According to multiple online reports, the New Jersey Devils have signed forward Jesper Bratt to an eight year, $63 million contract worth $7.875 million per season.
Bratt gets a significant raise from the $5.45 million he earend last season, following a campaign in which he put up a career best 32 goals and 73 points n 82 games. He signed just a one year, 'prove it' contract last season with the hopes to cash in big this offseason and executed things to perfection.
He's now the Devils' second highest paid player behind superstar Jack Hughes.
Unfortunately for Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald though, Bratt's new contract is just the start of things for him this offseason. Fitzgerald has 11 pending free agents to sort out between now and July 1st. Erika Haula, Tomas Tatar, Miles Wood and Ryan Graves are all pending unrestricted free agents whose future is up in the air for the time being.
Fitgerald's focus will most likely turn to RFAs Timo Meier and Michael McLeod, however. Meier was acquired from the San Jose Sharks at this year's trade deadline and looked to fit in perfectly with the team's core group of forwards. He's in line to get a big, big, biiiig raise which could completely blow up the Devils' cap structure.
As for Bratt, he gets a good deal at a good cap hit, even if the term is a bit long. He'll be 32 years old when the deal expires though, so it's more than likely that the Devils get his prime years while paying him handsomely. He's a versatile forward who is capable of playing up and down the lineup and on both the power play and the penalty kill. He's strong on the puck and has some creative playmaking skills around the net. Just an all around solid player who is now locked up to a solid deal for a long-time. Great signing by the Devils, but what they do with the rest of their cap space now remains to be seen.
