Can New Jersey Devils Fit Jacob Trouba’s Next Cap Hit?
By Mike Luci
In light of a recent New York Post report that the New Jersey Devils and their fellow Tri-State Area rivals were interested in Winnipeg Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba, speculation has run rampant on what it would cost to obtain the top-pairing blue liner.
Entering the offseason as a restricted free agent coming off a career season where he tallied eight goals and 50 points, Trouba is expected to garner a minimum AAV of $7 million in his next contract—possibly more if the term is shorter.
While the Devils certainly have the assets to acquire Trouba, do they have the cap space to accommodate the substantial cap hit his next contract will feature, in addition to other players on the team due for hefty raises?
With the 2019-20 salary cap expected to be around $83 million, the average cap hit on a 23-player NHL roster rounds out to $3.608 million. As of writing this, the New Jersey Devils will have north of $30 million in cap space going into July 1.
Between now and July 2020, General Manager Ray Shero will have six notable players in line for hefty salary raises—Taylor Hall ($10-11 million), Nico Hischier ($5-6.5 million), Jesper Bratt ($3.5-5 million), Sami Vatanen ($5-6 million), Will Butcher ($3-4.5 million), Mackenzie Blackwood ($3-4.5 million).
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Throw in Trouba’s $7-8 million AAV, that would give the Devils roughly between $37-47 million invested in seven players. Even with another projected three percent salary cap increase (from $83-85.5 million) for 2020-21, those figures vastly exceed the team’s glut of currently available cap space. That means New Jersey could have up to $47 million (55 percent of their 2020-2021 cap space) invested in seven out of twenty-three players on their roster (30 percent of their players).
Having said that, this probably won’t be the case, especially when you take some of these factors into consideration. Players like Butcher, Vatanen and Bratt are susceptible to being traded and could be used in a potential Trouba trade. If you include one or two of these players in such a deal—which is reportedly part of Winnipeg’s asking price—the move could potentially save the Devils between $6-11 million in cap space that otherwise would have gone toward the contracts of those players.
The jury is ultimately still out on Mackenzie Blackwood, who is only mentioned in this scenario on the premise that he maintains his starting-caliber level of play throughout next season. Team captain Andy Greene’s $5 million AAV also comes off next summer and it remains to be seen how much cap space the salaries of any other offseason acquisitions by the Devils will consume.
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Another factor to consider is lot of these players like Bratt, Butcher, Blackwood and (more or less) Hischier will be signing bridge contracts. Most of these deals could have short terms that award these players with commendably higher salaries, which may or may not be cap-friendly.
It would be a tight squeeze and the real effects wouldn’t be truly felt until the 2020 offseason, but the New Jersey Devils could theoretically accommodate the expected numbers of Jacob Trouba’s next contract. It would take some masterful salary cap maneuvering by Ray Shero and strategic allocation of salary to certain players also due for new contracts, but the Devils could fit Trouba’s substantial AAV under their team cap without dismantling the foundation they already have in place.