The New Jersey Devils did nothing with their salary cap space this offseason. Could there be a plan in the works to take on a bad contract in exchange for draft picks?
It’s been a mostly boring offseason for the New Jersey Devils. While other teams were making trades and signing big-name free agents, the Devils sat back and decided to hold on to their cap space. General Manager Ray Shero has said in the past that cap space may be the biggest asset a team can have.
We’ve seen teams use that asset to bail out other teams. The Arizona Coyotes currently have Dave Bolland and Marian Hossa‘s contracts on the books, despite their inability to take the ice. In the past, they’ve technically employed Chris Pronger and Pavel Datsyuk, despite the fact they never took a faceoff in the desert.
The Devils have even done this in the past, and it worked out pretty well. Back in 2016, the Devils traded low-level prospects Graham Black and Paul Thompson for Marc Savard and a second-round pick. Black had a slight upside, but he never found his footing in the pros. Thompson is a good AHL player, and that’s his ceiling.
Meanwhile, the Devils used that second-round pick in a package to get Marcus Johansson from the Washington Capitals. Eventually, having the asset of cap space helped the Devils get a good player.
The issue is there aren’t many players left that could go on LTIR. Teams were less likely to give older players six and seven year deals with cap circumvention, meaning these situations are rare.
That doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Right now, Nathan Horton is taking up real estate on the Toronto Maple Leafs salary cap, even if it doesn’t account for a ton. The team is still forced to cough up $4.5 million this year and $3.5 million next year. The Devils lost the contract of Ryane Clowe this offseason, so pure cash they’re paying out is even less than the salary cap indicates. Toronto may be looking to open up some cash after giving all the money to John Tavares.
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A name familiar to Devils fans, David Clarkson lasted one year on the Toronto Maple Leafs before being sent to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Horton. He lasted 26 games with the Jackets before his back injury put him on the shelf for good. He was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights along with a first and second round pick just for expansion draft considerations. Well, now the Golden Knights suddenly find themselves with a lot of high-paying contracts. They could afford to give up a pick or two in order to get some cash opening up.
There are a few other options, but each situation isn’t really the point. The point is the Devils should definitely consider trading for a player on LTIR in order to gain draft picks. The only thing it would cost the Devils is money. The Devils have not been spending it, and Josh Harris is a freaking billionaire. He’s worth $3.6 billion. Harris can afford to throw away a few million when he knows it’s producing a money-making asset in the future.
This move will likely not happen right now, unless it’s with the Golden Knights. Usually these things happen prior to the offseason to open up space for a team to make moves, but the Knights suddenly find themselves in a scary position. Marc-Andre Fleury‘s $7 million per season extension goes into effect next season. William Karlsson only signed a one-year deal. Next season, they could really use some relief. The Devils can provide it, and should.