The New Jersey Devils opened up the 2023 unrestricted free agency period by making a few small moves to bolster their depth.
They started by re-signing fourth line stalwarts Michael McLeod and Nathan Bastian. McLeod signed a 1-year contract with a $1.4 million cap hit and will be a restricted free agent next offseason. Bastian signed a 2-year contract with a $1.3 million cap hit and will be an unrestricted free agent when his deal is up.
Both players have been close friends since their junior days and they’re staying together in New Jersey.
The team officially announced the signing of both players.
McLeod and Bastian play an important role on this team. McLeod is one of the best faceoff men in the league with a 60.6% in the circle. Bastian seems to have that mysterious ‘glue guy’ effect which causes the team to win with him on the ice. The Devils were 33-7-3 during the 2022-23 season with Bastian in the lineup as opposed to 19-15-5 without him.
Another move they made was trading for Dallas Stars defenseman Colin Miller in exchange for a 2025 5th round pick.
This was also made official by the team.
Miller is a right-shot defenseman who grades out well defensively on both The Athletic’s and JFresh’s analytic models. On The Athletic’s model, he has a market value of $8.3 million, his cap hit is only $1.9 million. For an, in all likelihood, a third pairing or 7th defenseman, that’s tremendous value. While he would never get that type of money in the real world, that number speaks volumes about what he brings to the table. He’ll likely hold down the right side of the third pairing until Simon Nemec is ready.
The Devils rounded out day 1 of free agency by signing AHL depth. They signed Kyle Criscuolo, Justin Dowling and Erik Kallgren.
Stay tuned for more New Jersey Devils and NHL content, including trades, signings, and various updates.
Featured image courtesy of NHL.com
You can “Like” The Game Haus on Facebook and “Follow” us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles from other great TGH writers along with Cameron!
“From Our Haus to Yours”
Players must be 21 years of age or older or reach the minimum age for gambling in their respective state and located in jurisdictions where online gambling is legal. Please play responsibly. Bet with your head, not over it. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, and wants help, call or visit: (a) the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey at 1-800-Gambler or www.800gambler.org; or (b) Gamblers Anonymous at 855-2-CALL-GA or www.gamblersanonymous.org.
