The New Jersey Devils welcomed back an entire top six line in last night’s game against the Buffalo Sabres. Timo Meier returned from his personal leave, Arseny Gritsyuk returned from his undisclosed injury, and of course, Jack Hughes made his long-awaited return from his freak accident at a Chicago restaurant. Hughes even scored the first goal of the game, which was such a welcome sight, particularly since the team has been starved for goals in his absence. Unfortunately the returning trio could
not help the Devils power through their current offensive malaise, as they fell 3-1 to the Sabres anyway.
As disappointing as last night’s result was, that’s not the point of this piece. Rather, today we’re going to talk about the salary cap ramifications of the Devils getting closer to full health. The NHL is a salary cap league after all, and since every dollar counts, it’s important to understand just what Tom Fitzgerald and his front office are facing once everyone is back on the ice.
The Usual Caveat
Before we go any further, I do feel compelled to state that yes, I am fully aware that full health at any point is not a guarantee. Just because Hughes, Meier, and Gritsyuk returned last night, and Brett Pesce joined them earlier last week, does not mean injuries just magically turn off like it’s a video game. It’s possible that, for example, Nico Hischier or Jesper Bratt or Luke Hughes suffers a long-term injury before the full roster is back. If that happens, all of a sudden cap space is no longer an issue.
But for now, let’s assume (I know, big assumption) that New Jersey will be fully healthy for at least a little while sometime this season. In that case, a move to make cap space will be mandatory. So we’ll explore those options today.
The Current Cap Situation
Let’s start with what New Jersey’s cap sheet actually looks like. According to the indispensable PuckPedia, as of Sunday night, the Devils have $12,500 in cap space. Yes, really. The Devils are about as close to the cap ceiling as one could possibly be without going over it. They are currently rolling with an active roster of 14 forwards, seven defensemen, and two goaltenders.
Meanwhile the following players are currently on Injured Reserve (an asterisk next to their name indicates a player on Long Term Injured Reserve):
- Evgenii Dadonov* ($1m cap hit)
- Zack MacEwen ($775K)
- Johnny Kovacevic* ($4m)
- Simon Nemec ($918,333)
Add that all up and you get a little over $6.5m worth of cap hits. Now, you might look at those figures and assume the Devils will need to clear that much space. But keep in mind that once some of these players return, their replacements will either be sent down or waived. We’re talking players like Angus Crookshank, Juho Lammikko, Colton White, and Dennis Cholowski. All of those players are making the league minimum of $775K, except for Lammikko who’s slightly above that at $800K. So that means that those cap hits will be off the books when it’s time to welcome back some of the regulars.
Kovacevic Is The Key
As the Devils welcome back most of their big guns, there is really only one more major salary remaining on IR: Johnny Kovacevic. As we can see in the previous section, Kovacevic’s cap hit alone is more than the other three players on IR combined. We don’t yet know when he is expected back, other than the purposely vague timeline of “sometime in 2026” (although Kovacevic was spotted skating yesterday, which is a sign he’s getting close). But when he does come back, something has to give.
New Jersey can ice a cap-compliant roster right now, but Kovacevic changes everything. According to PuckPedia, the Devils would be just north of $5m over the cap if everyone was healthy. Sending down a Crookshank or a Cholowski wouldn’t get the team under the cap, to say nothing of the huge logjam that would be created on the blue line. And it’s against NHL rules to keep a healthy player on IR, meaning the Devils can’t just stash Kovacevic there indefinitely. Kovacevic himself wouldn’t stand for that anyway, nor should he.
The bottom line is, a move needs to be made in order to get New Jersey under the cap once Kovacevic is back. Again, injuries might occur between then and now, I understand that. But injuries are unpredictable, so it’s not a good idea to bank on them happening. And it’s not like we should be wishing for injuries in the first place. So what can New Jersey do to create cap room? There are a few options.
Ondrej Palat & Dougie Hamilton
Let’s start with the obvious ones. Palat and Hamilton have been popular cap dump targets among Devils fans for a while now. When the Quinn Hughes sweepstakes was reaching its climax, they were the two names that kept popping up as players Fitzgerald was looking to send away to make room for the eldest Hughes brother.
After New Jersey lost the battle for Hughes, reporters went looking for answers on whether Palat or Hamilton was approached about waiving their no-trade clauses. Based on the reporting, it seems as though Hamilton was, but Palat wasn’t. Then again, Palat could just be lying, which is fine I suppose. But assuming he’s telling the truth, then it appears Hamilton was the one Fitzgerald was trying to move to make cap space. In a way that does make sense considering New Jersey has too many right-handed defensemen when fully healthy. But it’s still odd to me that Fitzgerald wouldn’t even consider moving Palat.
In any case, these two veterans have been in the news a lot lately. Speculation around them being traded spiked over the summer, and now it’s happening again. Fitzgerald’s obsession with giving any player who signs a contract with him some form of no-move clause is really coming back to bite him here if the goal is to trade Hamilton or Palat. But it’s not impossible, and maybe we see one of them head out of town soon. And if they do, all of a sudden the Devils have all the cap space they need.
Stefan Noesen
Here’s an under-the-radar cap dump candidate. Noesen is signed through 2026-27, with a cap hit of $2.75m. That’s not a huge number obviously, but it’s not nothing. And while he does provide value I think it’s safe to say he’s one of the more replaceable trade candidates on the roster.
Noesen has a 10-team no-trade clause this season (it turns into a seven-team no-trade clause next year), so it would be much easier to move him than Palat or Hamilton. I’m sure of the 22 teams that he cannot block a trade to, one of them would want him. What could New Jersey get back in return? Probably a late round pick in a draft two to three years away. But the return isn’t the point of trading Noesen. The point would be to clear his salary and, presumably, replace him with a forward that’s making league-minimum or close to it. Doing so would net the Devils about $2m in cap space.
Jonas Siegenthaler
Siegenthaler has had an up-and-down tenure with the Devils. After coming over at the trade deadline during the Covid-shortened 2021 season, Siegenthaler put together an elite defensive season in 2021-22. He was good for stretches and mediocre for stretches in 2022-23, straight up bad in 2023-24, back to elite defensively in 2024-25, and he’s back to struggling again this season.
So with all that being the case, perhaps Fitzgerald is sick of riding the Siegenthaler roller coaster and looks to ship him out. Siegenthaler has a cap hit of $3.4m, and he’s signed through 2027-28. Much like Noesen, Siegenthaler has a 10-team no-trade list, meaning there are 22 potential suitors to choose from. I have to imagine Siegenthaler has value to a lot of clubs around the league, so if Fitzgerald really wanted to, I think he could easily find a new home for him. Heck, New Jersey might even be able to get something halfway decent for him, like a third or fourth round pick.
The one hang-up here is that Kovacevic really seemed to bring out the best in Siegenthaler last year. Those two combined to form one of the league’s premier shutdown pairs, and although they provided next to no offense, their defensive games were so good that they were extremely valuable players regardless of the lack of offense. So do you really want to send Siegenthaler away when you could potentially reunite an elite defensive pair once Kovacevic returns? It’s a question Fitzgerald might have to answer soon.
Dawson Mercer & Cody Glass
Now we’re getting into cutting off your nose to spite your face territory in my opinion. The only other players on the roster that are at least halfway realistic to trade in order to make cap space are Mercer and Glass. Neither of them have any sort of no-move protection, and both of them make enough money ($4m cap hit for Mercer, $2.5m cap hit for Glass) that sending them elsewhere could provide reasonable cap relief. Especially Mercer, whose cap hit matches Kovacevic’s on the dot.
But are the Devils really in a position to move either of these players? The offense is so desperate for goals that it feels impossible to move players who have some semblance of offensive skill. Mercer has really cooled off since his hot start, but he remains valuable offensively. Glass is more of a defensive forward, but he’s shown a goal-scoring touch this season, especially when playing with Connor Brown. New Jersey could theoretically move these players easily to create cap space, but I feel like it would do more harm than good to ship them out.
Final Thoughts And Your Take
Unfortunately, these are pretty much the only options as far as creating cap space goes. Every other player on the roster is either too valuable to trade, or has extensive no-move protection. Fitzgerald made quite a mess for himself, and now he’s suffering the consequences for it.
Johnny Kovacevic will be back soon, and assuming no more major injuries happen before he returns, a move literally has to be made in order for the Devils to be cap-compliant. Palat and Hamilton are the obvious choices, Noesen and Siegenthaler are the dark horses, and Mercer and Glass are the desperation moves. No option is easy, and all of them have their pros and cons. But as the team gets healthier, something must be done. Soon.
What do you make of the Devils’ current cap situation? What do you think ultimately happens as far as cap moves? Who is your top preference to move out? As always, thanks for reading!
