3 Bold Offer Sheet Targets for Aggressive Devils in 2025

One thing is for sure this offseason. New Jersey Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald will be making changes. At his end-of-season availability, he touched on offer sheets, and if he’s going to be aggressive to improve the offense, he has some intriguing options in that department.

READ MORE: Fitzgerald Has New Options to Shakeup Devils, Will He Use Them?

Fitzgerald didn’t hide his feelings about the offense’s drop from 12th in the NHL, scoring over three goals a game in 2023-24, to under three goals a game this past season.

“Well, they underperformed for sure,” Fitzgerald explained.

The focus last summer was on defense and goaltending.

Enter Jacob Markstrom, Brett Pesce, Johnathan Kovacevic, and Brenden Dillon, and the Devils were a top-five team in goals against per-game in 2024-25.

Yet, the subtraction of Tyler Toffoli last spring and neglecting to fill that void proved to be more than the offense could handle.

Toffoli was traded at the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline to the Winnipeg Jets, leaving the Devils scoring at a 35-goal pace.

Now the Devils will need to look externally for more goals.

“My job is to continue to better the group,” Fitzgerald started. “We’ve got a lot of decisions to make on certain players. Whether we bring guys back, trade players, we won’t be coming back as the same group. I can tell you that, because it wasn’t good enough.”

Although it was always an option, the St. Louis Blues kicked down the offer sheet door, with a rising cap coming as soon as July 1st. Here’s who the Devils could target if they take an aggressive approach.

J.J. Peterka

Already recently in the rumor mill, J.J. Peterka was the subject of trade speculation with the New York Rangers.

Nothing came to fruition, however. Perhaps the Buffalo Sabres have big plans for the German winger. Yet, so long as he makes it to July 1st, the Devils can extend him an offer sheet.

AFP Analytics projects Peterka to ink a long-term, seven-year contract near an $8 million average annual value (AAV). The Sabres will have over $21 million in cap space, however, Peterka is one of six restricted free agents in Buffalo this summer, and they very well may need to sign a backup goaltender.

Peterka, who scored 28 goals and 68 points in 77 games in 2024-25, is a budding star winger who can certainly hack it in the Devils’ top-six. He started scoring at a rapid pace near the end of January, netting 16 goals in the final 30 games of 2024-25, indicating he’s begun to found his stride as a goalscorer.

The 6-foot, 190-lb left-shot is a speedy winger with a wicked shot and plays a game bigger than his size.

If Peterka, as Frank Seravalli mentioned, is to leave Buffalo, the 23-year-old winger should be a top candidate for the Devils to try to swipe from Buffalo this summer.

Marco Rossi

For whatever reason, Marco Rossi is in the midst of controversy.

The Minnesota Wild forward finished the season with 24 goals and 60 points, yet was underutilized that led to a “man-like” exit meeting with head coach John Hynes.

Rossi already rejected a five-year contract extended by GM Bill Guerin in-season. It’s evident that whatever he was offered, he feels he’s worth more than what was slid across the table.

If he’s looking for a longer-term deal, at seven years, Rossi is projected to earn a $7.39 million AAV.

Rossi is confident in his abilities, explaining to the Wild media he believes he has proven how strong of a player he is and that he belongs in the top-six, as opposed to his bottom-six deployment in the postseason.

The Devils might have an opportunity here to retrieve a player that has certainly shown his talents in an environment he’s not necessarily thrilled with.

And hey, when Guerin was asked if he saw himself hanging onto Rossi this summer, he didn’t give a confident, “Yes.”

Whether he slides into the Devils’ top-six as a center or winger, Rossi would certainly be a solid upgrade next to Jack Hughes or Nico Hischier.

Mason McTavish

Mason McTavish is another player who was seemingly underutilized in 2024-25. Time on ice shouldn’t have been difficult to come by on a young Anaheim Ducks roster. Yet, former head coach Greg Cronin deployed McTavish as a third-line center, despite the 23-year-old forward showing the “it factor” of a top-six forward.

In fact, Cronin went as far as to openly admit the young, left-shot forward is nothing more than a third liner.

“Mac is a third-line guy that has offensive ability,” Cronin told The Athletic. “You go back to the bottom six. Who do you put him with that’s gonna both bring up his offensive ability and also stabilize the line as a reliable checking line?”

Perhaps new Ducks coach, Joel Quenneville, will have a different opinion on McTavish’s abilities.

However, AFP Analytics has McTavish projected to earn near $7 million per year over a six-year extension.

Perhaps that’s a bit of an overpay for a player who scored 22 goals and 52 points this season in the current. However, that should age well as McTavish enters the prime years of his career.

McTavish is exactly the kind of grindy, offensive player the Devils want to add. He’s unafraid to battle in front of the net and clean up the garbage, but can also play-make to set up his linemates.

Perhaps McTavish is seeking a new beginning. The word about his character is that McTavish couldn’t be a better person. In fact, he’s got leadership qualities whispered about him daily.

Yet, it would certainly be understandable to see the Swiss-ish (plays for Canada in World Tournaments) forward interested in a new beginning, given the polarizing moments he’s been through in Anaheim.

And what’s more enticing to McTavish other than the opportunity to play in the Swiss capital of the NHL, among fellow countrymen in Hischier, Timo Meier, and Jonas Siegenthaler?

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