New Jersey Devils re-sign Jesper Bratt to one-year, $5.45 million contract

The New Jersey Devils have re-signed winger Jesper Bratt to a one-year contract worth $5.45 million on Wednesday morning, avoiding arbitration.

Bratt was a restricted free agent with arbitration rights after finishing a two-year contract with a $2.75 million contract. He exercised those rights with player-elected arbitration, which was scheduled later on Wednesday. Both parties managed to reach an agreement before having to go the route of arbitration to decide a deal.

Bratt put up almost a point-per-game pace in the 2021-22 season for the Devils, with 26 goals, 47 assists, and 73 points in 76 games. All three totals are well past his career high, besting his previous highs of 16 goals in 2019-20, 25 assists in 2018-19, and 35 points in 2017-18.

While the scoring totals are new, Bratt has always been a play-driver, so it was only a matter of time before his points caught up with his play. He’s certainly better at offense than defense, but it doesn’t hinder his overall game, with a 51.4% shot attempt share and 53.73% expected goal share at even strength over the past three seasons, both which lead the Devils. He’s also one of the best in the league at creating scoring chances, sitting 16th among forwards last season in on-ice 5v5 expected goals per 60 minutes with 3.34.

After signing Bratt, the Devils now find themselves with just over $3 million in cap space. They still have one big restricted free agent left to sign, with Miles Wood finished his four year contract with a $2.75 million cap hit, but the cap space they have will probably be enough to fit him in.

The Devils find themselves tight to the cap with the $8 million extension for Jack Hughes kicking in, as well as free agent signings Ondrej Palat and Brendan Smith, and trade acquisitions Erik Haula, John Marino, and Vitek Vanecek.