Devils Difficult Decision Looms as Result of Kovacevic Play

Life for the New Jersey Devils with Johnathan Kovacevic in it has been nothing short of immaculate.

What was once a low-cost, depth trade has become a pillar to the Devils defensive core and one-half of one of the best defensive pairings in the National Hockey League.

Kovacevic has been a revelation for the Devils after taking advantage of injuries to Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce to start the season. Initially penciled in as the seventh defenseman over the summer, he’s quickly had his name written in ink on a pair with Jonas Siegenthaler.

RELATED: Devils GM Reveals Plan to Begin Contract Talks with Key Pending Free Agents

“With Johnathan, he took advantage of an opportunity,” Fitzgerald explained to New Jersey Hockey Now. “With Brett Pesce and Luke Hughes out of the lineup at the start of the year, he took full advantage of it, and he hasn’t looked back at all.”

Together, that pairing has played nearly 500 minutes, boasting 61.6% Expected Goals, giving up a team-low 1.36 Goals per 60, in addition to having allowed just 11 goals.

What Kovacevic has been able to do in a full-time role this season has been special. After struggling to find footing with Winnipeg, he broke out the past two seasons as a bottom-pairing/depth defenseman for the Montreal Canadiens.

“He can absorb minutes on the third pair and do it very well. Don’t push him too much, he has his limits,” said Marc Dumont of Montreal Hockey Now. “But he can solidify your third pairing and sometimes pitch in on the second pairing. Kovacevic is not spectacular defensive or offensively, but at the end of the day, you check the stats, and he’s among the best defencemen most nights.

Well, the Devils pushed him past those third pair minutes, and the results have been positive. He is playing a career-high 19:55 of ice time while also leading the Devils in penalty kill minutes.

That all sounds great, so what’s the problem?

The problem is one of the main factors in acquiring Kovacevic was his contract. He is a pending unrestricted free agent who’s currently making just $766,667 this season. This breakout season will earn him a significant raise, and rightfully so.

Whether or not the Devils will be the team to give him that raise is the question. They are projected to have $11.45 million in cap space this offseason, not accounting for the cap increase per PuckPedia. Current projections have the salary cap jumping from $88 million to $92 million, giving the Devils roughly $15.45 million in cap space to play with this summer.

In his most recent Devils ‘State of the Union,’ Fitzgerald discussed a potential contract extension for Kovacevic and what that might look like.

“I’ll probably start having conversations with his agent after the new year, after the holidays, just to see where they’re at,” Fitzgerald said to NJHN. “But the at the end of the day, you said it, we’ve got replacements, but he’s played really well. He’s fitting great with us. I believe he really enjoys it here, so we’ll see.”

Fitzgerald didn’t sound overly committed to getting something done soon, mentioning potential replacements (Simon Nemec, Seamus Casey?) while also bringing up a Luke Hughes extension in the same breath.

“With Luke, I plan on talking to his agent once the holidays come and go, just to see where they’re at,” Fitzgerald continued to NJHN. “I don’t want to distract Luke at all because of the way he’s been playing. I really like the way he’s been playing away from the puck and defending, because, you know, he can contribute offensively or just transitionally with his legs, or with the tape to tape pass up the ice.

Clearly, the first item on the checklist for Fitzgerald will be to get a Luke Hughes extension done. All of the Devils free agents – Kovacevic included – may have to wait and see how much is left of the pie after that extension is done.

READ: Devils Ondrej Palat Impressing, Flashing Championship Pedigree

Will Luke get $7 million? $8 million? Could he even get $9 million on an eight-year deal? No matter the length of the deal, Luke will eat up a lot of cap space.

Attention then makes its way over to Kovacevic. His elite defensive play has earned him a big raise; it’s just a matter of how big. Something in the range of four to five years at $4.5 – $5.5 million AAV could make sense for a shutdown defenseman. If that’s too rich for Fitzgerald, is he willing to move off of him?

He – rightfully – moved off of Damon Severson and Ryan Graves in order to give young defensemen like Luke Hughes, Simon Nemec, and, at the time, Kevin Bahl a chance to play bigger roles for the team. It turned out to be the correct decision in the long run, but it was a detriment to the Devils’ team defense during the 2023-24 season.

With the Devils very much in the thick of their Stanley Cup window, is Fitzgerald willing to gamble on Simon Nemec and/or Seamus Casey developing into a reliable and mature defensive defenseman at 21 years old at the cost of letting Kovacevic walk? It’s a difficult decision that he’ll have to make and one that would alter the Devils’ Stanley Cup aspirations over the next 4-5 seasons.

For more Devils news, visit New Jersey Hockey Now, subscribe to our YouTube and like our Facebook page.

Follow us on 𝕏:

@NJDHockeyNow, @JamesNicholsNHL, @NickNatale10

And on Threads:

@JamesNicholsNHL