New Jersey Devils Would Have Trouble Paying Patrik Laine/Mitch Marner

There are a brand new set of rumors swirling, whether legitimate or not, that the New Jersey Devils might be in on Patick Laine or Mitch Marner. Even if there is some truth to the rumors, could the Devils even afford the deals these players are commanding?

The New Jersey Devils made one of the biggest transformations this offseason. After Taylor Hall and Ray Shero both made proclamations they needed to add more talent, the Devils did just that.

The Devils won the NHL Draft Lottery and eventually selected Jack Hughes. Then, Shero traded for P.K. Subban from the Nashville Predators to give them a number-one defenseman. After that, he signed Wayne Simmonds to a one-year, prove-it deal. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the Devils announced they traded for overseas sensation Nikita Gusev.

That’s just impressive. That’s especially impressive after Shero’s best move last offseason was signing Eric Gryba.

Now, after a blitz of rumors tied to restricted free agent Patrik Laine, and this article from Puck Prose calling the Devils one of three teams that should call about Mitch Marner, we have to ask, could the Devils even afford the salary that comes with either player?

Both suggested trades would likely involve defenseman Damon Severson. He’s growing into a great blue liner, he’s only 25 years old and his contract is one of the most affordable in hockey outside of rookie deals. There’s good reason why teams will want him. If he’s the only NHL player in the deal, that would obviously take his $4.16 million off the books.

That would give the Devils around $12 million to sign Pavel Zacha and whoever they just traded for. That seems doable, especially if the other player is Laine. It seems inconceivable that Laine is going to ask for more than $10 million, although we are in strange times.

So, it’s clear that the Devils could afford to sign these major stars this season, but looking long term would this be feasible?

Next season, the Devils have a little less than $35 million in cap space. If Severson was off the books, then it becomes $39 million. That sounds like a lot, but if the Devils want to re-sign Taylor Hall, it’s likely going to cost at least what the New York Rangers paid to Artemi Panarin. That right there takes out about $11.5 million. Then, the Devils have to sign Nico Hischier, which could land them in the $7-8 million range. Even on the low side, that’s now $19.5 million.

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The Devils also have to pay restricted free agents Mackenzie Blackwood and Jesper Bratt. They are incredibly hard to peg since a lot of their value has to do with what they do this season. Let’s just guess they cost a total of $7.5 million combined.

That gives the Devils $12 million to play with. However, with Zacha’s deal being at around a low $2 million, now the Devils only have $10 million left. Even if the cap goes up another two million, paying one of these stars would cost most, if not all of the rest of that cap space. We all know Shero likes to have a little bit of cap space to make moves midseason, but this would eliminate the Devils ability to do that.

Laine is going to cost somewhere around $9 million and Marner is costing around $11 million. It’s an incredible amount for both players, and prices the Devils likely can’t afford. Those types of contracts hamstring for years. Look at where the Toronto Maple Leafs are. They can’t pay Marner right now because they had to pay Auston Matthews, William Nylander and then they gave a huge contract to John Tavares last season. It forced them to give away a 1st-round pick just to take Patrick Marleau off their hands.

It’s a good and a bad problem. Having too much talent can’t be considered a bad thing, even if it means some salary cap gymnastics. However, putting together these talent-heavy teams isn’t a guarantee for playoff success, either. Look at this past season. The Tampa Bay Lightning and the Maple Leafs were both ousted in the first round.

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The year after next is a little kinder to the Devils salary cap situation. Losing Travis Zajac, Gusev, and Palmieri among others gives them a total of around $55 million in cap space not. Without Severson it gets closer to $60 million. Even with all these signings, and with the trade for a star, the Devils would have $20 million in space.

Plus, there’s two major moves that will open up cap space before the 2021 offseason. The Seattle Expansion Draft takes place and the new NHL TV deal should add a ton of money to the salary cap. Let’s be conservative and say the NHL salary cap is $87 million that season. We expect it to be closer to $90 million, but we’re being conservative like we said. That then gives the Devils $25 million in cap space with all these major stars in tow.

Then, the Seattle time might pick up Cory Schneider, or another contract from the Devils. That would save the Devils even more money.

The 2022 offseason is far away, but it will be an important one. That’s where the Devils must re-sign Jack Hughes, Ty Smith and possibly Jesper Boqvist. Who knows what salaries might be at that point, but it’s safe to say that those three players are going to be expensive. If all goes as planned, it could cost $30 million to sign all three to long-term deals.

So, basically, there’s a lot to think about when it comes to a deal for another superstar. The salary cap being one of the main factors, but after going through all this, it seems like the 2020 offseason would be the only one where Shero would need to figure things out. Outside of that, other decisions would impact the cap more than these trades might. It could be done, but it could cause things to get, how do we say, stressful.

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