James Nichols
All eyes are on New Jersey Devils captain Nico Hischier this summer regarding a potential contract extension.
New Jersey Hockey Now has confirmed that Hischier and his agent, Allain Roy, have begun discussions, although conversations have been casual to this point.
Roy confirmed said notion speaking with Puckpedia recently, explaining that contract negotiations are still in the “infancy” stage.
“The next month’s going to be important for Sunny [Mehta] and I to talk and figure out kind of where things are at,” Roy said to Kevin Kavanaugh. “But, we’re still very much in the infancy stages of of chatting on that one.”
The list of tasks for Sunny Mehta this summer is long. In addition to Hischier, he has key contracts to figure out for Arseny Gritsyuk and Simon Nemec.
And although Hischier still has a year left on his deal, it’s imperative that the Devils get things sorted sooner than later so it’s not a black cloud hanging over their heads all season.
In fact, New Jersey Hockey now can confirm that is, in fact, Mehta’s preference.
Yet, contract discussions are still at the preliminary stage for a reason. Hischier just wrapped up competing in his home country for Switzerland at the World Championships.
His focus was to compete for gold in front of the fans in his home country.
However, Hischier, Timo Meier, and Switzerland earned silver medals, falling to Lenni Hameenaho and Finland in overtime during the championship game.
Now that Hischier is officially in offseason mode, New Jersey Hockey Now is told contract discussions are expected to pick up in the near future.
The Devils captain is in the final year of a seven-year deal that carries a $7.25 million average annual value.
AFP Analytics projects Hischier’s next contract to pay him $11,458,960 per year on an eight-year extension.
