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The Final AATJ Preview for NHL Free Agency 2025

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New Jersey Devils Introduce Sheldon Keefe
The guys who will determine our team’s future. | Photo by Rich Graessle/NHLI via Getty Images

As of noon tomorrow, teams will be free to sign all unrestricted free agents in addition to sending offer sheets to restricted free agents.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of Christmas in July, otherwise known as NHL free agency.

AATJ’s UFA Rundowns

If you would like to read our original free agency and pertinent offseason previews, please click the links below:

Additionally, we had specific profiles for Devils on expiring contracts.

Who Has Signed Since Then?

Of the players mentioned in the UFA target articles by Gerard and Jared, some players have taken themselves off the market by re-signing with their clubs. From the centers article, all of the top four options — John Tavares ($4,388,420 x 4), Sam Bennett ($8M x 8), Brock Nelson ($7.5M x 3), and Matt Duchene ($4.5M x 4) — have re-signed with their clubs. Ville Husso, who was traded from the Red Wings to the Ducks for future considerations in February, re-signed with the Ducks yesterday after Anaheim also acquired Petr Mrazek and two picks for John Gibson. Just within the last couple hours, the reports have been that Aaron Ekblad is re-signing in Florida for eight years and $6.1 million per year, and they also re-signed Brad Marchand to a six-year deal for $5.33 million per season.

Additionally, Claude Giroux re-signed in Ottawa for $2 million, while Columbus re-signed Ivan Provorov to a seven-year deal at $8.5 million per season. Some restricted free agents have also come off the board as well. Matthew Knies re-signed for $7.75 million per year for six years in Toronto. The Islanders signed Alex Romanov to an eight-year deal for $6.25 million per year. Former Devil Kevin Bahl signed a six-year deal with Calgary for $5.35 million per year. It is a good time to be a giant, physical defenseman or a center. Thankfully, the Devils do not need any more high-dollar defenders (as it turns out, the Kovacevic contract is a good deal in this market), but they do need a center.

And, of course, there is Mitch Marner. As Gerard wrote on Marner in his UFA winger article:

Let’s make this quick: Mitch Marner is obviously the biggest forward name set to test unrestricted free agency this summer. There’s going to be a lot of feelings from a lot of fan bases about wanting or not wanting Marner. The long and short of it for the Devils is they absolutely can’t afford him at an expected $13 million per season. With the amount of cap already tied up in long-term deals and raises due to guys coming off of ELCs, Marner is nothing but a pipe dream. Let’s move along to some options that actually could be possible.

As of 5:30 PM, the Vegas Golden Knights acquired Mitch Marner, with an eight-year and $12 million extension, from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Nic Roy. With Marner out of the picture, teams around the league can zero in on remaining free agents, and it is a quickly-shrinking class. It is even worse for the Devils that Nic Roy, a potential trade target, is off that board as well.

The Devils Qualified All NHL RFAs; Did Not Qualify AHLers

While I was very anxious this morning about the rumors that the Devils would not qualify Cody Glass, the news that came out this afternoon eased my concerns. The New Jersey Devils announced today at 4:54 PM that Luke Hughes and Cody Glass were extended qualifying offers. The Devils, however, did not qualify Nolan Foote, Isaac Poulter, or Santeri Hatakka. While Foote has struggled to stick in the NHL throughout several injuries and short call-ups, Isaac Poulter had an .898 save percentage in Utica after a solid 2023-24 AHL season. Hatakka, acquired in the Timo Meier trade and seen by many as an extra defenseman option going into last year, signed with HV71 of the Swedish Hockey League after a tough, injury-riddled season. The Devils will still be able to retain Foote and Poulter if they re-sign them to two-way deals, but other teams will also be able to negotiate with them starting tomorrow.

Personally, while I like Poulter, I am fine with letting him go. With Jakub Malek already expected to get the bulk of Utica minutes in 2025-26, I believe a Malek-Brodeur duo in the AHL, with Tyler Brennan getting more ECHL starts without Jeremy Brodeur to block him, would be the best path forward for the team. That might leave fans feeling a little too thin at goaltender, but the only real alternative is to re-sign Jake Allen and risk losing Nico Daws on waivers.

The League Has Sent Out Memo After Memo About Tampering

Ideally, there should be no news this year at 12PM Eastern Time. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly has warned teams time and time again about how deals should not even possibly be done by that time, and that the league will be looking to punish teams if they violate their rules. Daly sent out memos on November 25, 2024 and last week warning teams not to make contact with other teams’ players before free agency begins, and, prior to the very recent news that Vegas and Toronto completing the aforementioned trade swapping Mitch Marner for Nic Roy, it very much sounded like Toronto was ready to pounce on Vegas for violating the rules outlined in those memos. Nic Roy (in the second to last year of a five-year contract) is a pretty decent price to pay to avoid a league tampering investigation.

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Personally, I fully support any aggrieved teams going after GMs who tampered prior to free agency this year. If the league is going to send out memos to the effect of, “do not negotiate with free agents who are not yours prior to July 1” and a handful of teams (contenders, no less) do exactly that, the league should come down with a hammer. NHL insiders obviously do not make keeping the spirit of exclusivity in tact an easy task, but if the GMs actually listened to Bill Daly, we should not see deals right off the bat at noon. I kind of expect it to happen anyway, though, and I hope the league does follow through on their threats to teams.

What Else Has New Jersey Done Prior to July 1?

The Devils signed Juho Lammikko on June 15. Just a few days later, they traded Erik Haula to the Nashville Predators for a fourth round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft (used on Trenten Bennett) and Jeremy Hanzel. So, they sent out a third-line center option and brought in a fourth-line center option, clearing a fair amount of cap space in the process. That leaves their NHL roster looking something like this (unsigned RFAs in italics, and yes, I am assuming Gritsyuk and Hameenaho make the team):

Meier-Hischier-Noesen
Gritsyuk-Hughes-Bratt
Palat-Mercer-Hameenaho
Cotter-Glass-Lammikko

Hughes-Pesce
Dillon-Hamilton
Siegenthaler-Nemec

Markstrom
Daws

Injured: Johnny Kovacevic
Extra: Kurtis MacDermid

Looking at this, the Devils have a few clear needs. They need, at minimum, two NHL forwards and an extra defenseman. Johnny Kovacevic will not be ready for the start of the season, given his knee surgery, so they need a plan in place to take the team to the New Year or later. Meanwhile, trade protection for Ondrej Palat and Dougie Hamilton drops to 10-team trade lists tomorrow, so the Devils will have more options to create cap space, if they want to make a bigger splash in free agency.

Top Targets for Tomorrow?

With Luke Hughes and Cody Glass needing contract extensions, the Devils could see their available cap number drop to the $3-4 million range without shedding any additional salary. With 19 healthy players and Kovacevic under NHL contract, they need to jump on any available NHL talent they can afford. In the case they do not move Palat, I can see a few possible options for what they need, including centers Jack Roslovic (expiring $2.8 million deal), Adam Gaudette (expiring league-minimum deal), Nick Bjugstad (expiring $2.1 million deal), and Lars Eller (expiring $2.45 million deal). Signing Roslovic, Bjugstad, or Eller would bring them very close to the cap ceiling, possibly without room for another contract, while signing Gaudette should allow them to continue adding near-minimum contracts. These kinds of signings would allow the Devils to push Dawson Mercer to wing, possibly reuniting him with Nico Hischier or Jack Hughes in the top six.

If the Devils really want to be active, it is practically mandatory to trade Ondrej Palat. Trading Palat would allow them to step up into the next rung of free agency targets, including Pius Suter, who is due a big raise from his $1.6 million contract with Vancouver, which he signed after being non-qualified by Detroit in 2023. Clearing $6 million from Palat’s contract could even set them up to contend for Nikolaj Ehlers or Brock Boeser, if either are inclined to take less money than what they could get to compete for a Stanley Cup. If the Devils added either, I would assume Mercer and Glass stay at center, since Mercer would likely benefit from having a scoring winger on the third line. Aside from the more expensive options, there are also veteran scoring wingers who might be available, including James Van Riemsdyk and Jeff Skinner.

While it would have been difficult to predict these before today, there has been a slew of non-qualified RFAs who will become unrestricted tomorrow. They include:

  • Pontus Holmberg, who had 19 points in 68 games at center and wing for Toronto
  • Oliver Wahlstrom, who was non-QO’d by Boston after a difficult season
  • Phillipp Kurashev, who had 14 points in 51 games with Chicago after a 54-point season the year before
  • Nikolai Kovalenko, who had 20 points in 57 games in his rookie season for Colorado and San Jose with decent underlying numbers
  • Ty Smith, who did well in limited action for Carolina and may be a 7D option until Kovacevic’s return
  • Zac Jones, who played well for the Rangers in 46 games but was often frozen out by Peter Laviolette

Are any of these players perfect? No. But they would fall under the category of players who can be had for a price that the New Jersey Devils can definitely afford. They are also young, have room to grow, and may have shown signs of being more in the not-too-distant past. I might really like to see them grab Pontus Holmberg, who has a history of strong defensive play, to reunite him with Sheldon Keefe and give the Devils’ coach another two-way option at center or wing.

Aside from Zac Jones and Ty Smith, seventh defender options for the Devils include Brendan Smith, Jon Merrill, Calvin de Haan, Mike Reilly, and Oliver Kylington. I would prefer that the Devils keep themselves to cheaper options amongst the blueliners, as they do not really have the roster space for players who will demand top playing time. Tom Fitzgerald has the task of adding offense to this hockey club while dealing with their cap constraints, and the defense is thankfully already set for the 2025-26 season. So, he should focus on the guys up front, for the most part.

All that said, free agency should be fun as always. We will be here at All About the Jersey to cover what happens, and we will have opinions on the moves that Fitzgerald makes tomorrow and over the next couple of weeks. Here is to a fresh NHL season.

Your Thoughts

What do you think of the free agency picture tomorrow? Do you think the Devils will find themselves outbid in an increasingly small market? Or do you think they will be able to find what they need? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.