquiring squad. Well I was dead wrong, as the Florida Panthers ponied up two useful NHL players in Rodrigues and Boqvist, as well as AHL depth in Ben Steeves. I guess I was too focused on New Jersey’s end of things, and didn’t take into account just how dire of a situation Florida was in when it came to their goaltending situation and cap sheet.
In any case, Markstrom is gone, and Jake Allen and Nico Daws (freshly signed to a two-year, $1.1M AAV contract) are left to inherit the goaltending duties in his place. Well, they were left to inherit it, until Mehta signed veteran goalie David Rittich to a one-year, $1M AAV contract last week. I still have concerns about the goaltending situation, as I’m sure many Devils fans do. But I do think that Allen, Daws, and Rittich can combine for a decent to great year of goaltending for this team.
The old adage of “goaltending is voodoo” is an old adage for a reason. Sure, there are a handful of reliable star goalies in the league such as Connor Hellebuyck or Igor Shesterkin or Andrei Vasilevskiy. But those are few and far between. And in a league where we just saw Brandon Bussi win the Cup (though to be fair, Freddie Anderson got Carolina a lot of the way there), and where we have recently seen the likes of Adin Hill, Stuart Skinner, Calvin Pickard, and Carter “No means no” Hart either win the Cup or bring their team to the brink of winning it, we have proof that the absence of a reliable, high-end starter is not a dealbreaker to be a contender. The Devils appear to be taking an Oakland Athletics-esque Moneyball approach to building their goaltending department this season. With two solid vets, a promising youngster, and a new goaltending coach that hopefully knows what they’re doing, it’s an approach that has risk, but can absolutely work.
One Fewer Forward?
Of course, the knock on effect of signing Rittich is that, presumably, the plan is to carry three goaltenders on the NHL roster. This would leave New Jersey with only one extra forward on the big squad.
Who would that one extra be? It’s tough to say, but I file it under “good problems to have”. I do think this means Lenni Hameenaho is all but assured of starting the year in the AHL, which I think is probably best for his development. That would leave Lombardi, Boqvist, and Bjugstad as the most likely odd men out. Over the weekend, Chris wrote an excellent piece on the current state of the Devils forward group and what the analytics would say is the optimal lineup. In it, he had Boqvist as the extra and Hameenaho and Lombardi starting the season in Utica. I think this would be fine in an ideal world, but the only problem is I believe Lombardi would have to sneak through waivers in order to start the season in the AHL. I could be wrong about that though, someone please correct me if I’m wrong. But if that is indeed the case, it would be a risk to try and send Lombardi down to begin the year.
That being said, that assumes that Hayton is a Devil, and there’s certainly no guarantee there. If Hayton remains in Utah, New Jersey becomes a much shallower team, but it would help alleviate the logjam at the bottom of the roster. As mentioned though, Hayton staying put means significantly more cap space to work with, so Mehta could certainly make another move to bring in an additional center.
So I’m not quite sure who I would play, who I would keep as an extra, and who I would send to Utica. But I guess at the end of the day, I would prefer to keep three goalies on the roster, go with one fewer forward, and risk losing someone to waivers as opposed to going with the traditional two-goalie roster. I think New Jersey as currently constructed would benefit more from the stability of a three-goalie rotation than having another forward on the roster.
A Defenseman On The Way Out?
Now let’s turn to the blue line. This is just speculation on my part, but I get the feeling a defenseman might be on the move. As things stand, the seven defensemen on the opening night roster would be Dougie Hamilton, Luke Hughes, Brett Pesce, Jonas Siegenthaler, Brendan Dillon, Johnny Kovacevic, and Declan Chisholm. The newly acquired Chisholm comes with a cap hit of $1.6M, which is steep for a seventh defenseman. Couple that with the fact that New Jersey seriously needs to inject some puck-moving ability into the defense corps anyway, and I can’t help but feel like another move is coming soon, with the idea being to get Chisholm into the top six and get a league-minimum player to fill that seventh spot.
Even though he isn’t what he once was, the Devils can’t afford to lose Hamilton at this point. Hughes is a young building block that isn’t going anywhere. Pesce is probably slightly overpaid but is still valuable. Kovacevic is probably immovable thanks to his full no-move clause. That leaves Dillon and Siegenthaler as the two most viable options to ship out. Of the two, I would prefer to keep Siegenthaler and move Dillon, because I think Siegenthaler has a higher ceiling, Siegenthaler is younger, and Dillon makes more money and has one fewer year left on his contract. Dillon’s full NMC shifted to a 10-team no-trade list on July 1, so he is easily movable at this point. He brings solid defense and great leadership to the table, but his offensive game is nonexistent. And considering the Devils are in need of offense from the backend in the worst way, it’s probably a tradeoff they should make.
Again, I have not seen any credible rumors or speculation about a defenseman trade coming. I’m just trying to read between the lines and follow along with what Mehta is trying to do.
Hischier Here To Stay
This probably qualifies as burying the lede here as this is clearly the most important development of the offseason, but Nico Hischier signing a five-year, $11.7M AAV extension on July 1 is a terrific bit of business for Mehta and the Devils. I really don’t have much to add to this, it’s just unambiguously good news for Hischier, the Devils, and Devils fans. Fantastic work all around!
The only thing I have to add to the conversation is what this might portend for future contract negotiations under Mehta. According to Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic, Hischier is projected to be worth $12.3M over the life of his five-year extension (which kicks in beginning with the 2027-28 season). This means that Hischier is expected to provide $600K of surplus value each year on average. That might not seem like a lot, and by itself it isn’t, but if replicated over an entire roster, the rewards could be enormous.
If Mehta is eventually able to craft a roster where, on average, players are making roughly half a million less than they’re actually worth, that would give the Devils WAY more wiggle room to add a star here, a couple middle of the lineup players there, a strong goaltender here, and so on. That kind of stuff can make the difference between being right up against the cap with no room to add, and having enough breathing room to add that one more piece that can get the Devils over the top.
In a world where we just saw Bowen Byram secure a $12.5M AAV on his own extension, this was good work by Mehta to get Hischier signed to a deal that, at least on the surface, should provide some surplus value over the course of the deal. And if Hischier, the captain, is taking a deal where he is slightly underpaid, maybe that inspires the rest of his teammates to do the same.
Gritsyuk Re-Ups As Well
Hischier wasn’t the only Devil who recently signed an extension. On June 30, on the eve of free agency, Mehta inked Arseny Gritsyuk to a three-year, $3.25M AAV contract. Gritsyuk put together a very good first season in North America. His counting stats don’t jump off the page (13 goals, 31 points in 66 games), but that’s still solid production for a rookie, even if he’s on the older side for a first-year player.
Perhaps more importantly than the raw production though, Gritsyuk had sparkling advanced metrics in his rookie season. When he was on the ice, the puck was usually in the other team’s end. This seems like a great sign that his counting stats are due for a big bump in 2026-27, especially if head coach Sheldon Keefe decides he’s earned a promotion into the top six. And if that happens, Gritsyuk’s $3.25M price tag will be one of the biggest bargains in the league.
Again, I don’t have much to add here either aside from the fact that this seems like another deal where Mehta was able to secure surplus value. It’s possible Gritsyuk flames out, but I really do think that possibility is miniscule. He showed me enough this past season to truly believe in him, to the point where I think his $3.25M AAV is going to be looked at as one of the biggest steals in the league very soon. More great work from Mehta.
Final Thoughts And Your Take
In all, I am very pleased with how the Devils’ offseason is going. Obviously I would like a top six scorer or a true stud defenseman, but adding pieces like those was always going to be unlikely. As mentioned, Sunny Mehta and the Devils weren’t able to substantially raise the ceiling of this team, but they were able to raise the floor significantly, especially if Utah does not match the offer sheet for Hayton. Mehta has also set a precedent of the type of player he favors, as well has how shrewd he’ll be in contract and trade negotiations. There’s work to do, but this is a good start to the offseason.
What do you make of New Jersey’s offseason so far? Which of the points that we discussed today do you feel is the most important? What is something not brought up that you think deserves mention? Do you believe other moves are coming soon? How would you evaluate Sunny Mehta’s first offseason as GM? As always, thanks for reading!
