New Jersey Devils: 5 Teams To Target With A Flat Salary Cap
The New Jersey Devils should use their salary cap against desperate teams.
The New Jersey Devils have been a team that’s always trying to keep salary cap space so they can use it as a weapon later. Some fans are sick of this approach, but it’s led to key acquisitions in the past including Sami Vatanen and P.K. Subban. Going into next season, the NHL is going with a flat salary cap not only this season but for every season the league doesn’t reach $4.8 billion.
This could lead to the league sitting at $81.5 million for at least the next two seasons depending on how the Seattle expansion and the new TV deal impacts revenues. Next season, the Devils have a little over $26 million in cap space. They still need to re-sign Jesper Bratt and Mackenzie Blackwood, but that shouldn’t take up too much of that space. There are some moves they can make like buying out Cory Schneider if they want to create more space, but it’s not exactly necessary right now.
The Devils have even more cap space in 2021-22, when players like Kyle Palmieri, Travis Zajac, and Nikita Gusev‘s contracts end, while the buyout for Mike Cammalleri finally ends (yup, that’s still happening). That leads to the Devils having more than $45 million in cap space. The year after, they finally get out of the massive contracts of P.K. Subban and Schneider.
Basically, the Devils expect to get more and more cap space as the years go on (obviously) and they get out of contracts both bad and good every season. Some of these players may be re-signed to change their outlook, but either way, the Devils will have plenty of space moving forward.
Other teams aren’t so lucky. There are some teams that are in a mess, and there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. Well, the Devils can provide that missing light with some relief. However, it will cost them. The Devils would ask for a premium asset in return. These teams might do well calling Tom Fitzgerald to see what they can work out, and it could be the best thing to happen to the Devils.
Winnipeg Jets
Pucks and Pitchforks talked about the Winnipeg Jets situation over and over again. At first glance, it doesn’t look that bad. Even with a flat cap, the Jets have more than $15 million to spend next season. However, they have 15 players set to hit free agency. 11 of those players are unrestricted free agents, meaning they can leave for nothing. None of the players are going to get massive deals, but a player like Jack Roslovic will get a raise of some kind.
They have a lot of replacing to do on offense, but the work they need to do on defense might be one of the tallest tasks in the league. To do that, they need money to pay their players. Seven players are going to make $6+ million next season, including Blake Wheeler who’s coming in north of $8 million. Then, after next season, they will need to give Patrik Laine a new contract.
The Jets are in a bad way. However, with just one move, they could be in a much better situation. A trade of Nikolaj Ehlers would hurt a lot, but it would give them $6 million for the next five seasons. However, that would cost the Devils a lot in assets since he has some much time left on his contract.
Trading for Laine would obviously help. That gives the Jets $21 million to rebuild the defense and add to their bottom six. They would need to replace Laine, but there are ways to add a scorer in this league. Look what the Columbus Blue Jackets got in Gustav Nyquist. The Jets could look for a deal like that in free agency, but it could be even better since less teams will have money to spend.
Arizona Coyotes
The Arizona Coyotes have a lot bigger problems than the salary cap right now, and that’s saying something because their salary cap situation might be the worst in the league. They’ve spent without consequence and now the man in charge of that spending, former GM John Chayka, quit on the team in one of the biggest controversies in hockey this season.
Whoever takes over the Yotes long term need to undo some of the damage that Chayka left behind. The Coyotes have $1.5 million in salary-cap space next season. Somehow, they think they can find a way to re-sign Taylor Hall this offseason. How is that even going to be possible?
The situation gets a lot better after next season, so this is a one-season issue. However, to sign Hall they need to make a minimum of $8 million appear next year. They also have to re-sign Vinnie Hinostroza, who becomes a restricted free agent this offseason.
There are many roads the Coyotes can take to fix their situation. They could trade the Devils more draft capital to take on the final year of someone like Michael Grabner (I know, I know, nobody here wants to do that again) or Jason Demers. They could get someone like Niklas Hjalmarsson on a deal since that would take another $5 million off the books. There’s also the possibility they could have a conversation about Phil Kessel, although other teams would probably be a better fit for the American winger.
The Coyotes and Devils might actually pair up for another trade sooner than we thought. The big question here is whether the Devils had something to do with Chayka quitting. There are still questions to be answered here, and until we have those answers it would stop all deals between the Devils and Coyotes.
St. Louis Blues
The St. Louis Blues might be the contending team that’s hurt the most by the flat salary cap. Next season, they only have $2 million in salary cap space despite one of their best players in Alex Pietrangelo becoming a free agent. They would like to re-sign their top defenseman, but if they don’t make some drastic changes it just isn’t happening.
There are some very expensive pieces that we just don’t see going anywhere. Ryan O’Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko are on matching $7.5 million salaries. Four other forwards are making more than $5 million per season. There’s just a lot of money spent on the forward group, and that’s led to a situation that makes it near impossible to maneuver. That is, unless they unload some of that salary.
The Blues have a lot of pieces on decent contracts that the Devils would target. Number one on their list would be defenseman Colton Parayko. He’s probably close to off limits, but not exactly there. He’s very important to the Blues, but if trading him leads to the Blues keeping Pietrangelo, they might pull the trigger.
Other players they could move include those on the wrong side of 30 in Alexander Steen and Tyler Bozak. They both contribute at their age, with Bozak providing a lot that other centers don’t, but they don’t seem to fit the timeline of the Devils. Plus, they both have at least modified no-trade clauses, so that doesn’t seem likely.
There are other options, so the Blues seem like one of the most likely trade candidates just because of the sheer volume of possibilities.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Timing is everything in sports, and the Pittsburgh Penguins could not have a worse time for the NHL to come up with a flat salary cap. On paper, they are going into the offseason with more than $13 million in space, but they have some players to get under contract. Beyond that, they only add another $7 million in space in the 2021 offseason.
The Penguins have 10 forwards under contract next season. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are the forwards making the most obviously, but a lot of their contributing pieces make a decent salary (Brandon Tanev-$3.5 million, Patric Hornqvist-$5.3 million, Bryan Rust-$3.5 million).
The Penguins have a lot of restricted free agents they must figure out. Most important of these is the two at the goaltender position. Once again, timing is biting the Penguins in the behind. Matt Murray and Tristan Jarry are both restricted free agents this offseason. Will the Penguins attempt to sign both, and how much could they both command? That might take up most of that $13 million. Add on players like Jared McCann, Evan Rodrigues, and Dominik Simon who still haven’t hit their ceiling but see their contracts up this season.
The Penguins need to make room desperately, and they could pay a premium price to do it. How much would the Penguins be willing to give up to get rid of a contract like Hornqvist, who has three more years remaining? They don’t have a ton of draft capital, so they need to give up prospects to make a deal work with the Devils.
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning always seem to get out of their salary cap woes by winning trades. They got a 1st-round pick this past offseason for J.T. Miller, who was once an extra asset in a Ryan McDonagh trade. They also got rid of the Ryan Callahan contract by just trade down from the 5th round to the 6th round this past offseason.
This offseason, it might be harder to find teams to take these contracts, unless the Ottawa Senators come to the rescue again. The Lightning have around $5 million in salary-cap space, but they only have three defensemen on the roster after this season. Obviously, a player like Cal Foote could make the jump if he’s ready, and he would come at a minimum. Erik Cernak could be re-signed for a slight raise, which would fill some of those slots. However, they need to find money for Mikhail Sergachev. He’s a restricted free agent, and the Lightning need to keep him on the roster.
To make this happen, they need to find more money. We’ve been hearing rumors that the Lightning would be willing to trade Tyler Johnson‘s $5 million salary for years, but it never happened. Now, his value isn’t as high as it once was since he’s turning 30 years old tomorrow (July 29th). The second a player passes that threshold, his value in a trade is never the same.
Yanni Gourde would make a lot more sense for the Devils, but the Lightning aren’t likely going to move him. Honestly, there could be a blockbuster trade in the works. Not sure if the Devils would be the team to do this, but the Lightning might see the writing on the wall and make Brayden Point available. That would obviously bring a major return of young, NHL-ready prospects that may be more than the Devils are willing to give up in a trade.
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There’s options here, so the Devils and Lightning will obviously talk. This could happen depending on the term the Devils are willing to take with some players on the older side of their prime.