Meier signs 8-year, $70.4 million contract to stay with Devils

Timo Meier signed an eight-year, $70.4 million contract to stay with the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday. It has an average annual value of $8.8 million.

The 26-year-old forward could have become a restricted free agent July 1. He had 66 points, including an NHL career-high 40 goals, this season in 78 regular-season games for the Devils and San Jose Sharks. Meier had 14 points (nine goals, five assists) in 21 games after he was acquired in a trade with the Sharks on Feb. 26 and four points (two goals, two assists) in 11 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald said June 16 that he was in constant communication with Meier's agent, Claude Lemieux, to lay the ground work for a potential deal with Meier, who was one year away from unrestricted free agency.

"I left [Meier] alone and then once the season ended we started kicking some things around," Fitzgerald said Wednesday. "Claude was awesome to deal with and I have to thank Timo and his family for really pushing this over the goal line. We were probably the only team that was given permission to try to work out a deal with Timo before the [2023 NHL] Trade Deadline. We couldn't do that. But ownership was very comfortable with exactly what I've been saying, let's sell Timo Meier on what we are, who we are, what we can offer and actually play on a really good team with really good young players. So we made the deal anyway hedging a bet on us."

Selected by San Jose in the first round (No. 9) of the 2015 NHL Draft, Meier has 330 points (163 goals, 167 assists) in 330 regular-season games for the Devils and Sharks, and 24 points (nine goals, 15 assists) in 46 playoff games.

"You know what, I bet on New Jersey," Fitzgerald said. "I bet on what we have to offer players. I bet on our facility. I bet on the limited time traveling. I bet on the suburbs and Jersey City and Hoboken. And I bet on our team, just coming in and experiencing this. We're showing people around the League that we are now a destination for players, and I have to give credit to our core players who continue to lift us up and show the rest of the League that we are serious about putting a championship roster on the ice. I hedged a bet on us and I hedged a bet on what we can offer players, and we won."

Signing Meier was another in a series of moves by the Devils after they finished with the most wins (52) and points (112) in their history and were eliminated by the Carolina Hurricanes in five games in the Eastern Conference Second Round. They acquired forward Tyler Toffoli in a trade with the Calgary Flames on Tuesday for forward Yegor Sharangovich and a third-round pick in the 2023 Upper Deck NHL Draft. Goalie Mackenzie Blackwood was traded to the Sharks the same day for a sixth-round pick in the 2023 draft.

Forward Jesper Bratt signed an eight-year, $63 million contract ($7.875 million average annual value) June 15, and forward Erik Haula signed a three-year, $9.45 million contract ($3.15 million AAV) on June 23. Defenseman Damon Severson was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets on June 9 for a third-round pick in the 2023 draft.

With Meier signed, New Jersey has four players who can become restricted free agents July 1 (forwards Nathan Bastian, Jesper Boqvist and Michael McLeod, and defenseman Kevin Bahl), and three who can become unrestricted free agents (forwards Tomas Tatar and Miles Wood, defenseman Ryan Graves).

"I've said this before and I'll say it again, I truly believe you build your team in the summer," Fitzgerald said. "They grow together. They win together. They lose together. They do everything together. Timo came in at a time where we were very grateful and thankful to get that deal done and get him into the mix from deadline on. It's tough. I can speak from experience. It really is tough from expectations, your own standards, learning a new system. Timo is human. It's hard. But we saw him getting better and better and better as games clicked off. I think he's going to be fantastic with the experience he had last year. He's super excited. We're as excited. When we made that trade back in March it wasn't about March to whenever the season ended, it was about securing the future with Timo Meier and we did that today."

NHL.com senior writer Dan Rosen and staff writer Mike G. Morreale contributed to this report