Confirmed with Link: Arbitration Avoided, Bratt Signs for 1 year, $5.45 million

[Emperoreddy]

I am not convinced the long term offer was over 7 million, and if it was not by much.

Have to see if it leaks what we were offering and what he asked for.

 

[glenwo2]

This is a big gamble.

Water is wet, my friend.

If he comes close to what he did this past season (doesn't have to be the exact numbers but in the ballpark), he'll get a more palatable (in his eyes) contract then.

And of course there's always the risk of injury like getting hit in the jaw with a hockey puck in practice....

Maybe Jesper should start wearing bubble-wrap....

 

[Hisch13r]

This is a big gamble.

I don’t really think it is a huge gamble for either side. We weren’t offering what he wanted long term. So a prove it and then giving him that deal next year makes sense. The deal we were offering him long term likely wasn’t as much as he (rightly) believed so a prove it year where he backs up his play and gets as much as deserves next deal is smart.

 

[NJ Devil]

Same result, but hopefully keeps relationship at bay. While the end could still be the same, you hope this opens things to sign a lengthier deal and maximize his earnings with the cap going up.

The cap isnt going to rise this year more than ~2 million dollars. It cant.

So this isnt to make any lengthier, more lucrative deal. Theres really no positive to be had here.

 

[RangerDoggo]

This is a big gamble.

For Bratt, certainly. It’s a play on his end to get that big deal when the cap goes up. I never thought a long-term deal was going to happen for that reason.

 

[NJ Devil]

It’s infinitely better than a 2 or 3 year deal. He’s still an RFA after this. If he puts up another big year, there’s no more “it was a fluke” bullshit. We have money coming off the books and can actually pay him what he deserves. And if he has a down year (he won’t), then we can get him for cheaper.

There just isn’t reason to panic here. Why should Jesper have locked himself into a long term deal before the cap rises and before he’s fully established himself as an elite player?

The cap isnt rising nezt year. And the poster you quoted said 'how does signing this 1-year deal and Jesper playing well again change negotiations?'

And the answer is, it doesnt. The cap can not rise past ~2million this year. They have not earned back the escrow yet.

Therefore, this is not at all a 'delay' on negotiations to get Bratt a better deal. The deal he is offered will practically be the same. And if Jesper wants to get to UFA quicker, than him playing well again changes nothing since we will still want term

Theres nothing major about this as you said. But for some to try and downplay it as if this has no meaning, that just isnt true. This is exactly the same as if he was arbitration awarded the year. It is bad for the future of Bratt as a Devil

 

[Omar Little]

The cap isnt going to rise this year more than ~2 million dollars. It cant.

So this isnt to make any lengthier, more lucrative deal. Theres really no positive to be had here.

Outside of the fact we have 12m in dead weight rolling off next year (Tatar, Johnsson, Bernier)

 

[britdevil]

I don’t really think it is a huge gamble for either side. We weren’t offering what he wanted long term. So a prove it and then giving him that deal next year makes sense. The deal we were offering him long term likely wasn’t as much as he (rightly) believed so a prove it year where he backs up his play and gets as much as deserves next deal is smart.

It’s a huge gamble. Bratt could regress, suffer a horrific injury or simply not live up to expectation.

For the Devils it walks him closer to UFA, he gains a lot more leverage in one years time and potentially sets a precedent for other young players on this team.

It’s just not a great outcome at all, imo.

For Bratt, certainly. It’s a play on his end to get that big deal when the cap goes up. I never thought a long-term deal was going to happen for that reason.

Cap marginally, if at all, increases next year.

 

[NJ Devil]

Outside of the fact we have 12m in dead weight rolling off next year (Tatar, Johnsson, Bernier)

We had 22m in cap space before the off-season began. Our cap space wasnt preventing Jesper Bratt from signing long-term.

Again, this all just seems like copium here. There is no 'well its simple, they just wanted to ____' explanation here. This is bad for the future of Bratt as a Devil, teams dont naturally agree to 1-year deals the day of arbitration and everything ends up okay.

 

[britdevil]

Outside of the fact we have 12m in dead weight rolling off next year (Tatar, Johnsson, Bernier)

Good point. I thought Tatar and Bernier had two years remaining.

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

A Motivated Bratt during an obvious "contract year" will be something to see this coming season.

I hope Ruff puts him in a position to be the most effective and successful, and not try to sabotage him.

If Ruff can't put a good team together after his GM has won the offseason like 4 years in a row, he might never coach in the NHL again. Especially if the new guy comes in and makes a big difference. You're not gonna see any sabotaging this year. Fitz and Ruff's jobs both depend on it.

Wysh

Isn't that just coming off of Fitz's press conference where he said something like "we made an offer that proves our commitment?" I forget the timing of that.

 

[JimEIV]

This is flat out wrong, the Devils don't have cap room right now, they could not do 8x8 right now without e.g. hoping that Johnsson gets claimed on waivers.

Nonsense. You move Johnsson and can pay Bratt 8+ million today and still have over 3 remaining ....how the f*** were they going to pay Gaudreau with "no cap space".

 

[Richer's Ghost]

The last dude to do a 1 year deal when we wanted a long term contract was Parise wasn't it? That was his RFA contract year right? So if Bratt does yet ANOTHER 1 year deal next year he's clearly signalling he wants out. Hope Bratt starts out on fire and both sides can get an extension in place to avoid this happening all over again next year.

 

[NJ Devil]

Nonsense. You move Johnsson and can pay Bratt 8+ million today and still have over 3 remaining ....how the f*** were they going to pay Gaudreau with "no cap space".

Plus the Devils had the cap space well before negotiations soured. Bratt said no to a long-term extension before Palat, Vanecek, and Haula were Devils

 

[Mr Bojanglez]

Water is wet, my friend.

water is not wet. Whatever touches water becomes wet.

 

[britdevil]

water is not wet. Whatever touches water becomes wet.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

The cap isnt rising nezt year. And the poster you quoted said 'how does signing this 1-year deal and Jesper playing well again change negotiations?'

And the answer is, it doesnt. The cap can not rise past ~2million this year. They have not earned back the escrow yet.

Therefore, this is not at all a 'delay' on negotiations to get Bratt a better deal. The deal he is offered will practically be the same. And if Jesper wants to get to UFA quicker, than him playing well again changes nothing since we will still want term

Theres nothing major about this as you said. But for some to try and downplay it as if this has no meaning, that just isnt true. This is exactly the same as if he was arbitration awarded the year. It is bad for the future of Bratt as a Devil

Nah, don’t agree with any of this. We didn’t even have the ability without making other moves to give him a long term deal that starts with 8 even if we had the inclination to do so. And I don’t think Fitz was even willing to do that based on 1 truly great year. If he does it again? And all that space opens up to actually give it to him? Why wouldn’t we? We’re absolutely in a different situation next year if he has another great season, and it’s much more likely to result in a long term deal.

 

[britdevil]

The last dude to do a 1 year deal when we wanted a long term contract was Parise wasn't it? That was his RFA contract year right? So if Bratt does yet ANOTHER 1 year deal next year he's clearly signalling he wants out. Hope Bratt starts out on fire and both sides can get an extension in place to avoid this happening all over again next year.

Lou was a dumbass for that.

Parise takes some blame too, he was stringing us along.

 

[severian]

I am not convinced the long term offer was over 7 million, and if it was not by much.

Have to see if it leaks what we were offering and what he asked for.

I'm not convinced the long term offer was over 6

 

[Normal Devil]

Nah, don’t agree with any of this. We didn’t even have the ability without making other moves to give him a long term deal that starts with 8 even if we had the inclination to do so. And I don’t think Fitz was even willing to do that based on 1 truly great year. If he does it again? And all that space opens up to actually give it to him? Why wouldn’t we? We’re absolutely in a different situation next year if he has another great season, and it’s much more likely to result in a long term deal.

They could have structured a long term deal in a way to fit under the cap.

 

[NJ Devil]

Nah, don’t agree with any of this. We didn’t even have the ability without making other moves to give him a long term deal that starts with 8 even if we had the inclination to do so. And I don’t think Fitz was even willing to do that based on 1 truly great year. If he does it again? And all that space opens up to actually give it to him? Why wouldn’t we? We’re absolutely in a different situation next year if he has another great season, and it’s much more likely to result in a long term deal.

We had 22m in cap space when we offered whatever we offered Bratt on long-term. Whether that was 6-8mil, whatever it be, we offered it and he coulda signed.

And then lets just argue.. Bratt wanted more. Why on Earth would Fitzgerald go out and use up all his cap space while negotiating an 8-year, lucrative deal with Jesper?

The case is still seemingly very clear. Jesper wants short-term and its very, very likely he will want short-term again. Otherwise, why didnt Fitz just give in on a 4-5 year deal? That increases Jesper's trade value and keeps him here longer, albeit not as long as youd like.

Nothing about this situation seems like it was done to 'buy time'. You dont buy time with your most important RFA and risk losing them by doing so

 

[Bleedred]

I revised it down a year but some are still hating on Wood because of poor corsi numbers from 5 years ago.

If he has a healthy and productive season signing him makes sense.

I'm ''Hating'' on Wood because this type of player is not somebody we should investing in long term.

Players of his like don't age well. Your proposal is TOO MUCH MONEY for a 4th liner and it's TOO MUCH TERM for a 4th liner. Who signs 4th liners for that long? Lou?

I said the same thing about Zacha, but even he is WAY SAFER of a long term investment than Wood is, as he's almost two years younger and much more skilled. And he's not a 4th liner.

We shouldn't be signing guys just to sign them. We're up at the salary cap and we're gonna sign guys like him to $3.5 million dollar deals for multiple years and guys like Blackwood (who has ROBBED us and been overpaid by almost $2 million a year on this contract) for that much money going forward?

If Miles Wood is still in the league in 3-4 years from now, it won't be for that amount of money, unless he's been bought out of that proposed deal or is on LTIR.

You don't keep players like Miles Wood for that many years into their 30's..... Unless you wanna pay them FRINGE money, which $3.5 million is really not fringe money right now. Maybe once the cap starts going way up that might be close to fringe.

We have to move on from players because there's this thing called the salary cap and players like Wood (4th liner coming off a year long HIP INJURY on top of that) are the eaiest, no-brainer players to move on from. Unless (once again) he wants to stick around for $1.5-$2 million or so a year? And even then he shoudn't require a 3 year deal.

If he scores a bunch of points next year then that's even more all the reason to let someone else David Clarkson him.

 

[JimEIV]

Lou was a dumbass for that.

Parise takes some blame too, he was stringing us along.

Parise was a good as gone in the Summer of 2010. Soon as his Dad started talking about his son not being the priority and they fired their agent and hired Newport Sports...Parise was as good as gone.

Soon as the Kovalchuk deal was inked Parise was gearing up for UFA

 

[HBK27]

A Motivated Bratt during an obvious "contract year" will be something to see this coming season.

I hope Ruff puts him in a position to be the most effective and successful, and not try to sabotage him.

Ruff already has one foot in the NHL coaching graveyard - that would be beyond idiotic to do anything other than what he thinks is best for helping the team win.

Even Fitz would be risking career suicide to even suggest something like this to Ruff.

 

[jkrdevil]

Lou was a dumbass for that.

Parise takes some blame too, he was stringing us along.

I think Lou knew, but he looked at taking one more shot at going for it. Considering they fell two wins short it was a worthy gamble.