Money in, money out for the New Jersey Devils
The Chris Johnston Show: Chris Johnston, on the New Jersey Devils looking to add but are a bone handcuffed given their cap situation. Moving the contracts from Dougie Hamilton And Ondrej Palat have emerged. They may have to move Hamilton to get to the front.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Julian McKenzie: “A team I’m also intrigued by and very much on your trade board is the New Jersey Devils. Obviously a loser in the league.” Quinn Hughes lotteries. We’ve seen reports of a possible deal that could have happened, but it seems like they just weren’t able to clear cap space to make that work.
I mentioned Ondrej Palat. He is number six on your board. Dougie Hamilton is also on the board. What do you think awaits the New Jersey Devils?
Johnston: Well, you know, I think it’s true that they can, you know, free up some space, in addition to trying to improve their roster, right? And you know, where they’re at with Palat is, you know, he’s still a decent defensive player, but he doesn’t bring the offense that he once did.
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And you know, he’s just reached a stage where he’s not scoring points to justify a $6 million cap hit. And you know, in some cases that might be okay, but if your team is down and you’re looking for ways to get more out of your roster, I think that’s where his name comes into play.
You know, it’s definitely not that. He’s basically a low-maintenance guy with a ton of respect around the league and experience, obviously, from all those years in Tampa and the Cup runs he had with the Lightning. But you know, maybe the time comes when that’s a play they can make to create cap room.
You know, I don’t know that anything’s going to happen with Hamilton. I’ll be clear about that. I mean, he’s got a big hit. I don’t think it’s a case of the Devils just trying to offload him. I just think it’s a possibility since you know some of the other players they have on that blue line, right?
You know, Brett Pesce returns from injury. Obviously they signed Luke Hughes for his great cause. They have Simon the German there. You know, they potentially have the opportunity, if they’re going to move money, to get rid of someone like Hamilton and use that money to expand their forward group.
So I think what the Devils have right now is some significant internal pressure to try to look for improvement. I mean, you know, let’s make no bones about it, the season unfortunately revolved around that, that accident that, you know, took Jack Hughes out of the lineup, or, you know, he cut his hand and had to have surgery. And you know, he’s the kind of straw that serves a drink there.
They’ve had some other types of situations as well. I mean, like a lot of teams, and I think injuries have been a factor in where they are right now. So you know, there’s a real push to make the playoffs for the Devils.
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And so I think, looking at the whole thing, they’re going to try to add pieces, specifically a forward. And you know, to do that, as would be the case with the Quinn Hughes trade, they might have to free up some salaries as well.
So, you know, everything is all connected there. And you know, that’s certainly why you see some Devils players on the board? It’s just because they can be part of, you know, some falling dominoes here, if they can, organize a trade.
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