The New Jersey Devils should be creative this off-season

JP Gambatese examines some of the different ways Tom Fitzgerald can go about improving the roster.

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By JP Gambatese (@JP_Gambatese)

In his end-of-season presser, New Jersey Devils General Manager Tom Fitzgerald said this of his team: “We won’t be coming back with the same group, I could tell you that, ‘cause it wasn’t good enough.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself. 

The Devils could go about this a few ways. They could attack a relatively weak free agent class and hope to restock their depth over time through the NHL Entry Draft (which is also weak this year), they could trade away some of their draft picks and prospects for players who may be available in the trade market, or, my favorite, they could get a little creative. 

Let me explain:

(Some) trades & buyouts

In order to make this work, the Devils will need to offload at least one or two contracts; maybe even three. 

As is, the Devils have a projected $12 million in cap space to work with and they need to re-sign Luke Hughes and Cody Glass at minimum. The Arseniy Gritsyuk contract takes up an additional ~$1 million of that space, and if either or both of Lenni Hameenaho or Shane Lachance get to start the season on the main squad, that’s another near-million. 

Hughes’ projected contract, as per Evolving Hockey, is going to come in at 6 years for $7.54 million. Glass’s projection is 3 years for $2.78 million.

What I’m getting at here is that the Devils need to clear space. Step one is to either find a cap-floor team desperate for a veteran presence to offload the entire Ondrej Palat contract.

They’ll need to sweeten the pot, for sure, with at least a second-rounder. The framework I used to garner that number was the Marc Staal to Detroit trade in the 2020 off-season – Staal’s contract was worth $5.7 million at the time, and the Red Wings were given a second-rounder to take it on. 

If there are no takers, a buyout is certainly an option. Doing so would free up an additional $2.5 million for the 2025-26 season, and follow this structure:

Not bad, right? 

Next up on the list is Erik Haula, who had an atrocious season until he was moved to the wing.

With one year left on his $3.15 million AAV deal, I’m positive there would be a buyer. The Devils might even be able to swing a positive return on a Haula trade, with cap-floor teams aching for veteran leadership probably eating that right up. 

With those two moves made, the Devils free up an additional $9.125 million or an additional $5.65 million, depending on whether they’re able to find a suitor for Palat.

The next potential option, and one I’m less of a fan of, is to move off of Dougie Hamilton.

Over the past couple of seasons, he has been steadily declining in on-ice offensive worth, at least at 5v5.

He’s still a very good player with the capability to take over a game when firing on all cylinders, but those games have gradually become fewer and further between, and there’s a real question as to whether he, at $9 million, is more impactful than say, a fully healthy and confident Simon Nemec and the cap space for a top-six forward. 

I’m not sure I’d explore that option myself – at least not yet – but it certainly is an option. I’m positive the Devils would recoup real value there. 

Let’s say, in this hypothetical, that the Devils can fully get rid of Palat’s and Haula’s contracts, giving them a grand total of $9.125 million more to play with.

Let’s also say that Arseniy Gritsyuk is the only prospect to make it out of camp, while Hameenaho and Lachance get more time to marinate. That gives the Devils this:

Timo Meier – Nico Hischier – Dawson Mercer
X – Jack Hughes – Jesper Bratt
Stefan Noesen – X – Arseniy Gritsyuk
Paul Cotter – Cody Glass – X

Luke Hughes – Brett Pesce
Jonas Siegenthaler – Simon Nemec
Brenden Dillon – Dougie Hamilton

…with just under $10 million to play with. Might sound like a lot, but looking at the needs – a third-line center, top-six winger, and depth winger – there’s not that much wiggle room.

Offer sheets

Here’s where the Devils can take advantage of cap-strapped teams with offer sheets. 

Target number one: the Buffalo Sabres.