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Free agency is a little over a month away, but with not much news to talk about I figured I'd look at some potential targets for the Devils.
One name that doesn't get much talk is Radim Vrbata, and I think he's a guy that would make a lot of sense for New Jersey.
His price tag would be much lower than those of Thomas Vanek, Mike Cammalleri, Marian Gaborik, etc. and he has a pretty good track record of scoring goals.
In the last three years he played in 191 games with Phoenix, and scored 67 goals while tallying 141 points. That's .35 goals per game and .74 points per game, which prorates to about 29 goals and 62 points per season.
Not only was he a 51.2% possession player for the Coyotes this past season - which was better than the team's possession rate without him on the ice - but he was also very efficient on the power play.
His 4.58 points per 60 minutes of 5 vs 4 play would rank 3rd on last year's Devils team, only behind Eric Gelinas and Damien Brunner.
Over the last six years, Vrbata has made $3 million per season each year, on two three-year, $9 million contracts.
At 32 years of age, it probably wouldn't take much more than that to get him signed again.
As I said, he'd come cheaper than Vanek, Gaborik, Cammalleri and all the big guns, and Vrbata's production over the last three years rivals all of them except Vanek.
He's a pretty good skater and has a history of scoring goals, so he'd be a good option for a team like New Jersey.
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