Unrestricted free agency could be the move that puts a team over the top. It could be something one team looks back at three years later as the moment the franchise changed forever. It can also be the point a team makes its biggest regrets. Sometimes those regrets last a season, and sometimes they can last half a decade. New Jersey Devils fans understand those regrets.
Under the Ray Shero regime, the Devils avoided a free agency disaster. Some re-signs didn’t work out great, like Devante Smith-Pelley or Reid Boucher, but the team never went all in on a free agent that blew up in their face.