Jesper Bratt will be staying in New Jersey for the foreseeable future as the two sides agreed on an eight-year extension that will pay him $63M (nice job to make the total Bratt’s jersey number) and comes out to a $7.875M AAV.
Jesper Bratt finished the season with 73 points in 82 games. He was top four in scoring, finished second on the team in goals with 32, which was a career-high and finished with 41 assists which was good for fourth on the Devils.
With how young the Devils core is, it was smart for Bratt to sign the eight-year extension as they will only continue to improve.
For the Devils, it was important to re-sign Bratt as he has performed better than expected throughout his six year career, and the last two years aren’t flukes.
He was once looked at as a consistent 30 point player and is now looked at as a consistent 60-70 point player. Who knows, maybe one season, he can reach 80 points.
The new contract for Bratt does not include any trade protection and is mostly paid out in signing bonuses, meaning that most of his money will be paid on July 1.
Just recently, Cole Caufield signed an eight-year extension worth $7.85M annually. Given how similar the two contracts are, you have to wonder if Bratt’s camp used Caufield’s contract as a comparable.
It was also announced today that the Devils would be taking Timo Meier to salary arbitration to try and save some money on his $10M qualifying offer.
With Bratt already signed, you can imagine that Meier will be looking at the situation and trying to get close to what Bratt is earning. However, the cards may be stacked against Meier, given his recent playoff performance.
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