The New Jersey Devils have put forward a concerted effort to try to sign 24-year-old winger Jesper Bratt to a new deal to try to avoid salary arbitration. Well, it appears as though the hearing on Wednesday, as reported by Frank Seravalli, may yet go on as scheduled.
Seravalli is reporting that the two sides remain quite far apart on a new deal, with the player eyeing up a $6.5 million AAV, while the Devils want him closer to the $4.15 million mark.
Bratt has played five seasons in the NHL, and this year he had a career year, putting up 26 goals and 47 assists for 73 points. The Devils drafted Bratt in 2016 in the sixth round. He was taken at 162nd overall. The 24-year-old Swede believes that he is worth every penny of the $6.5M cap hit he's holding firm on and that he can be a top young winger that the Devils can build around.
If the Devils are intent on avoiding salary arbitration, they'll have to either come up on what they're willing to pay Bratt or else trade the young winger to avoid being locked into a contract that they don't think he's worth. Perhaps the two sides will agree on a short term "prove it" deal, as more and more players have been doing in hopes of increasing their value even more. If that's the case, the Devils might be wise to just pay him in the neighborhood of $6M now to avoid potentially having to pay him $7.5M-$8M or more on his next deal.
