{"id":15892,"date":"2025-05-07T04:48:17","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T04:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/15892\/"},"modified":"2025-05-07T04:48:17","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T04:48:17","slug":"devils-rumors-five-players-n-j-should-target-this-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/15892\/","title":{"rendered":"Devils rumors: Five players N.J. should target this offseason"},"content":{"rendered":"

This summer\u2019s free agency period could determine Devils<\/a> general manager Tom Fitzgerald\u2019s fate past next season.<\/p>\n

After he failed to fix the Devils\u2019 secondary scoring at the trade deadline<\/a>, the Devils were eliminated in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in five games<\/a> to the Carolina Hurricanes this week. Fitzgerald\u2019s seat will be hotter seat if he doesn\u2019t nail this free agency group.<\/p>\n

The Devils\u2019 clear need when free agency begins on July 1<\/a> is goal scoring \u2014 both on the top line and depth lines.<\/p>\n

Here are the top targets Fitzgerald should chase in free agency, grouped into tiers of priority.<\/p>\n

Tier 1: Priority stars<\/p>\n

The Devils will need to win a bidding war for these players.<\/p>\n

Brock Boeser, wing<\/p>\n

Boeser can be the top-line goal scorer the Devils need next to Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt. He, like the rest of the Canucks this year, had a down season with 25 goals and 25 assists. Boeser, 28, has a 40-goal season on his resume two years ago, and despite the Devils\u2019 desperate need for secondary scoring, should be Fitzgerald\u2019s priority target this summer. He made $6.65 million this season.<\/p>\n

Ryan Donato, center<\/p>\n

Donato should have been a player the Devils went all in for at the trade deadline. Since they didn\u2019t, free agency will do. Donato had a career-high on a poor Blackhawks team with 31 goals and 31 assists. Both marks were more than double his previous career highs. <\/p>\n

Donato will surely get interest from teams as a top-six center, but if he joins New Jersey, the Devils will have one of the best center trios in the NHL. He made $2 million this season.<\/p>\n

Tier 2: Underrated<\/p>\n

Pius Suter, center<\/p>\n

Suter quietly had 25 goals and 46 points for the Canucks this season. Only Nico Hischier, Hughes and Timo Meier had more on the Devils. If the Devils miss out on another center, Suter, 28, would still be a great new third-liner. Plus, the Devils have plenty of Swiss teammates he could join forces with. He earned $1.6 last season.<\/p>\n

Tier 3: One-year veterans<\/p>\n

Kyle Palmieri, wing<\/p>\n

Palmieri is a familiar face Devils fans wouldn\u2019t mind seeing score goals again. He played for the Devils from 2015-21 and then spent the past four seasons with the Islanders. Palmieri, 34, is past his prime, but can realistically score 20-plus goals on the Devils\u2019 middle-six lines. He earned $5 million last season.<\/p>\n

James van Riemsdyk, wing<\/p>\n

Van Riemsdyk would also be making a homecoming should he sign with the Devils. He was born in Middletown. Now 36, van Riemsdyk is still a net-front presence. He scored 16 goals and shot a career-high 18.8% last season. That percentage may not be replicable, but he\u2019d be an upgrade on the Devils\u2019 fourth line. He earned $900,000 last season.<\/p>\n

Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with a subscription.<\/p>\n

Gabriel Trevino can be reached at GTrevino@njadvancemedia.com<\/a> or on X @GabeCTrevino<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This summer\u2019s free agency period could determine Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald\u2019s fate past next season. After he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5109],"tags":[5408,201,5,576,151,5185,5184,4,5409],"class_list":{"0":"post-15892","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-jersey-devils","8":"tag-5408","9":"tag-devils","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-new-jersey","12":"tag-new-jersey-devils","13":"tag-newjersey","14":"tag-newjerseydevils","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-wspix"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/114464745473370866","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}