Devils Acquire Toffoli, Extend Meier
Sergei Belski / USA TODAY Sports
The offseason is still in its early stages but the Devils have been very busy so far, extending Jesper Bratt, resigning Erik Haula, and trading away Damon Severson.
Last night, the Devils went out and made a big splash, acquiring forward Tyler Toffoli, who just had a career-best season with 34 goals and 73 points, from the Calgary Flames for Yegor Sharangovich and a third-round pick in this year’s draft.
Toffoli now joins an already stacked top-6 as he will now get the puck from the likes of Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, Nico Hischier, and others both at 5v5 and on the power play. Toffoli is an established veteran in the NHL and the Devils will be the fifth team he has played for in his career. He has a lot of playoff experience too as he has 44 career playoff points in 88 games and he was a part of the 2014 Los Angeles Kings, who won the Stanley Cup that season. Toffoli is 31 years old and will be a free agent after this upcoming season and the Devils have already thought about extending Toffoli at some point in the future.
Speaking of extensions, after last night’s big move, general manager Tom Fitzgerald wasted no time locking up another big piece of their top-6 as the Devils extended forward Timo Meier to an eight-year, $70.4 M deal. Meier, who New Jersey acquired before this past season’s trade deadline, has always expressed interest in getting extended by the Devils, and today, they finalized the deal.
Meier had 14 points in 21 games in the remainder of the regular season as a Devil and then in the playoffs, he had four points over the 11-game playoff run, and he recorded all four points in the second-round series versus Carolina. Not only is Meier’s offensive game elite but he can also impact the game physically as he is not afraid to deliver some checks and get under an opponent’s skin, which he did several times in the first-round series against the Rangers. Meier will turn 27 in October and he will look to continue building on what he started in his short time as a Devil last season.
Rich Graessle / NHL / Getty Images
One other move made by New Jersey to note was that the Devils traded goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood to the San Jose Sharks for a sixth-round pick in this year’s draft yesterday. When Blackwood first started getting playing time in the NHL, he impressed right away as he posted back-to-back shutouts in his third and fourth starts in net for New Jersey. He continued to show flashes of greatness and looked like he would be the goalie of the future for the Devils but injuries and poor defense around Blackwood dropped his numbers down below average and he has not been able to show off that talent he entered the league with on a consistent basis in the past couple of seasons.
He will be getting a fresh start in San Jose with a team that has had their own goaltending woes as of late and this trade all but confirms that as of right now, the tandem in New Jersey will be Vitek Vanecek and Akira Schmid.
After these recent moves, the Devils will continue to have a busy week with the 2023 NHL Entry Draft starting tonight in Nashville and free agency opening up on Saturday at noon.
