New Jersey Devils' 3 Worst Contracts of 2023-24

The New Jersey Devils have dropped off from last season while dealing with injuries and poor play from their goaltending, but for the most part, the players haven't performed below standards and most are on good contracts. There are some that aren't though, so we are going to highlight those.

Timo Meier

In order to re-sign in New Jersey, Timo Meier demanded more money than Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, and Nico Hischier, the top three forwards. That is after struggling for the remainder of the season on the Devils after the team acquired him at the trade deadline. Well, this has hurt them thus far despite Meier really picking up the goals pace lately. Although he has scored 12 goals in his past 13 games, he had 11 in the first 46 games of the season and is well under a point-per-game. A month of good play doesn't balance out a $8.8 million AAV deal. There are also still seven more years left on the contract.

Ondrej Palat

Ondrej Palat has been a good veteran presence on the team, but as cap space is going to get tight, his cap hit of $6 million AAV seems like an overpayment for the 33-year-old who only has nine goals and 29 points in 61 games. This was an alright contract since he was cashing in on winning a couple of Stanley Cups, but there are still another three seasons left on the deal and it already doesn't look good.

Jake Allen

Jake Allen needs an asterisk beside his name here for one of the worst contracts on the Devils. Most of his bad play was left in Montreal and only half of his contract came over to the Devils as well. Regardless, as a whole, his salary is $3.85 million AAV, he has nine wins in 26 games played, and has a .898 SV% even though he is 3-2-0 since arriving in New Jersey with a .923 SV%. It is just that the Devils really don't have many bad contracts. What has plagued them this season is no longer on the team, and that's the goaltending.