The New Jersey Devils are flushed with cap space going into the offseason. Even with that, is it possible to sign the two biggest free agents on the market?
It’s officially the offseason for the New Jersey Devils, which means we can imagine anything until our imaginations run wild. Can we trade for Connor McDavid? Sure! How about Erik Karlsson for John Quenneville? Anything is possible! Adam Larsson for Taylor Hall? Oh wait… that one did happen.
Obviously, the first two were sarcasm, but the point is the possibilities are endless. Marcus Johansson was a surprise last season. Taylor Hall was a surprise move the season before that. Right before that, Kyle Palmieri was a surprise trade. The Devils have a knack for making moves out of nowhere.
So, looking at this year’s free agent class, could the Devils theoretically nab the two biggest names on the free agent market?
We’ve seen it before, when Ryan Suter and Zach Parise went to the Minnesota Wild in the same offseason. Obviously, that didn’t work out like they had hoped, but there’s no denying it made them instant contenders. Both those stars just dealt with years of nagging injuries.
Looking at the market as is, John Carlson and John Tavares are the clear-cut best players available in free agency. It’s really not close. However, both those players could turn the Devils into Stanley Cup contenders overnight. Adding a legit first-line center would move Nico Hischier to the second line, making the Devils top six one of the best in the league. Add Carlson to a core of Sami Vatanen, Will Butcher and what’s left of Andy Greene, and the Devils defense quickly becomes a strength.
Right now, the Devils have just under $20 million in cap space. With that, they have to re-sign Miles Wood, Blake Coleman, Stefan Noesen and Steve Santini as restricted free agents. Also, Brian Gibbons and Patrick Maroon could be re-signed as unrestricted free agents.
With that said, I think the Devils could make all of that happen with about $7 million. That only leaves the Devils with about $13 million in cap space. That’s not nearly enough to sign Carlson and Tavares.
To make things easy, let’s say it takes $17.5 million to sign both Tavares and Carlson. That means the Devils will need to make $5 million available, plus a little more because I think GM Ray Shero wants some wiggle room.
The first move the Devils would make is trade Damon Severson. He has a good skill set, he’s a 23-year-old defender with four years of NHL experience. It’s hard to find those types of players, so he’s still an asset. The Devils could flip him for one of the second-round picks they lost in deals made during this season.
Ben Lovejoy is another player who could be moved. He won’t command much, but he proved he was still an NHL caliber defenseman on a $2.67 million contract for one more season. He can be had for a draft pick.
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If the Devils make those moves, and possibly pass on Brian Gibbons, that would give the Devils an extra $7.5 million in cap space. That would give the Devils just enough to be in the sweepstakes for Carlson and Tavares.
The real question is, how would this affect the Devils long term? Could they really re-sign Taylor Hall with Carlson and Tavares on the team? The huge problem with that is Nico Hischier’s and Jesper Bratt‘s entry-level contracts end that season, too. Add in Will Butcher’s contract, and then some really hard decisions need to be made.
Could signing John Tavares and John Carlson work? Yes, but only for the next two seasons. Then, the Devils need to make some really hard decisions, decisions we may not want for the long term. It would be really fun to add Carlson and Tavares to the team, but what it costs may not be worth it.