There’s a reason why you’re hearing so much about New Jersey Devils trade chatter. General manager Tom Fitzgerald recognizes his team needs help, thus he’s working the phones. This year, as opposed to previous, Fitzgerald needs to get ahead of the 2026 NHL trade deadline.
Why?
Well, because in order to make moves, he’ll need to pull off more than one trade.
The Devils are losers of five straight games as of Monday morning. Four of those losses have come on home ice.
Injuries certainly play a factor here. They’re minus their franchise star, Jack Hughes, and pseudo-No.1 defenseman, Brett Pesce, who seemingly puts all the blueline cogs in place when present.
Thus, the injury bug has caught up with the Devils, whereas they showed some early fight without their best players, the absences have become overwhelming.
Yet, both of those players are expected back, and at this point, you could consider it in the relative near future. Perhaps, both return in January.
And don’t forget, Johnathan Kovacevic is another return that’s coming relatively soon, too.
However, even in their returns, the Devils have needs, and Fitzgerald—whether he was forced to do so or recognized the situation on his own—is rightfully scouring the market for reinforcements.
There is one problem, though.
The Devils don’t have a ton of cap space to work with here.
As of Monday, the Devils are $-4,933,112 in cap space. They’re not accruing while within long-term injured reserve since the beginning of the season with Kovacevic, and then Pesce later on.
Their trade deadline cap space is projected at $2,829,793, per Puckpedia.
Thus, if New Jersey is going to bring in some of the names they’re linked to, it’s certainly going to have to be a dollar in, dollar out situation.
Of course, the headline name in all of this is Quinn Hughes. As the trade chatter around him grows, so does the speculation that he will soon be a member of the Devils.
As recently as this past weekend, Elliotte Friedman confirmed the Devils and Canucks have had at least one conversation about the Norris Trophy defenseman. The Devils certainly would like nothing more than to unite Quinn with Jack and Luke Hughes.
However, Quinn’s $7.85 million average annual value won’t fit under the Devils’ current cap.
Neither will players such as Steven Stamkos ($8 million AAV), or Ryan O’Reilly ($4.5 million AAV), who New Jersey has been linked to in Devils trade speculation.
In other words, the Devils realistically cannot make a deal for simply futures at this point for anyone.
Consequently, there will be one or two roster players who the Devils very well will have to move out.
The name most will point to is Ondrej Palat. He carried a $6 million AAV for the rest of this season and next. He owns a 10-team trade clause, giving him the power to go to a destination of his choosing. So too does Dougie Hamilton, who carries an even larger $9 million AAV.
Both of those contract clauses handcuff the Devils GM a bit, and he very well may have to get additional teams involved, while perhaps attaching incentives. Why would either Palat or Hamilton agree to go to a rebuilding Vancouver team at this point?
Then there are the pieces that will certainly draw interest. Dawson Mercer is a coveted player at $4 million for the rest of this season, and next. Simon Nemec‘s breakout makes him desirable in the last year of his rookie contract, although, his salary doesn’t make all that much room to save cap dollars.
Thus, Fitzgerald is working the phones. He knows in order to reel in the help the Devils deserve, he’ll need to get creative and move some money out. But, don’t worry. Nico Hischier or Jesper Bratt aren’t available. You can ignore that bloated speculation.
Certainly, nothing is imminent, but Devils management is working.
By the March trade deadline, there could be some significant roster changes.
