The last week of the NHL offseason hasn't been very exciting, but the best free agent of the offseason may have been signed. The New Jersey Devils, who swung and missed at restricted free agent Barrett Hayton of the Utah Mammoth, are now signing a 33-goal scorer. This isn't too surprising a development considering the lack of scoring from the Devils, as Jersey was the 27th best team in goals per game in the 2025-26 season.
Anthony Mantha signs with the Devils
Anthony Mantha, 31, has had several major injuries throughout his career. However, Mantha has always been a good goal scorer, and in the 2025-26 season, when he was fully healthy, He performed quite well. In 81 games, which was a career high, Mantha scored 33 goals and added 31 assists. Mantha put up career numbers but struggled to find good suitors in free agency thanks to his injury issues, and Mantha was pretty non-existent in the playoffs. Finally, though, the Devils signed Mantha to a two-year, $$4.75 million AAV deal, which is ironically the amount of money the Devils offered Hayton.
The Devils, who were 42-37-3, managed to miss the postseason. The Devils struggled massively to score goals, with their top scorer scoring only 28. Mantha definitely can lead this team in goals and be worth every penny. For Mantha, the deal seems really bad, considering he will be 33 when it's over, and the AAV isn't great either. However, with all of his past struggles, it seems like that is the best Mantha could do. Ultimately, it is interesting to see that Mantha was able to be signed for such a small amount, as that means a lot of teams could've signed him. Since the Mammoth decided to match the offer sheet from Jersey, the Devils made a pretty good pivot to Mantha.
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